You can’t fault Tony Blair’s ambition.
Within hours of his leaving office last June, the UN announced that the former
Prime Minister would take up a role as a Middle East peace envoy. As if
attempting to solve that ancient conflict was not enough, Mr Blair will set
up his Faith Foundation this year — no less than an attempt to save religion
from extremism and irrelevance, and find a way for the world’s religions to
co-exist peacefully. If the Blair years are over, no one’s told him.
His new London office is more adviser to JPMorgan than spiritual guru. It may
not be Downing Street, but the premises overlooking Grosvenor Square in the
shadow of the US Embassy are fitting for a global statesman. The carpets are
plush. Bobby Kennedy’s speeches are cheek by jowl with William Hague’s
biography of William Wilberforce. And against the wall is the trademark
Blair sofa so that he can conduct business as in the old days.
It is here that he talks passionately about his own faith and the cause of
interfaith dialogue. As Prime Minister, faith was an issue he talked about
rarely — it was not going to give him answers about public-service reform,
he explained.
This was summed up by Alastair Campbell, his press secretary, who famously
said: “We don’t do God.” It is clear now though, that freed from the burdens
of office, Mr Blair does God very publicly.
“If you are somebody of faith it affects your politics, it affects everything
that you do,” he said. “But when I was Prime Minister, if I was to give
interviews on faith, I’d just have ended up with a great load of trouble.”
In fact, during his premiership, Mr Blair at times seemed irritated when asked
about his faith — not least when Jeremy Paxman asked him whether he had
prayed with George W. Bush (He said that they had not). Now though, he says
that faith is the issue that will be the driving force behind his life.
“People will think this is a piece of spin, but,” he said, “I’ve always been
as interested in religion as in politics.” Then, for good measure, he adds:
“I see this over time as the rest of my life’s work.”
Issues of faith have clearly been consuming Mr Blair. Since leaving office, he
has converted to Roman Catholicism. This requires much thought and
reflection. After confessing serious sins, a convert must make the “Rite of
Reception”, including saying that: “I believe and profess all that the Holy
Catholic Church believes, teaches and proclaims to be revealed by God.” To
have come to that conclusion, surely Mr Blair must have decided there was
something wrong with the Church of England’s conception of God?
“At the time I made the change, I said that I did so making no criticism of
Church of England. I’d been attending Mass for 20 years with my family. I
can’t take Communion in a Catholic church without being a Catholic. For me,
it was a personal decision strongly influenced by family.”
Surely Mr Blair converted to do more than end an awkward moment on Sundays?
Though he intends to engage others in questions of faith, he seems awkward
about some aspects of his beliefs and wants to avoid an evangelical posture.
For example, when asked whether he thought a person would be better off
believing that Jesus was the Son of God, he said: “I believe in and I hold
the doctrines of the Christian faith. But I think that when you start to
engage in that type of thing — that actually you’d be better off if you
converted to my faith — if you’re not incredibly careful about how you
approach that conversation — that’s actually what leads to a lot of
confrontation and difficulty.”
This answer tells you something important about his Faith Foundation. While Mr
Blair may have changed the subject to talk about religion, he remains to his
fingertips a politician. He knows that, while the fact of his religious
faith is essential to making his initiative work, the content of it might
get in the way.
His foundation will not attempt to preach. He says that it will have global
extent. And though it currently has a “small team” and is looking for
financial backers, it may attempt to follow the mould set by the foundation
of Bill Clinton, the former US President — now a multimillion-pound
philanthropic operation.
“Let’s start it, be modest and grow it,” he said. “I want it to be a global
foundation.” Then comes more of that Blair instinct for a political position
to occupy. Al Gore has global warming sewn up. Bill Gates is sorting out a cure for malaria. Resolving interfaith conflict is crying out for a
standard-bearer and he realises the position is vacant.
“I think that the areas to do with climate change, and Make Poverty History,
where there’s a well-trodden piece of ground there, and actually I have
interest in both of those things. But in respect of faith, there is a
burgeoning interest in it now.”
