Tony Blair On Mission To Unite All Religions, Build World-Wide Super
Church Based On Globalization
Tony Blair has said he wants to spend the rest of his life bringing the
religions of the world together.
On the eve of the launch of his “faith foundation”, the former prime
minister also said faith had given him the courage to make unpopular
decisions he knew were right during his 10 years in office.
In an interview with Time magazine, Mr Blair said faith could be “a
civilising force in globalisation”, bringing different peoples together
to solve the world’s problems.
He argued: “Faith is part of our future, and faith and the values it
brings with it are an essential part of making globalisation work.” Mr
Blair’s foundation, which will be officially launched in New York today,
will attempt to bring religions together to tackle major global issues
such as the UN’s eight millennium development goals, which range from
eradicating extreme poverty to ensuring environmental sustainability.
“This is how I want to spend the rest of my life,” he said.
One of its first priorities will be to fight the spread of malaria.
Mr Blair said: “If you got churches and mosques and those of the Jewish
faith working together to provide the bed nets that are necessary to
eliminate malaria, what a fantastic thing that would be.
"That would show faith in action, it would show the importance of
co-operation between faiths, and it would show what faith can do for
progress.”
In an accompanying video, Mr Blair said he had spent “decades” thinking
about setting up the foundation — including when he was still prime
minister.
He added: “The purpose of it is so that we achieve a greater
understanding between the different religious faiths, so that we make
platforms for action by those faiths and deal with some of the biggest
issues in the world — for example the millennium development goals and
so on — it should be an interfaith encounter through action.
“But also so that we show that faith is something positive, a force for
progress, something to do with our future as well as our past, and I
want the foundation therefore to be actively promoting the greater
understanding between the faiths but also lead to action by the faiths
in society, in the world to the greater public good.
Bono, the U2 singer and anti-poverty campaigner, told the magazine: “I
think he wants to dedicate the rest of his life to decrying the concept
of a clash of civilisations.”
He disclosed that he had once been given a copy of the Koran by Mr
Blair, who was reading a passage of it every night in an attempt to
better understand Islam.
Mr Blair, who recently converted to Catholicism, said faith had helped
him make tough decisions while in office.
Alastair Campbell, Mr Blair’s press secretary, once famously remarked
that his government didn’t “do God”.
But Mr Blair, 55, said: “You don’t put a hotline up to God and get the
answers. The worst thing in politics is when you’re so scared of losing
support that you don’t do what you think is the right thing.
“What faith can do is not tell you what is right but give you the
strength to do it.”