U.S.Department of State (http://www.state.gov/r/us/2007/)
"Encouraging Inter-faith Dialogues and Conversations Between Cultures" by Karen P. Hughes, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs
Presentation to to the UN High Level Dialogue on Interreligious and Intercultural Understanding and Cooperation for Peace, United Nations, New York City
October 4, 2007
Distinguished representatives, I’m honored to be here. I thank the President of the General Assembly, Dr. Srgjan Kerim, for convening this dialogue on religious and cultural understanding, and the foreign ministers of Pakistan and the Philippines for proposing it.
A noble framework guides our work--the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that President Bush cited here last week. It recognizes: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion...and the right to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” This historic declaration states the right of religious freedom is both universal and human–applying to all people in all places.
Unfortunately, in too many places today, people are still persecuted for their beliefs or denied the right to worship. Yet our universal declaration–and my own country’s guarantee of freedom of religion–challenge all of us to live up to our own high principles–to allow people to practice faith freely, to respect different beliefs, to seek to understand even when we don’t agree–and to speak out against those who through words or actions trample religious tolerance.
My job of public diplomacy is to reach out to other peoples in a spirit of friendship and respect and listen to their concerns and interests. And President Bush asked me to make encouraging inter-faith dialogue part of my work. Faith is foundational in many people’s lives, and world leaders would not be wise to ignore its power–or cede its discussion to extremists.
As I travel the world, it’s often my privilege to meet people whose faith has called them to do great good–I’ve met Muslim American doctors who traveled to Pakistan to help care for victims of the earthquake there, Catholic nuns who helped families left homeless by mudslides in Central America. Volunteers from many nations whose good hearts led them to help fight AIDS and malaria in Africa and build schools in Afghanistan. I know first-hand there are people of good will in all faiths and cultures.
My country is known for the “separation of church and state,” meaning government can neither impose religion nor restrict its practice. Yet I worry that people in other parts of the world sometimes mistake “freedom OF religion” to mean “freedom FROM religion.” Nothing could be further from the truth. In America, people of many different faiths–and those of no faith–live side by side and try to respect each other’s views. We are not perfect, and religion is sometimes a source of division as is race, but respect for each other‘s diversity is our goal–and in the aftermath of September 11, many Christian, Jewish and Muslim Americans reached out to try to better understand each other.
I have found that people of all faiths have much in common. As a Christian, my highest commandments are to love God and love my neighbor–my Muslim and Jewish friends tell me the same is true for them. While there are theological differences, ultimately, I believe the vast majority of people of every faith and culture want similar things for themselves and their families–education and health care, a safe neighborhood, a good job–and most people want their lives to make a difference, to leave our world a little better. These are not dreams owned by any one nation or people, but shared human dreams–despite differerences（sic）of language or culture or skin color, so much more unites us as human beings than divides us.
Yet we live in a world where misunderstanding and mistrust are being inflamed by rhetoric of hate and acts of terror. And as leaders from Malaysia and the Palestinian terroritories (sic) said in their addresses before the General Assembly this year, we must not leave the debate only to those who seek to pervert religion by using violence to pursue political goals. As I travel the world representing my country and listening to other peoples, I find two major mis-perceptions. First, in many Muslim majority nations, people worry that the war against terror is directed at them. I want to assure our friends across the world that this is not the case. Most Americans recognize that terrorists do not represent mainstream thinking and do not represent–but instead pervert–all faiths with their barbaric acts. Many of America‘s own citizens have roots in the Arab world; others come from virtually every culture and faith tradition. Islam is part of the West and a part of America, and several million American Muslims live, work and worship freely in our country.
The second major misperception comes from my fellow Americans. I hear the complaint that Muslims don’t speak out against terrorist violence–yet this is not the case either. Many constructive voices speak out strongly. Afghanistan‘s President Karzai has condemned suicide bombing as contrary to Islam and says terrorists “cheat children” by recruiting them. The Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference speaks out strongly against terrorist acts; Iraqi and Algerian citizens have denounced terrorists as murderers; Sheikh Salman al-Awdah, a leader of the “Sahwa” reform movement, sent an open letter condemning Usama bin Laden for murdering innocents: “This religion that protects the sanctity of blood–even that of the birds and animals–can never approve the killing of the innocent whatever the reasons or motives might be.”
As the Sheikh’s letter suggests, the time has come when good people of all faiths must join together to state clearly that killing oneself in order to kill others is wrong and a matter of shame–never honor. There are many legitimate grievances in our world–but none can justify the targeting and murder of innocents. This has no place in a civilized world.
We all have a role. America wants to be a partner in this dialogue. Through web sites and communications alerts, we are working to highlight the many voices speaking out against terrorist violence and for greater inter-faith understanding. We are encouraging inter-faith dialogue and conversations between cultures. Through a new program called “Citizen Dialogue, ” we’ve sent Muslim American citizens across the world to engage with grassroots citizens in Muslim communities. We’ve brought international clerics here and sent American clerics abroad. We’ve sponsored summer programs for young people, teaching respect for diversity. We sent out musicians to promote tolerance and to show that differences can enrich rather than divide.
We are dramatically expanding our two-way education and exchange programs–bringing international visitors here and sending Americans abroad. I believe there's no better way to build respect and understanding than to visit, study and work in each other's countries. We’ve increased participation in these vital programs from 27,000 just a few years ago to more than 40,000 today–and we’re hoping to nearly double it to more than 50,000. We are also encouraging more Americans to travel and study overseas to experience the world’s rich culture and religious contributions. We’ve started a new language initiative encouraging America’s young people to study Arabic, Chinese, Hindi and other important world languages.
Today’s gathering is a reminder that we all are part of an increasingly interconnected world that calls on each of us–no matter what our culture or faith community–to work for peace, life, and hope. Each faith and culture has the responsibility of confirming to all that it respects other faiths and cultures. As we listen and learn from each other, we are building a safer and more respectful world for the next generation. This year, the world is celebrating the 800th anniversary of the birth of Rumi, the great Sufi poet, who wrote, “When someone asks what there is to do, light the candle in their hand.” Through dialogue, we are lighting candles–and I hope this light will shine across the world.
Thank you.
Released on October 4, 2007
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