“This Much We Know.”

Posted by Ryan Sayre Patrico on February 5, 2009, 9:18 AM on First Things

At this morning’s National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama addressed the audience:

“Far too often, we have seen faith wielded as a tool to divide us from one another—as an excuse for prejudice and intolerance,” President Obama says. “Wars have been waged. Innocents have been slaughtered. For centuries, entire religions have been persecuted, all in the name of perceived righteousness.
“There is no doubt that the very nature of faith means that some of our beliefs will never be the same. We read from different texts. We follow different edicts. We subscribe to different accounts of how we came to be here and where we are going next—and some subscribe to no faith at all.

“But no matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate. There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know.”
No, Mr. President, I wish we did.