No one must ever let power or social, economic, or political interest turn him or her away from other human beings, from the attention they deserve and the respect they are entitled to. nothing must ever lead to a person to compromise this principle or faith in favor of a political strategy aimed at saving or protecting a community from some peril. The freely offered, sincere heart of a poor, powerless individual is worth a thousand times more in the sight of God than the assiduously courted, self-interested heart of a rich one.

When Manuel Valls says there's nothing to understand because "understanding is justifying," he echoes back to Georges W Bush's logic in 2001. When François Hollande says "they are attacking us because of who we are," what does it say about victims in Mali, Baghdad, Ivory Coast or Turkey?

If there is a smoke, there is a fire, the saying goes, That is quite true, but one should find what the fire is, and who lit it.

Violence against embassies and civilians must be categorically condemned. At the same time, we must attempt to understand why such events occur.

Cultures are never merely intellectual constructs. They take form through the collective intelligence and memory, through a commonly held psychology and emotions, through spiritual and artistic communion.

Clarity and consistency are not enough: the quest for truth requires humility and effort.

Integration is a word of the past, the word of the future and the word of the present is contribution.