08 September 2010

U.S. Leaders Condemn Intolerance: America Not Built on Hate

Americans of all faiths speak out against anti-Muslim acts

Washington — Senior U.S. officials and dozens of prominent religious leaders from multiple faiths have condemned intolerance of Islam and a planned act of desecration of the Quran by a small Florida church as not being part of the broad American tradition that respects and protects all religious beliefs and faiths.

“Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said before the start of the State Department’s annual iftar September 7 in Washington. Joining Clinton at the iftar were 75 young Muslim Americans from across the United States, who celebrated the influence of Islam on American life and culture.

Clinton denounced plans by the church to burn the Muslim holy book, telling the Council on Foreign Relations September 8 that “it’s regrettable that a pastor in Gainesville, Florida, with a church of no more than 50 people can make this outrageous and distressful, disgraceful plan and get … the world’s attention.”

“It doesn’t in any way represent America or Americans or American government or American religious or political leadership,” Clinton told the council in Washington.

Clinton added that she was heartened by responses of condemnation that have come from American religious leaders of all faiths, from Christian ministers to Jewish rabbis.

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the Roman Catholic archbishop emeritus of Washington, told reporters at an interfaith meeting September 7 that the action of a single church “is not America. America was not built on hate.” McCarrick and nearly three dozen clergy and religious leaders, including a representative of the Islamic Society of North America, held a news conference at the National Press Club to express concern over a trend in recent months of anti-Muslim hostility.

“We are appalled by such disrespect for a sacred text that for centuries has shaped many of the great cultures of our world,” the religious leaders said in a prepared statement.

Some of the religious leaders also met with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder at the Justice Department for nearly an hour to discuss recent attacks on Muslims and mosques around the United States and called for aggressive prosecution. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has begun investigations into the recent attacks. Violent acts of religious hatred are federal crimes in the United States, and bring swift action from the FBI and the Justice Department.

“To those who would exercise derision, bigotry, open rejection of our fellow Americans of a different faith, I say, shame on you,” the Reverend Richard Cizik, president of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good, said at the press club press conference.

“As an evangelical, I say to those who do this, ‘You bring dishonor to those who love Jesus Christ,’” he added.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates told his staff September 8 that he fully supports U.S. military leaders who have also condemned the planned desecration as risky and ill-advised. Army General David Petraeus, who commands U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, told the news media September 7 that a desecration of the Quran would put the lives of U.S. soldiers and Marines, and those of allied nations, at greater risk.

Petraeus said that burning the Quran would only serve the cause of extremists and “inflame public opinion and incite violence.”

The U.S. embassies in Islamabad, Kabul and Baghdad also released statements condemning the planned desecration and affirming the United States’ respect for Islam. “Americans from all religious and ethnic backgrounds reject the offensive initiative by this small group in Florida,” the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said in a statement.

James Jeffrey, U.S. ambassador in Iraq, said the threat to burn the Quran is “disrespectful, divisive and disgraceful.”

Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, told reporters that Jews understand the nature of religious hatred.

“We know what it is like when people have attacked us physically, have attacked us verbally, and others have remained silent,” Saperstein said. “It cannot happen here in America in 2010.”

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)