CAIRO (AP) -- In a country where Islam is the state religion, Hillary Rodham Clinton has tiptoed a thin diplomatic line, staging a symbolic push for religious tolerance in the hushed, hallowed chambers of Egypt's oldest Jewish, Christian and Muslim landmarks.
She marveled at the air shaft of a 700-year-old pulpit used to keep the Muslim imam cool as he preaches. She stepped into the cellar of the 11th-century Ben Ezra synagogue where the baby Moses was long ago discovered among bulrushes.And she peered into the mildewy crypt of St. Sargius Church, where Mary and Joseph were to have sheltered the child Jesus as they fled King Herod tyranny.
Tuesday, she put careful words to the pictures of religious diversity with an address -- the first public speech of her 12-day North Africa tour -- at the American University in Cairo.
"We have to reject the calls to violence and prejudice and discrimination," Hillary Clinton said, noting that the United States has its own problems with church burnings and hate crimes.
She exhorted leaders and citizens to "work even harder to prevent religious discrimination."