In his first major speech on religion, Tony Blair said Thursday night that religion must be rescued from extremism and irrelevance and used as a force for good at a time of global turmoil.
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(Photo: AP Images / John Stillwell / PA)Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, right, during his address on Faith and Life in Britain, with Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, left, seated behind him, in Westminster Cathedral, central London, Thursday April 3, 2008. Tony Blair tonight called for religious faith to be rescued from extremism and put at the center of solving the world's problems. The former prime minister said that in an increasingly globalized world, the role of faith is 'especially important'. Religion could 'awaken the world's conscience' and help to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to eradicate poverty and hunger, he said.
Blair, who converted to Catholicism last year, made the call in a lecture on faith and globalization at Westminster Cathedral. It was the first in “The Cardinal’s Lectures” series, organized by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, to examine faith and life in Britain.
“For religion to be a force for good, it must be rescued not simply from extremism, faith as a means of exclusion; but also from irrelevance, an interesting part of our history but not of our future," said Blair.
"Faith is reduced to a system of strange convictions and actions that, to some, can appear far removed from the necessities and anxieties of ordinary life. It is this face that gives militant secularism an easy target,” he added.
Blair declared his strong desire to “awaken the world’s conscience” to widespread poverty, illiteracy and poor health, and said that the Tony Blair Faith Foundation would set the Millennium Development Goals as one of its priority areas for engagement when it launches next month.
The foundation will bring together different faith organizations to foster friendship and understanding, and harness people of faith as a force for good in the modern world.
Thursday’s faith speech was a turnabout from Blair’s recent admission that he dodged questions on his faith while in office because “you may be considered weird.” When an American journalist once asked Blair for his religious views, the former prime minister’s atheist spin doctor, Alistair Campbell, famously blurted, “We don’t do God.”
The director of public theology think tank Theos, Paul Woolley, welcomed Blair’s speech. Woolley said Blair was right to urge politicians not to dismiss religion as out-of-date or extreme.
"The theory of secularization has been widely discredited,” he said. “The reality is that religious faith will play an increasingly significant role in society and not simply due to radical Islam.”
“The return of civil society, the emerging political interest in well-being and the growth of identity politics all point towards a greater role for God in the public square,” Woolley added. “Mr. Blair recognizes this and is to be congratulated on establishing his new Faith Foundation."
Theos was launched in 2006 with a report entitled “Doing God: A Future for Faith in the Public Square.” The report, which included a foreword by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, considered the growing role of religion in society and politics.
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God calls us to be extreme for His word. When we take His word for granted, we make it optional. God anger burns against us as a result.
I don't think that site (prayerchainbook.com) is a bad thing. I think the world is lacking a coming together of religious peoples. I also disagree that it is trying to lead us away from Jesus Christ. In fact, I think He would be happy to think that Christians were joining hands with other religious faiths to help the world as a whole.
No God is against that.... The first commandment speaks clearly against other gods. Exodus 20:3: You shall have no other gods before Me.
Isaiah 45: 5 I am the Lord, and there is no othe; There is no God besides Me...
Make God equal to idols is blasphemy.
I work with people of other faith on my job. However, it is not based on religious affiliation.
When you join hands with other religions, babes in christ may be confused and think other religious faiths are ok. God is able to make a way out of no way. He does not need the aid of other. Do not be like Sarah who tried to assist God. She had her handmaiden Hagar produce an heir with her husband Abraham. Ishmael is still fighting Isaac for his father's land. God needs people like Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, David, and etc who stand up for the word of God. They were will to stand alone for God. God came in because of their faithfullness and carried them the rest of the way.
ljjlkjlk
Jackminn,
You did'nt answer likeadove's question, why not? It is a valid question!
I checked out this site- this man's views are dangerous to born-again christians, we are in times of deception and all should pray for dicernment and guidance from the HOLY SPIRIT.
That website does not glorify the LORD in any way, we can definitely spread the good news but I would'nt recommend doing it on that website-"lest you be corrupted unknowingly" IN JESUS NAME
likeadove,
Do you not think that we can "live holy lives in loving obedience to Him and to spread the good news of the gospel to as many as we can" by way of a prayer site online? I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, but I also believe that other people believe that their "God" is the one. I think that they are wrong, and they think we are wrong. Why is it so hard for people to just come together and accept your own belief and work together to make a more harmonious earth?
Do you think that Jesus would want us to not bother talking to other people because they believe in Buddha etc? We aren't worshipping their idols, we are working with them and at the same time spreading the name of our Lord to them, and bringing everyone a bit closer together.
