{"id":3768,"date":"2009-12-10T11:47:28","date_gmt":"2009-12-10T11:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/12\/obamas-nobel-speech-adhering-to-this-law-of-love.html"},"modified":"2009-12-10T11:47:28","modified_gmt":"2009-12-10T11:47:28","slug":"obamas-nobel-speech-adhering-to-this-law-of-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/12\/obamas-nobel-speech-adhering-to-this-law-of-love.html","title":{"rendered":"Obama’s Nobel speech: “Adhering to this law of love…”"},"content":{"rendered":"
“No Holy War can ever be a just war. For if you truly believe that you are carrying out divine will, then there is no need for restraint — no need to spare the pregnant mother, or the medic, or the Red Cross worker, or even a person of one’s own faith. Such a warped view of religion is not just incompatible with the concept of peace, but I believe it’s incompatible with the very purpose of faith — for the one rule that lies at the heart of every major religion is that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. <\/div>\n

\nAdhering to this law of love has always been the core struggle of human nature. For we are fallible. We make mistakes, and fall victim to the temptations of pride, and power, and sometimes evil. Even those of us with the best of intentions will at times fail to right the wrongs before us.<\/p>\n

But we do not have to think that human nature is perfect for us to still believe that the human condition can be perfected. We do not have to live in an idealized world to still reach for those ideals that will make it a better place. The non-violence practiced by men like Gandhi and King may not have been practical or possible in every circumstance, but the love that they preached — their fundamental faith in human progress — that must always be the North Star that guides us on our journey.”  <\/p>\n

— President Barack Obama, December 10, 2009, accepting the Nobel Peace Prize.<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“No Holy War can ever be a just war. For if you truly believe that you are carrying out divine will, then there is no need for restraint — no need to spare the pregnant mother, or the medic, or the Red Cross worker, or even a person of one’s own faith. 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