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US President Barack Obama urged the Muslim parents across the globe to make sure that children not become extremists.
“The Muslim community has to think about how we make sure that children are not being infected with this twisted notion that somehow they can kill innocent people and that, that is justified by religion,” Obama said in his speech at G20 summit in Turkey, days after gruesome Paris attacks.
“To some degree, this is something that has to come from within the Muslim community itself, and I think there have been times where there has not been enough pushback against extremism,” he said, adding, “ISIL does not represent Islam. It is not representative in any way of the attitudes of the overwhelming majority of Muslims. This is something that’s been emphasized by Muslim leaders.”
“To the degree that anyone would equate the terrible actions that took place in Paris with the views of Islam, those kinds of stereotypes are counterproductive. They’re wrong. They will lead, I think, to greater recruitment into terrorist organizations over time if this becomes somehow defined as a Muslim problem as opposed to a terrorist problem,” Obama iterated.
“Muslims around the world — religious leaders, political leaders, ordinary people — have to ask very serious questions about how did these extremist ideologies take root, even if it’s only affecting a very small fraction of the population. It is real and it is dangerous. And it has built up over time, and with social media it has now accelerated,” he said.
[With input from CNN-IBN]
Tags: Barack Obama G20 summit Obama at G20 summit
