Obama: Faith promotes greater good in all

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama said Thursday religion too often is easy to use as a divider, because the simple message of loving one's neighbor is more difficult.

"It is an ancient rule; a simple rule; but also one of the most challenging." Obama said during the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. "For it asks each of us to take some measure of responsibility for the well-being of people we may not know or worship with or agree with on every issue."

Whatever motivates an individual can "promote a greater good for all of us," Obama said at the breakfast, a tradition begun in 1953 by President Dwight Eisenhower.

The spirit of volunteerism isn't limited to faith, he said, and is the purpose of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, an expansion of the faith-based initiative begun under former President George Bush.

The office's goal is to work with religious and secular groups working in communities "without blurring the line that our founders wisely drew between church and state," he said.

"So let us pray together on this February morning," Obama said in closing, "but let us also work together in all the days and months ahead.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke of how religion is buffeted in several ways.

"The extreme believers and aggressive non-believers come together in an unholy alliance," he said.

He told Obama, "Should it ever be tested, I hope your faith can sustain you and your family. The public eye is not always the most congenial."