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President Obama on Thursday called the Dalai Lama a "good friend" and an inspiration for freedom.
The president, speaking at a closely watched prayer event in Washington with the Dalai Lama in the audience, said Tibet's exiled spiritual leader was "a powerful example of what it means to practice compassion and who inspires us to speak up for the freedom and dignity of all human beings."
Obama also said recent acts of violence in Paris, Pakistan and other places across the world show that faith and religion can be twisted to be used as a weapon.
He called the Islamic State a "brutal, vicious death cult" that was carrying out "unspeakable acts of barbarism" in the name of religion.