He has set his Faith Foundation two tasks: producing educational material and
bringing together different faith organisations to work towards the UN
Millennium Development Goals. The latter is particularly ambitious. The
goals can be seen as a to-do list entitled “achieving world peace”. Combat
extreme poverty and hunger — check. Achieve universal primary education —
check. Combat HIV and Aids — check. The list goes on.
However, is this where Mr Blair’s Faith Foundation will come unstuck? Once the
priests, imams and rabbis get together to discuss how best to tackle Aids in
Africa, will there be a tricky argument about whether distributing condoms
is a better method of tackling the epidemic than promoting “abstinence-only”
programmes?
He gives a very Tony Blair sigh. Such questions miss the point of his
foundation. “Irrespective of what your position might be on Aids and the use
of condoms and so on, actually to get the faith communities to work together
to deal with the killer diseases, is going to be tough enough as a thing to
do . . . but that’s not where I’m starting from.” He says that he does not
wish his foundation to get bogged down in arguments about doctrines.
Then he gets to the heart of the matter. He looks around the room and sees two
Jews, a Muslim and a Catholic, all of us with our own faiths but all at home
in a liberal democratic society. We, he says, are his audience. The Faith
Foundation, in other words, is another chapter in Blairite triangulation.
There are the fundamentalists (old Conservatives), the radical secularists
(old Labour) and the Blair Faith Foundation (new Labour, new faith).
So does this mean he is developing what amounts to a new religion?
No, he replies. Not at all. “This is not about chucking all the faiths in a
doctrinal melting pot and coming out with the world religion as it were,
that’s not what it’s about.
“It’s about defining those two issues: that faith is under attack from
without; an aggressive secularism that sees faith as basically a historical
relic, and it’s under attack from within; from people who see their own
faith as excluding the other.”
Which presents Mr Blair with a problem. Does he want to be honest broker,
bringing together traditionalists, helping them to understand each other but
not challenging them. Or does he want to champion liberal ideas in faith
communities?
He says that he does not need to pick between being controversial and being
irrelevant. He has a two-part strategy and being an honest broker is where
he is beginning: “From where I’m starting, given the debate that I see out
in the Middle East at the moment, you’ve got enough to start with.”
He adds: “It is true, further down the line you will get to a lot of difficult
questions. But at the moment, you’ve still got really quite profound
struggle going on about whether religion is going to be taken over by those
who do not regard even the thought of an encounter with those of another
faith as a good thing. On the contrary, they regard it as a betrayal of
their faith.”
Even if he leaves the really controversial stuff until later, being an honest
broker is not without tough decisions. Who is allowed inside the big tent
and who is excluded?
Al-Qaeda? How far do you go? “As far as people who want peaceful coexistence.
So they don’t. There are elements within Islam that don’t.”
The Blair Foundation has its share of contradictions. His own faith — the
Prime Minister who introduced what amounts to gay marriage and then became a
Catholic — embodies some of them. But he’ll have to get past those. Mr Blair
is trying to reconcile the age-old arguments between Mecca, Jerusalem and
Rome. It is a good thing that he is a man of faith.
Model foundations
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
The foundation is the largest “transparently operated” charitable foundation
in the world. Founded in 2000 and doubled in size by billionaire Warren
Buffett in 2006. The primary aims of the foundation are, globally, to
enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty, and, in the United States, to
expand educational opportunities. It has an endowment of $38.7 billion
The William J. Clinton Foundation
The charitable foundation set up by former US President Bill Clinton has the
mission to “strengthen the capacity of people throughout the world to meet
the challenges of global interdependence”. It focuses on four critical
areas: health security; economic empowerment; leadership development and
citizen service; and racial, ethnic and religious reconciliation. After
Hurricane Katrina, the foundation raised over $150 million
Source: Times archives
I supported Blair strongly until he made the Iraq super blunder... This then made me look at the whole man ... he was found to made of straw infortunately - like all people of faith. He would be better spending his time reading ancient history (and The God Dillusion) and understanding where these ridiculous ideas about a supreme being were originally fabricated.
