[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 50 (Monday, December 17, 2007)]
[Page 1577]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following a Meeting With Jewish Community Leaders

December 10, 2007

    I've just had an extraordinary meeting with Jewish men and women, 
many of whom are from different parts of the world, who are fortunate to 
call America home. And they do so because of our great tradition of 
religious freedom and religious tolerance.

    We discussed how America must remain engaged in helping people 
realize the great blessings of religious freedom and where we find 
societies in which religious freedom is not allowed to practice, that we 
must do something about it.

    I recognize today is International Human Rights Day. And a good way 
to celebrate this day is to invited people from our country and from 
around the world to share with me their stories, stories of courage and 
stories of people who simply want to be in a society where people are 
allowed to worship freely.

    We discussed the world in which we live today. We all recognize that 
we're in an ideological struggle against people who murder the innocent 
in order to achieve political objectives, and that on the one hand, 
America must do everything to protect ourselves and are doing so. In the 
long term, the best way to defeat an ideology of hate is with an 
ideology of hope. An ideology of hope is one that says, we value your 
religion; we honor the way you worship. And in our society, you can 
worship any way you so choose, and that's the vision and dream for 
societies around the world.

    So I want to thank you for sharing your stories with me. I thank you 
for your courage. May God bless you all. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 2:10 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the 
White House.