US President George W. Bush on Thursday called religious freedom the foundation of a healthy society and defended the US record in protecting Muslims caught up in foreign conflicts. Addressing a United Nations “interfaith” meeting in almost certainly his last appearance at the world body, Bush, a devout Christian, said religious liberty was a central element of US foreign policy that could best be promoted through democracy. The meeting, attended by leaders and diplomats from some 70 countries, was initiated by King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, who in an opening speech on Wednesday denounced terrorism as the enemy of all religions. “Freedom is God's gift to every man, woman, and child – and that freedom includes the right of all people to worship as they see fit,” Bush said, noting that the United States had been founded by people fleeing religious persecution. Bush said God had called men “to oppose all those who use His name to justify violence and murder.” “Our nation has helped defend the religious liberty of others, from liberating the (World War II) concentration camps of Europe to protecting Muslims in places like Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq,' said Bush, a Methodist who said faith had sustained him through his presidency, which ends in January. “We're not afraid to stand with religious dissidents and believers who practice their faith even where it is unwelcome.” President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan said in his speech at the conference there was “nothing more un-Islamic” than discrimination, violence against women and terrorism. He also denounced hate speech against Islam in countries he did not identify. “The imaginary fear of Islam has been rising,” Zardari said. “This is exactly what the terrorists had hoped to provoke. Those in the West who accept this are falling into the trap of the terrorists.” Zardari, whose wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated by a suicide bomber last year, proposed an international agenda to combat hate speech, religious discrimination and bigotry and promote religious dialogue.
