What Obama said at National Prayer Breakfast

The headline from JTA was “Obama: Faith should not be divisive.” Ya think?

In his first address at the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama said that he will be establishing a White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership, details from Dan Gilgoff, and said he would not be favoring one religion over another:

“Jesus told us to ‘love thy neighbor as thyself.’ The Torah commands, ‘That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.’  In Islam, there is a hadith that reads ‘None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.’  And the same is true for Buddhists and Hindus; for followers of Confucius and for humanists.  It is, of course, the Golden Rule – the call to love one another; to understand one another; to treat with dignity and respect those with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth.”

There’s a little more here; The New York Times has the full transcript.