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"We could never disrespect Islam because we know that it is a great faith and a peaceful faith," said Rice.
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CAIRO — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has praised Islam as one of the fastest-growing religions in the United States, commending Muslims as part and parcel of American society.
"We here in the United States could never disrespect Islam because Islam is a part of us," Rice told the US-funded Al-Hurra satellite channel in an interview published on the State Department's website.
"Islam is a very fast-growing religion in the United States."
Rice said the US administration does hold Islam in high esteem.
"We could never disrespect Islam because we know that it is a great faith and a peaceful faith," she said.
"We could never respect -- disrespect Islam by believing that the violent people who kill innocent people and chant the names of Islam really represent the future of the Middle East and the future of the Arab world."
There are between six to seven million Muslims in the United States, making up less than three percent of the country's 300 million population.
A recent poll showed that US Muslims are largely moderate and well integrated into society.
Last April, Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff described the Muslim minority in the US as a success story because Muslims are well integrated into society.
Democracy
Rice insisted that the US was committed to promoting democracy in the Middle East and Arab world.
"This President (George W. Bush) wants to see a Middle East in which people can truly have their aspirations met, their aspirations for democracy and freedom, for prosperity, also where the values of family and the values of faith are respected," she said.
In 2003, shortly before the invasion of Iraq, Bush advocated democracy in the Middle East in a series of bold statements and speeches.
But the US reform tone died down as Washington was getting deeper and deeper into the Iraq quagmire, seeking the help of repressive regimes in the region to find a way out.
American analysts have agreed that the embattled wartime leader has lost any credibility to preach democracy to the world.
They said Bush's latest speech on democracy at a Prague's meeting last month left most of the audience unimpressed and unmoved.
They cited Bush's double-standard stance on the Palestinian movement Hamas.
The administration, which has long pushed for free Palestinian elections, refuses to deal with Hamas which rose to the helm of power through democratic parliamentary ballots in January of last year.
A December Gallup poll, conducted in 10 nations that comprise 80 percent of the world's Muslim population, found that an overwhelming majority of Muslims strongly doubted the US is trying to establish democracy in the Middle East.
Oil, protecting Israel and dominating the region were seen as US goals, according to the survey.
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