Blair urges bigger role for faith

[Mike_B]

Blair urges bigger role for faith

It was Mr Blair's first faith speech since converting to Catholicism


Clips from lecture
Former prime minister Tony Blair has called for faith to be given a central role in tackling the world's problems.

Mr Blair said faith should be rescued from extremism and be a force for progress, in his first speech on faith since becoming a Catholic.

He said politicians found it difficult to talk about faith because they "may be considered weird".

His speech was accompanied by a noisy anti-war protest and silent vigil by Catholic peace group Pax Christi.

Mr Blair, who converted to Catholicism months after stepping down as prime minister last summer and is now a Middle East envoy, told an audience of 1,600 at Westminster Cathedral he was often asked if faith was important to his politics.

"If you are someone 'of faith' it is the focal point of belief in your life. There is no conceivable way that it wouldn't affect your politics," he said.

'Packet of trouble'

But he said he had "no claims to moral superiority" and, referring to his former press secretary Alastair Campbell's famous remark while he was PM that "we don't do God", Mr Blair said it was "always a packet of trouble to talk about it".

He said for politicians to admit to having faith "leads to a whole series of suppositions".

There is nothing I look back on now and say that as a result of my religious journey I would have done things very differently but that is expressly not to say that I got everything right

Tony Blair

These ranged from being "considered weird" to people assuming "that your religion makes you act, as a leader, at the promptings of an inscrutable deity" or that politicians desire to impose their faith on others.

Mr Blair said religion was not in decline and acts of terrorism had highlighted the fact that "we ignore the power of religion at our peril".

"Religious faith is a good thing in itself that so far from being a reactionary force - it is a major part to play in shaping values which guide the modern world and can and should be a force for progress," he said.

"But it has to be rescued on the one hand from the extremist and exclusionist tendency within religion today."

Faith Foundation

He said religious faith was most obviously associated with extremism in the name of Islam, but there were extremists in "virtually every religion" and those who used "their faith as a means of excluding the other person who does not share it".

He said his Faith Foundation, to be launched later this year, would bring together different faiths to promote religion as a force for good.

We need far less religion in international negotiations, not more

Terry Sanderson
National Secular Society

In a question and answer session later, Mr Blair was asked if he would have done anything differently in the light of the fact that he recently converted to Catholicism.

He said: "There is nothing I look back on now and say that as a result of my religious journey I would have done things very differently but that is expressly not to say that I got everything right."

Outside the cathedral a crowd of protesters blew whistles and made noise, saying they wanted to hold Mr Blair to account over his role.

Organisers of the demonstration said they were not attacking Mr Blair's freedom of speech, but his right to be treated as a pillar of respectability.

The Catholic peace group Pax Christi also held a silent vigil before the noisy protest.

Among them was former Iraq hostage Norman Kember, who said: "What happened to me was a minor blip in my life compared to the continuing plight of Iraq and the way ordinary Iraqi citizens have suffered so much.

"I feel it is partly Mr Blair's fault and I don't like the idea of him talking in a church. I feel what he did was un-Christian."

Terry Sanderson, of the National Secular Society, said: "Mr Blair's call for religion to play a bigger role in world affairs is like trying to douse a fire by showering it with petrol."


Discuss.

[Gray]

He said politicians found it difficult to talk about faith because they "may be considered weird".

He said for politicians to admit to having faith "leads to a whole series of suppositions".

These ranged from being "considered weird" to people assuming "that your religion makes you act, as a leader, at the promptings of an inscrutable deity" or that politicians desire to impose their faith on others.

And yet it is virtually impossible to imagine someone who does not do so to have any hope of being elected as the President of the United States.

[Sazzy]

Originally Posted by Gray

And yet it is virtually impossible to imagine someone who does not do so to have any hope of being elected as the President of the United States.

As true as that is, I still find it bizarre that it's so. Contrary to popular belief, the US was NOT founded on Christian Principles.

[Gray]

But it's been said often enough, by people who want it enough, to people gullible enough, that it has effectively displaced the truth.

[JM]

Originally Posted by Gray

And yet it is virtually impossible to imagine someone who does not do so to have any hope of being elected as the President of the United States.

Interesting point there...

[JM]

Originally Posted by Mike_B

Blair urges bigger role for faith

Mr Blair said faith should be rescued from extremism and be a force for progress, in his first speech on faith since becoming a Catholic.

There is one thing saying something, Another thing enforcing it

Also who and what would be the focal point?

God?

God is viewed in so many ways but so many groups who all differ with each other.

It wont ever happen, because there are too many that know the consequences

Im not saying that it would be BAD or NOT BAD but I dont see it as being very beneficial, as there are too many varied views on what people

(THINK )

God Desires

[shibboleth]

I see Mr. Blair uses the word faith about 15 times yet he never once describes what his faith is in. Is his faith in the Catholic Church? Is his faith in the traditions and holy days? Is his faith in the teachings of the "saints" of the RCC? Or, is his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? The word faith seems to be used a lot these days to refer to absolutely nothing. You hear a talk show host ask a guest if he/she has faith. The guest says yes, I have faith, and that's the end of the discussion. What we put our faith in is much more important than the fact we have faith. Most people have faith in something whether it's a job, govm't, family or themselves. It would be impossible to live long on the earth without having faith in each other to one degree or another.