President Obama's speech in Cairo

I just finished reading through the transcript of President Obama's speech this morning. After reading through it, I figured I would go see what the news agencies are saying about it. Not suprisingly MSNBC was an advocate of the speech, Fox News played up a three paragraph section of the speech in which the president mentioned his time in Muslim societies, and CNN was somewhere in the middle. The best coverage, like normal, of U.S. politics comes from the BBC.

With that being said, I think this speech had some very interesting thoughts, and I had a thing or two to add at the end. President Obama highlighted the similarities first between Islam and the West (read Hamid Dabashi's Islamic Liberation Theology:Resisting the Empire and you will be immediately drawn to this phrase.) Next, Islam does not fit stereotypes that we have tried to box it into, just as America does not fit the stereotype that the Muslim world has painted of us.

One quote in particular I found interesting was, “Given our interdependence, any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitable fail. So whatever we think of the past, we must not be prisoners to it. Our problems must be dealt with through partnership; our progress must be shared.”

First, we must eradicate violent extremism throughout the world. He stated, “Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq was a war of choice that provoked strong differences in my country and around the world.” Then he discusses Palestine and Israel, and continues on with other contentious points. You can read the speech yourself if you want real detail.

The main thing I wanted to say about the speech is this: Muslims are not all that different than Americans. Ok, so I could have said that based upon President Obama's words...but I offer different reasoning. Read through the transcript of the speech, and notice where the audience claps. We only want what is good for us. Humans, not just Muslims in Cairo or Americans, want what will make life the easiest for us. That more than anything else is why the Palestinian-Israel conflict is going on. It is difficult to see from anywhere beyond our own lens.

The sad part about all of this is that true religion should be something that allows us to see beyond ourselves. Being a Christian, I believe that Christianity is a religion that helps us to see beyond what is good for us individually. However, how often do I think about my wife ahead of myself? This is easier even than thinking about those I do not like above myself. How are we to find common ground if no one is living up to what they should be doing based upon their religion? Well, some would say only God can do this. My question is this, how has nationalism hurt our religion? How has religion (institutionally) hurt our faith? If we truly believe in the Holy Spirit, why do we need a Christian nation? I don't know, just some weird thoughts...