WASHINGTON – President Obama used the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday to declare freedom of religion a major part of American foreign policy.
Saying countries that assure religious freedom tend to be more peaceful, Obama told a bipartisan crowd “nations that do not uphold these rights sow the bitter seeds of instability and violence and extremism.”
“So,” he said, “freedom of religion matters to our national security.”
The president said his administration has raised the issue in meetings with China, Burma and Middle East and African nations that restrict worship.
“Even as our faith sustains us, it’s also clear that around the world freedom of religion is under threat,” Obama said, and protecting that freedom is “a key objective of U.S. foreign policy.”
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