Dalai Lama says ".. Likewise, we are born free of religion, but we are not born free of the need for compassion..."

We were not born free of religion; As per islam every person is born a muslim.

He also says "...The difference between ethics and religion is like the difference between water and tea. Ethics without religious content is water..."

Without religion there is no ethics; in fact ethics is a small subset of religion; Dalai Lama can win applause from people who have no knowledge of religion however to people who know the basics of religion know that what he is talking is baseless.