Dalai Lama: 'It's totally wrong, unfair to name Islam a violent religion'

At Lehigh University in a Pennsylvania appearance, the Dalai Lama defended Islam to a question about the rise of violent religious fundamentalism.

The Tibetan spiritual leader was asked questions by the audience at Lehigh University, where one of them asked about the rise of violent religious fundamentalism. The Dalai Lama told the audience it is “totally wrong, unfair” to label Islam a violent religion. He said he reached out to Muslims since the attacks of September 11, 2001. The Dalai Lama was at the university for a series of talks on 600-year-old Buddhist texts. After his lecture on “Generating a Good Heart,” he then took questions from Lehigh President Alice Gast that had been submitted in advance from the guests. One of the questions included asking him why Americans were depressed and anxious. He joked that he is the wrong person to ask and that they should ask Americans instead. But then he said that U.S. society was too competitive and people wanted “something more, something more, something more.” The Chinese government must be happy that he didn’t mention Tibet in his speech but they do want him to support the Olympics. The Dalai Lama didn’t bring up the topic of the Olympics during his lecture or during the question and answer session. The Dalai Lama is seeking to get autonomous status for Tibet from China so as to preserve its religion, language and culture. He will speak at the Kimmel Centre in Philadelphia on Wednesday next.