Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair launched a faith foundation Friday to confront the growing challenges of religious conflict and to mobilize churches to tackle global poverty.
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(Photo: AP/Richard Drew)Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair delivers his remarks at the announcement of the formation of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, in New York Friday May 30, 2008.
Blair, who converted to Roman Catholicism in December, launched the Tony Blair Faith Foundation at the Time Warner headquarters in New York. He said the Foundation has three goals: to promote faith as a force of good, improve knowledge between religions, and to tackle poverty and war, according to BBC.
"In an era of globalization, there is nothing more important than getting people of different faiths and cultures to understand each other better and live in peace and mutual respect; and to give faith itself its proper place in the future,” Blair said in a statement before Friday’s launch.
As there is more “inter-dependence” in the world people need to co-exist and work together to solve problems, he said.
The former British diplomat, who is now a peace envoy to the Middle East, said the Foundation was “how I want to spend the rest of my life,” according to BBC. He revealed that while in office, he feared being labeled a “nutter” for talking about his religious views.
Unlike the United States, faith and politics rarely mix in Britain.
In its first three years, the Foundation plans to give priority to interfaith initiatives to tackle global poverty and to improve understanding between religious groups through education, according to Reuters.
"Tony Blair has argued that faith has to be rescued from those who would use it to divide and those determined to write it off as an irrelevance," the statement from his office said.
"By stressing the values of respect, justice and compassion which the great religions hold in common, he believes faith can help unite the world and shape its direction for the better."
The foundation aims to build up a “war chest” of hundreds of millions of dollars to fund projects to tackle global poverty, such as an anti-malaria campaign, according to Time magazine.
It also seeks to support the U.N. Millennium Development Goals which seeks to tackle the world’s biggest problems, such as poverty and lack of education.
Blair is scheduled to start teaching a course on “faith and globalization” at Yale University in Connecticut in September.
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"Tony Blair has argued that faith has to be rescued from those who would use it to divide and those determined to write it off as an irrelevance," the statement from his office said.. . . .
Faith in itself is divisive, it divides believers from un-believers.....how can he "rescue faith" from those who through believing have separated themselves from others. If there is no dividing line what kind of faith is it? Sounds a little like every faith should be one faith to him.....none are any different to him....I will never worship a cow, Allah, meditate myself into nirvana, or slaughter an animal to cover my sins. So I can never be one with these people who do, that doesn't mean I can't tolerate them but I will separate myself from them as it requires to show that I am not one of them. So should anyone who truely believes in any faith.
I think it would be far better if TB stayed here in England and gave his energies to sorting out the problems his goverment have caused here.....
http://www.pluralism.org/pluralism/what_is_pluralism.php
seems that Rick Warren of the purpose driven church and his p.e.a.c.e coalition has partnered in some way with tony blair.
Rick Warren: "The vision and values of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation are desperately needed today when every major issue in our world is influenced for good or harm by faith factors. It would be foolish to ignore how religious conviction impacts personal and national identity, poverty and education, extremism and reconciliation, disease and development, peace and progress. In any effort to help people learn to live and work together, we must engage the vast networks, resources, wisdom, and influence of the faith communities. My friends, Tony Blair is uniquely prepared with the gifts of temperament, knowledge, experience, leadership, and global respect essential for a task this great. I honestly don’t know of anyone better suited for this challenge. It’s why I agreed to serve on the Advisory Board. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation’s potential for doing good is staggering."
Rick Warren
Saddleback Church
Purpose Driven Network
P.E.A.C.E. Coalition
http://tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/
http://tonyblairoffice.org/ here is tony blair's website. some have even said he may be the anti-christ. time will tell.
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