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Top religious leaders from the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths have called on President Bush to renounce "first strike war," end the U.S. occupation of Iraq and let the United Nations lead reconstruction efforts there.
Their statement was released in Chicago on Wednesday at the end of a two- day National Interfaith Summit on Iraq.
Their challenge to the emerging Bush doctrine of "pre-emptive war" comes as the president prepared to announce the end of the Iraq hostilities and lead the nation in a national day of prayer.
Conspicuously absent from the Chicago gathering were President Bush's evangelical Christian supporters from the religious right.
And in an obvious reference to some of those fundamentalist Christian supporters, the interfaith statement urged Bush to "distance himself from religious leaders who demonize the faith of others."
Over the past year, such well-known television evangelists as Jerry Falwell,
Pat Robertson and Franklin Graham have made controversial comments disparaging the Muslim faith.
"We seek to dispel ignorance," the interfaith statement declared. "We ask that this be a time of humility, not arrogance."
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