Barack Obama today branded ISIS a "brutal, vicious death cult" that has hijacked religion as an excuse to perpetuate violence.

Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday morning, Obama addressed a room of dignitaries, politicians and faith leaders including the Dalai Lama.

China earlier this week said it was opposed to any country meeting the Buddhist leader "in any form" as a result of ongoing tensions with Tibet, but Obama publicly noted his presence, calling him a "powerful example of what it means to practise compassion".

The President used his address to condemn extremist Islam, saying: "We are summoned to push back against those who would distort our religion for their nihilistic ends".

The group is carrying out "unspeakable acts of barbarism," he said, "terrorizing religious minorities like the Yazidis, subjecting women to rape as a weapon of war and claiming the mantle of religious authority."

However, he reminded those resent that "terrible deeds" have also been committed in the name of many faiths, including Christianity.

"Unless we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition," Obama said. "In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ."

He accused ISIS of "betraying" Islam by carrying out barbaric acts, such as the murder of Jordanian Mouath al-Kasaesbeh – a video of which was released on Tuesday. The captured pilot was shown apparently being burnt alive in a cage by.

"No god condones terror," Obama insisted. According to Washington Post reporter Sarah Pulliam Bailey, the President also said that the separation between Church and State must be upheld in the US, but free speech should be guarded "vigilantly".

He also mentioned his meeting with the wife of imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini, who is serving an eight year jail sentence in Iran. Obama said he is still working to secure Abedini's release.

The President encouraged faith leaders to practise humility, noting the importance of not being "so full of yourself that you are right and God speaks only to you".

"We should assume humbly that we don't always know what we are doing," he added.