July 15 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. and allies are seeking better responses to acts of religious intolerance such as burnings of the Koran and cartoons that mock the Prophet Muhammad.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed with religious and political leaders today in Istanbul how to build on a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution passed March 24, which calls for promoting tolerance and respect for diversity of beliefs, without restricting legitimate free speech.

Clinton, the secretary general of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, and others are aiming to implement responses to defamation that includes education, government outreach and dialogue rather than restrictive measures.

Since 1999, Muslim countries such as Pakistan have reacted to perceived attacks on Islam by pushing for UN resolutions against “defamation of religion” that prohibit speech that they said could fuel discrimination.

Western nations said such measures repress speech and other freedoms that the U.S. considers basic and universal, and were used to justify “troublesome” blasphemy laws in Muslim nations, according to State Department background materials.

“Together, we have begun to address the false divide that pits religious sensitivities against freedom of expression,” Clinton said today.

She noted that even as countries in the Middle East and North Africa make the “inspiring” transition to democracy, there has also been a rise in ethnic and religious intolerance.

Protect Speech Rights

Clinton said the Human Rights Council’s resolution “calls upon states to protect freedom of religion, to counter offensive expression through education, interfaith dialogue, and public debate, and to prohibit discrimination, profiling, and hate crimes, but not to criminalize speech unless there is an incitement to imminent violence.”

Later this year, the U.S. will host a meeting of “relevant experts” from around the world to discuss best practices, exchange ideas and “keep us moving forward beyond the polarizing debates of the past,” Clinton said.

In the United States, Clinton said, “we have seen how the incendiary actions of just a very few people” can create “wide ripples of intolerance.”

“So we are focused on promoting interfaith education and collaboration, enforcing anti-discrimination laws, protecting the rights of all people to worship as they choose, and to use some old-fashioned techniques of peer pressure and shaming so that people don’t feel that they have the support to do what we abhor,” she said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nicole Gaouette in Istanbul at ngaouette@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net.