Rob Dewick , Nottingham
Robert , Leeds, Yorkshire
Is it not enough for us to suffer in his wake, that we still have to hear him as well?
Phil, London,
Aggressive secularism? Secularism isn't against faith - quite the opposite - it makes space in the private sphere for people of various faiths to manifest their religion side by side. What it is against is the sort of pollution of the public sphere that Tony Blair promoted, such as state-sponsored 'faith schools' and the like.
David Jones, Loughborough, UK
All you gotta do Tony is "live and let live." That's all you gotta do.
Your failure to do that in Iraq has demolished your credibility throughout the Islamic world. The leaders of that world (not "aggressive secularists", most of them, but ruthless manipulators of Islam who use it to subjugate their own peoples) will doubtless be polite, because many of them fondly remember you as a man they did business with - and that ain't a recommendation as far as ordinary Muslims in those countries are concerned. Your vanity even prevents you from any regret over the blood you spilled.
Gandhi did much more to promote interfaith harmony than you could achieve in a thousand lifetimes - without plush carpets and a fancy office.
Adrian Evitts, Naples,
As an American, it is reassuring to see that ours is not the only culture whose public discourse is cluttered by cynicism, where logical argument and ad hominem attack are conflated.
Blair's observation that faith is under attack from within by intolerance is incisive. His assertion that secularism is aggressive is not supported by fact.
Faith is simply not a legitimate topic for exploration by scientific inquiry, which is limited to that which can be observed. That reality is not, per se, an attack on faith. I am not aware of any substantial and credible organization of scientists whose stated goal is to challenge religious belief. The assertion that there is such a thing is mere propaganda from the religious right.
Once again, Blair is a study in contradictions. What a fascinating character.
W. Owney, Atlanta, Texas USA
I think that he has done his human best in the past and has tried to make up for mistakes made i.e. attempting to resolve Middle East injustices immediately after leaving his office as PM.That he is flawed is also an obvious fact.I think that this is a good venture provided he is prepared to be true to his convictions and not just use this as a forum to meet people who are different purely for that sake and as long as he is prepared to realise that religion can be used to manipulate,enslave and divide just as it can be used to empower , liberate and unite.To do that he might need to take an uncomfortable look at himself.That having been said I think that he is brave to attempt this and is possibly the best person living to do so.
Saj ("Sarge"), London, England
I think that he has done his best in the past and has been prepared to try to make amends for his mistakes i.e. trying to resolve the injustices in the Middle East immediately after stepping down as PM.I think that he is brave for attempting something like this and that as long as he is aware that religion can be manipulated to enslave and divide just as it can be used to empower, liberate and unite then there is no harm in trying something like this.Unfortunately he might have to take an uncomfortable look at himself in order to appreciate this fully.I wish him the best of luck.
John, London,
Let's face it, Blair thinks he's the second coming.
judy, Liverpool, England
The best thing Blair could do to reconcile religions would be to surrender to the War Crimes tribunal in the Hague, in order to face justice.
Paul Amery, London, UK
The scariest thing is that I think he probably believes what he's preaching...
Will, London,
Will we live to see Pope Tony the first???If so I'll be leaving the Church.
Peter Opthoog, Ashburton , New Zealand.
Blair v. Dawkins - that will be an interesting debate to see. No doubt Dawkins will throw his toys out of the pram and Blair will manage to talk himself out of anything.
McGinty, Glasgow, UK
You see he isnt that clever, as he obviously thinks he is going to hell, so he is trying to make up for his evil past. No comfort for the tens of thousands of people who have died because of him and the millions who continue to suffer because of him.
alan, worcs, uk
Tony converted to the Catholic church which is the first beast in Revelation. IMHO the NWO agenda is a one world religion, and Tony is just a small piece of the big picture.
