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Obama's Outreach To Muslims Begins With TV Interview Before Leaving

By Howard M. Friedman

President Obama has arrived in Saudi Arabia to begin his 5-day trip to the Middle East and Europe. As reported by BBC News today, Obama hopes the trip will signal a new dialogue with the Muslim world. Tomorrow he delivers a major speech from Cairo University. On Monday, before he left on his trip, President Obama gave an interview (full text) in the White House to the French television channel, Canal Plus. Getting particular notice is this statement by the President during the interview:

I think that the United States and the West generally, we have to educate ourselves more effectively on Islam. And one of the points I want to make is, is that if you actually took the number of Muslims Americans, we'd be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.

Tony Harnden, writing for the London Telegraph, contrasts this with Obama's statement two months ago at a news conference in Turkey that Americans "do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation." Less noticed have been other statements about Islam made by the President in the Monday's Canal Plus interview:

I think the most important thing I want to tell young people is that, regardless of your faith, those who build as opposed to those who destroy ... leave a lasting legacy.... And the impulse towards destruction as opposed to how can we study science and mathematics and restore the incredible scientific and knowledge -- the output that came about during centuries of Islamic culture... I think that has to be lifted up....

I think the importance of educating women has to be something that's emphasized. If you look at indicators of human development across the board, those where girls are getting a chance for an education end up being more economically productive. How to reconcile this with some of the traditional values and norms of Islam, that's not for me to dictate, but certainly I think it's something that can be accomplished, and I want to encourage that.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on June 03, 2009 (boomark / email).