Bush: Religious Tolerance Offers Path to Peace

US President George W. Bush told the United Nations that greater religious freedom and tolerance contain the seeds that lead to peace and stability.

The U.S. is making religious freedom ''a central element of our foreign policy,'' Bush said Thursday in a speech to a UN interfaith conference in New York. He said the U.S. had defended the rights of Muslims in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

''We believe God calls us to love our neighbors and to treat one another with compassion and respect,'' Bush said. ''We believe God calls us to live in peace'' and to ''oppose all those who use his to justify violence and murder.''

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari were among the leaders also addressing the gathering, which was initiated by Saudi Arabian King Abdullah.

Israeli President Shimon Peres praised the Saudi monarch's speech at the UN in a rare exchange of such views between the countries, which have no formal relations due to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

''I wish that your voice would become the prevailing voice of the region, of all people,'' Peres said. ''It is right, it is needed, it is promising.''

King Abdullah, in his remarks, said it's ''high time'' for leaders to learn from harsh lessons of the past, adding that ''terrorism and criminality are the enemies of every religion and every civilization.''

Still, the conference provoked criticism. New-York based Human Rights Watch cited Saudi Arabia as an example of intolerance, because it forbids the practice of any religion other than Islam. And among Arab nations, only Egypt and Jordan recognize Israel.

Bush made what is likely his last appearance at the UN as president.