As Prime Minister, Tony Blair famously "didn't do God" but, having left office, he is travelling the world to launc
h his new Faith Foundation.
On a cold winter's day in New Haven, Connecticut, Tony Blair is preparing for a new challenge – teaching. His new inter-faith foundation has linked with Yale University and launched a new course, on Faith and Globalisation. He commented to BBC Religious Affairs Correspondent Christopher Landau that "If globalisation is a force pushing people together, does religion become a force pulling people apart? In the light of what's going on in the world, they are important themes to explore."
In front of 25 handpicked students from diverse religious
backgrounds, Mr Blair leads discussions about the complex dilemmas politicians face when taking account of religious belief. “I'm really and always have been in a way more interested in religion than politics”, Mr. Blair said. He gives examples of controversial incidents during his premiership – including debates over euthanasia, gay adoption and abortion.
The academic course is just one part of the planned work of the Foundation. It has other educational programmes planned, including the production of impartial religious education materials, and the development of a new inter-faith centre in London. What makes the foundation's work distinctive is its emphasis on uniting people of different religious traditions in practical action. Young people are being recruited to work for the foundation as "Faiths Act Fellows".
The concept of an inter-faith foundation pre-dates him becoming leader of the Labour Party or prime minister, he says. And the launch of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation is a response to him being "really, really committed to finding a way of making religious faith relevant to the modern world". Mr Blair says the secular world needs to understand religion, and religions need to understand each other. "I believe this whole issue to do with inter-faith is absolutely where the 21st Century needs to be in social and cultural terms," he says. "So I've got a very clear strategic sense of it as well. A powerful sense of mission on it. Every bit as powerful as I felt in politics."
He has been a very successful politician. No doubt he will also do well building his inter-faith foundation. Its development is every bit as interesting as how the nations came together economically as the result of the recent financial crisis. One day, the nations will come together and support a One World Religion. Tony Blair may well be laying the "foundation" for such a day.
As the world moves further and further away from the truth in the Bible, many will be sucked into the world system due to fear and ignorance. Many will buy into a One World Religion in the hope of finding lasting peace. But it will just be an illusion to deceive many.
But for true Christ followers, it is a time to be discerning and strong, trusting that "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea...... There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The LORD Almighty is with us......... Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth........"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." [Ps 46:1-11 NIV] That is a promise from God.
Eventually, by God's grace, everyone will receive his or her due in God. "The LORD has rewarded.....according to.....righteousness, according to....cleanness in his sight. "To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd. You save the humble, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low. You are my lamp, O LORD; the LORD turns my darkness into light. With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall........It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect......You give me your shield of victory; you stoop down to make me great." [2 Sam 22:25-36 NIV].
But I am even more amazed at God's grace towards Peter, one of his closiest ally. "seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, "This man was with him." But he denied it. "Woman, I don't know him," he said. A little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." "Man, I am not!" Peter replied. About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean." Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly. [Luke 22:54-62 NIV] Despite of Peter's repeated denial of Jesus, God forgave him and made him one of the greatest apostles and servants of God.
Yes even "The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases. All a man's ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart. To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD. The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD." [Prov 21:1-3,30-31 NIV]
Amen!
h his new Faith Foundation.On a cold winter's day in New Haven, Connecticut, Tony Blair is preparing for a new challenge – teaching. His new inter-faith foundation has linked with Yale University and launched a new course, on Faith and Globalisation. He commented to BBC Religious Affairs Correspondent Christopher Landau that "If globalisation is a force pushing people together, does religion become a force pulling people apart? In the light of what's going on in the world, they are important themes to explore."
In front of 25 handpicked students from diverse religious
backgrounds, Mr Blair leads discussions about the complex dilemmas politicians face when taking account of religious belief. “I'm really and always have been in a way more interested in religion than politics”, Mr. Blair said. He gives examples of controversial incidents during his premiership – including debates over euthanasia, gay adoption and abortion.The academic course is just one part of the planned work of the Foundation. It has other educational programmes planned, including the production of impartial religious education materials, and the development of a new inter-faith centre in London. What makes the foundation's work distinctive is its emphasis on uniting people of different religious traditions in practical action. Young people are being recruited to work for the foundation as "Faiths Act Fellows".
The concept of an inter-faith foundation pre-dates him becoming leader of the Labour Party or prime minister, he says. And the launch of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation is a response to him being "really, really committed to finding a way of making religious faith relevant to the modern world". Mr Blair says the secular world needs to understand religion, and religions need to understand each other. "I believe this whole issue to do with inter-faith is absolutely where the 21st Century needs to be in social and cultural terms," he says. "So I've got a very clear strategic sense of it as well. A powerful sense of mission on it. Every bit as powerful as I felt in politics."
He has been a very successful politician. No doubt he will also do well building his inter-faith foundation. Its development is every bit as interesting as how the nations came together economically as the result of the recent financial crisis. One day, the nations will come together and support a One World Religion. Tony Blair may well be laying the "foundation" for such a day.
As the world moves further and further away from the truth in the Bible, many will be sucked into the world system due to fear and ignorance. Many will buy into a One World Religion in the hope of finding lasting peace. But it will just be an illusion to deceive many.
But for true Christ followers, it is a time to be discerning and strong, trusting that "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea...... There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The LORD Almighty is with us......... Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth........"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." [Ps 46:1-11 NIV] That is a promise from God.
Eventually, by God's grace, everyone will receive his or her due in God. "The LORD has rewarded.....according to.....righteousness, according to....cleanness in his sight. "To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd. You save the humble, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low. You are my lamp, O LORD; the LORD turns my darkness into light. With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall........It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect......You give me your shield of victory; you stoop down to make me great." [2 Sam 22:25-36 NIV].
But I am even more amazed at God's grace towards Peter, one of his closiest ally. "seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, "This man was with him." But he denied it. "Woman, I don't know him," he said. A little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." "Man, I am not!" Peter replied. About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean." Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly. [Luke 22:54-62 NIV] Despite of Peter's repeated denial of Jesus, God forgave him and made him one of the greatest apostles and servants of God.
Yes even "The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases. All a man's ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart. To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD. The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD." [Prov 21:1-3,30-31 NIV]
Amen!
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