Peter Hedges Quotes

Terrorists have failed to trigger mass conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe. We should draw strength from that fact.

After September 11, 2001, I was feeling like I really wanted more understanding between cultures. It seemed to me that so much of what happened on September 11 was because people didn't understand each other and were suspicious of each other.

I believe many of our country's differences stem from the lack of genuine appreciation of the cultures and religious traditions and beliefs of our various communities.

I do not believe it is right to identify Islam with violence. This is not right or true.

There is as much need for a change of heart among the Hindus and Mussalmans as there is among the British, before a proper settlement is arrived at.

Figuring out a way to balance the Boxer story with the Chinese Christians was difficult.

Well if done a lot of hard work to try and get people to act rationally, the fact that weve had 15 deviant Muslims, plus 5 or 8 others that got away does not mean that all Muslims are deviant or extremists.

I think Islam has been hijacked by the idea that all Muslims are terrorists; that Islam is about hate, about war, about jihad - I think that hijacks the spirituality and beauty that exists within Islam. I believe in allowing Islam to be seen in context and in its entirety and being judged on what it really is, not what you think it is.

Those who say that the West and Islam are eternally irreconcilable have more in common with the Islam extremists than they might like to think, for it's the very same argument of course advanced by Al-Qaida. And they do have it wrong. We need to work with mainstream Islam.

In most cases, my visits to the West are for promotion of human values and religious harmony.

Not just Christians and Jews, but also Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and the followers of many other religions believe in values like peace, respect, tolerance and dignity. These are values that bring people together and enable us to build responsible and solid communities.

If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships - the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.

Al-Qa'ida seeks to portray America as an enemy of the world's Muslims. But President Obama has made it clear that the United States is not, and never will be, at war with Islam.

How do we stop ourselves from blowing each other up because we think that God wants us to blow each other up.

Nowhere is it more important — or more difficult — to address our growing ideological and religious diversity than in the public schools. Not only are our schools a key battleground in the culture wars, they are the principal institution charged with enabling Americans to live with our deepest differences. If we fail in our schools to teach and model the rights and responsibilities that flow from the 1st Amendment, then surely we endanger the future of our daring experiment in religious liberty.

The important thing is the spirit of Islam. That is all about tolerance…and human dignity…Islam…doesn’t impose anything on other people….

Humanity requires that nationalisms be overcome.

Educational systems should be vehicles to tolerance, not tools for propaganda, and should never be used to install enmity and hatred. One of the root causes of the ongoing tragic events in the Middle East was the systematic misuse of education through schools and the media by the Palestinian Authority.

Moslems are not just a bunch of nuts and whackos .... these are people with whom we are simply out of touch.

This is a country where Jews and Arabs speak without fear. Where people come from different cultures the world over. Where everyone becomes Brazilian rapidly.

If al-Qaida is Muslim, then I am Buddha.

We will work to educate the public regarding the current threat to America of radicals who exploit Islam through militancy. We believe in the equality of the sexes which is well established in the Koran., We will promote tolerance in Islam as being a fundamental principle of the Holy Koran.

We need the help of Muslims to defeat the terrorists—so we have to care what they think [about us].

The struggle waged in Muslim societies against extremism is one of the most important—and overlooked—human rights struggles in the world.

For a new type of progress throughout the world to become a reality, everyone must change. Tolerance is the alpha and omega of a new world order.