President Obama criticized "perversions" of Islam being "tolerated" in Middle Eastern mosques during his address before the United Nations on Tuesday, saying that such attitudes helped fuel the rise of the Islamic State terrorist group.
Obama said progress was not possible if extremism in a religion led to persecution of others, beating gays, or preventing girls from going to school, saying "we are too packed together for us to be able to resort to those old ways of thinking." He did not specifically say Islam, but his reference to mosques made it clear to which faith he was referring.
"We see this mindset in too many parts of the Middle East," Obama said. "There, so much of the collapse in order has been fueled because leaders sought legitimacy, not because of policies or programs, but by resorting to persecuting political opposition or demonizing other religious sects, by narrowing the public’s face to the mosque, where in too many places, perversions of a great faith were tolerated. And these forces built up for years and are now at work helping to fuel both Syria’s tragic civil war and the mindless medieval menace of ISIL."
Full remark:
BARACK OBAMA: I do not believe progress is possible if our desire to preserve our identities gives way to an impulse to dehumanize another group. If our religion leads us to persecute those of another faith, if we jail or beat people who are gay, if our traditions lead us to prevent girls from going to school, if we discriminate on the basis of race or tribe or ethnicity, then the fragile bonds of civilization will fray. The world is too small. We are too packed together for us to be able to resort to those old ways of thinking.
We see this mindset in too many parts of the Middle East. There, so much of the collapse in order has been fueled because leaders sought legitimacy, not because of policies or programs, but by resorting to persecuting political opposition or demonizing other religious sects, by narrowing the public’s face to the mosque, where in too many places, perversions of a great faith were tolerated, and these forces built up for years and are now at work helping to fuel both Syria’s tragic civil war and the mindless medieval menace of ISIL. The mindset of sectarianism and extremism and bloodletting and retribution that has been taking place will not be quickly reversed, and if we are honest, we understand that no external power is going to be able to force different religious communities or ethnic communities to coexist for long.
But I do believe that we have to be honest about the nature of these conflicts, and our international community must continue to work with those who seek to build rather than to destroy, and there is a military component to that. It means being united and relentless in destroying networks like ISIL which show no respect for human life.