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But my journey is part of a larger journey - one shared by all who've ever sought to apply the values of their faith to our society. Yet what we also understand is that our values should express themselves not just through our churches or synagogues, temples or mosques; they should express themselves through our government. We will all have to make concessions to achieve this. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. But if we see this conflict only from one side or the other, then we will be blind to the truth: the only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security.
America will align our policies with those who pursue peace, and say in public what we say in private to Israelis and Palestinians and Arabs. There is so much fear, so much mistrust.
And he does not bring up a specific issue. No single nation should pick and choose which nations hold nuclear weapons. Likewise, it is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit - for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear. On education, we will expand exchange programs, and increase scholarships, like the one that brought my father to America, while encouraging more Americans to study in Muslim communities.
What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part - through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time. The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect.
She was born in a town on the other side of the world, in Kansas. They saw that I knew the Scriptures and that many of the values I held and that propelled me in my work were values they shared. Let's come together - Protestant and Catholic, Muslim and Hindu and Jew, believer and non-believer alike. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. But that is not yet the case. Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq was a war of choice that provoked strong differences in my country and around the world.
Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of America.