In his speech to the United Nations yesterday President Obama declared that the future must not belong to “those who slander the prophet of Islam.”
Here’s the full graf:
The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam. Yet to be credible, those who condemn that slander must also condemn the hate we see when the image of Jesus Christ is desecrated, churches are destroyed, or the Holocaust is denied. Let us condemn incitement against Sufi Muslims, and Shiite pilgrims. It is time to heed the words of Gandhi: “Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.” Together, we must work towards a world where we are strengthened by our differences, and not defined by them. That is what America embodies, and that is the vision we will support.
This is so utterly irresponsible because it doesn’t actually mean anything. But Obama, as he is wont to do, intends it to mean whatever anyone wants it to mean.
The problem is the meaning of “slander.” To many Muslims, any Christian who professes a belief in Jesus Christ “slanders” the prophet of Islam. So for Obama to use those words so carefully is just dangerously irresponsible. It puts Christians in even more jeopardy than they already were in many places around the world.
Those words will surely play and play on Al Jazeera. But won’t they only embolden our enemies, you know the ones who would chop off the heads of Christians?