I'll pray for you to be able to open your heart and mind a little more, likeadove.
likeadove,
I don't think that site (prayerchainbook.com) is a bad thing. I think the world is lacking a coming together of religious peoples. I also disagree that it is trying to lead us away from Jesus Christ. In fact, I think He would be happy to think that Christians were joining hands with other religious faiths to help the world as a whole. Perhaps it would give us a chance to spread Jesus' word to people who were less fortunate and have not heard of many of the stories of the Bible. There is definitely no denying that the earth and it's people are in trouble times, and I think a place online to share prayer is perhaps one of the things needed to get everyone back on the right track.
People have to start communicating with each other and stop being influenced by the "leaders" of the world. I have a good place to start:
http://www.prayerchainbook.com
I agree that Blair should rather have kept his silence than blowing the old humanistic trumpet. There is a Godless extremism, though. It is when we Christians, for instance, forsake our calling to fight God's cause with the WORD about the Jesus Christ (the gospel), and revert to extreme measures coming from elsewhere: When it is illegal for a Christian doctor, for instance, to refuse an abortion 'on demand'. Christian carry the Word, not the sword. The Christian martyrs who went to the extreme of dying rather than denying Jesus were not extremists. Those who killed them were. Constantine in the 300's was an extremist when he tried to force the Christian faith on people by means of Christian laws rather than maintaining law and order, and leaving it to the Christians to make converts. The 'new order' or 'Corpus Christianum' of this Christian ruler proved itself to be a mere relapse into paganism.
Looks like Blair has learned from Al Gore.
Create or join a cause and keep your name circulating.
Take advantage of all photo opportunities as well.
extremism and irrelevance... here that? Any true-hearted, Bible-believing, Jesus-loving, God worshipping, Holy Spirit filled saints of God is targeted as being extreme and irrelevant. Of course it is extreme but as far as the world is concerned, yes we are irrelevant - the world has no use for us, in fact, hates us - all under the guise of being "extreme and irrelevant".
Note that Blair says nothing about Jesus. Nothing about the SOURCE of this faith.
"Faith is reduced to a system of strange convictions and actions that, to some, can appear far removed from the necessities and anxieties of ordinary life. It is this face that gives militant secularism an easy target,” he added.
Blair declared his strong desire to “awaken the world’s conscience” to widespread poverty, illiteracy and poor health, and said that the Tony Blair Faith Foundation would set the Millennium Development Goals as one of its priority areas for engagement when it launches next month.
The foundation will bring together different faith organizations to foster friendship and understanding, and harness people of faith as a force for good in the modern world."
Poverty, healthcare, social woes and enviornmental issues. All good concerns but meanwhile 150,000 people perish each day and most of which do not know the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
All this feel good stuff keeping the focus off Christ. I would love to see someone get EXTREME for Jesus.
This is good. We hope Mr. Blair put the Mr. Campbell quite a distance away from his recent activities especially after his celebrated conversion to Catholicism.
Personally I see most Western Europe, Britain included, are weak in the face of Radical Islam because of the humanist agnostic and secular way of thinking prevalent nowadays there.
Struggling Christians in Islamic countries cannot understand Britons foolishness and indeed foolhardiness in handling spread of radical Islam in Britain.
Secularism is not anywhere militant; it is naive and hopeless such as using a toothpick against the Islamic sword (caliphate) in Europe.
In engaging Radical Islam, secularism cannot distinguish which way is up or down.
In order to fight Radical Islam you have to have something and secularism is not the right thing, it is emptiness.
Britain needs deeply rooted faith in Lord Jesus to handle these terrorist and extremist properly.
Lest it is already too late and Europeans are readying themselves for establishment of Eurabia
CP - good article and pic. It's nice to know that there is people trying to do good in the world
So....we now have to take a belly full of Tony Blair, and believe he has the answers? I think not. The FACT is, religion needs to be saved from Tony Blair!!! Pure and simple. What, his promotion of Homosexualism and Abortion and a host of other socialistic solutions for his country and the world?? I think not. We don't need Blair!! And we don't need his foundation, whatever it claims to be. We need Jesus Christ, who shed his blood on Calvary's hill for the forgiveness of our sins and to dedicate ourselves to His cause. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold...I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today, including Tony Blair's solutions!!!
REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND!!!!
Blair, who converted to Catholicism ....catholicism?...
“For religion to be a force for good, it must be rescued not simply from extremism, faith as a means of exclusion; but also from irrelevance, an interesting part of our history but not of our future," said Blair.
Religion must be rescued,...rescue religion from a means of exclusion,....rescue religion from irrelevance....
I don't know of any "religion" that isn't exclusivistic in it's beliefs otherwise it doesn't espouse any beliefs and so cannot consider itself a faith.
if a religion is irrelevant maybe its because it's either false or it has not held to it's original base
I can't help thinking that there is something else going on behind the scenes, is the political arena to rescue faith in a country that has forgotten god
Amen... isn't that what it's all about!
Who needs religion anyway? I would rather have a personal relationship with JESUS, religion is a man-made thing and inherently corrupted. IN JESUS NAME