Andy, London,
Blair is clever but he's not wise. He's the sort of man who wants to change history but knows very little about it. This is blatantly apparent with his dealings in Iraq and the rather too slick way he ran the goverment and the mess he left behind.
Rest assured his latest mission will be mostly hot air and soundbites. It might be the answer for some but it won't solve anything of real value. Hats off for him for trying, but the sooner he and we realise that he is not the sort of man to lead anyone anywhere (especially concerning something as monumental as religion) the better.
MK, Ostuni, Italy
Faith is under attack from ... an aggressive secularism - I absolutely agree, but this secularism is compounded by ministers who fail to affirm their Religious convictions while they are in power. Tony Blair is just as guilty of undermining Faith and particularly the Christian faith as all the other so called Christians within his party. One day we will all be judged.
Nigel Warburton, Woking, UK.
Ruby....is ignorance bliss? Explain how he has damaged millions of lives? If your reference is to Iraq then I would ask whos is doing the killking? I thik you forget that its currently muslims killing muslims and Muslims killing everybody else....but obivously you don't see that.
What Mr Balir appears to be doing is trying to tackle what is the heart of the problem...religion. The fact that so many people believe in God is not the problem, but the fact that people are intolerant regarding the beliefs of others. If Mr Blair can atleast open dialouge between the wolrd's religions to work for peace, then fair play to him.
The fact that he may have made some mistakes in the past is no grounds to be rude. You could not have done a better job and neither could I. Being PM is not easy. Let him without sin...
I wish him success in his endeavours.
Chris, London,
By "aggressive secularists" does he mean the ones writing books, newspaper articles and doing the odd public appearance? "Aggressive" things like that?
Give me a break...
Pete, London, England
Not content with foisting his illegal wars on us, Blair is now trying to foist his superstitious beliefs in the supernatural on us. I expect he will be shown the door, again.
Neil, Gloucestershire, England
Tony Blair has always been full of contradictions in the detail. However, he has always been consistent in his ambition; onwards and upwards.
He became leader of the other Tories in the guise of New Labour; subsequently leading the UK into ‘spreading democracy’!
This time, under the pretext of saving religions from extremism and irrelevance, he is launching himself as leader of a global political party; in the guise of the Faith Foundation.
Jo, Devon, England
How, given his past record for rewriting history and LYING could anyone beleive a word he says???...he simply thinks he is the next blinking Messiah and is the most extrordinary ATTENTION SEEKER going
The problem is with journalists who give him that attention and feed his hunger for control and domination
He STILL doesn' t understand the damage he has done to millions of lives and religion is an easy way to curry favour and approval
ruby cooper, nice, france
How much money will he be making out of it?
Bob Green, Essex, England
How Hypocritical!
If He's Going To Be A Devoted Catholic Then He Should Have Always Have Time For God Then He Should Have Been A Part Of His Life While He Was Prime Minister.
Religion Isn't Something Which Should Be Taken As A Joke and Lightly, Especially If He's Going To Be A Devoted Catholic.
He's Doing This To Have His "Lime-light" In The Press!
At The End Of The Day, He Can't Save Religion, No Matter How Hard He Tries, So He's On A Losing Battle!
Barbara - Ann Cheesman, Sheffield, England
I see that, as expected, this article has attracted the comments of the usual anti Tony Blair suspects... bleat bleat bleat
Hamish, ABERDEEN, UK
It's that thoughtful faith thing coming to the front. Not the easy fundamentalist stereotype that many folk shoot at, but a much harder target.
This centre is an excellent idea. Surely it's obvious that intelligent exploration of faith can only be a good thing?
Mac, Milton Keynes, UK
I think, all things considered, that the Richard Dawkins foundation for Reason and Science will do much more good for society than Tony Blair's latest attempt to spread religious fervour.
Science has given us modern medicine, clean drinking water, plentiful food. Religion has given us war, death, destruction and conflict.
The world would be a significantly better if people were encouraged to say "where's the proof?" rather than "have faith".
Ian Lowe, Airdrie, UK
' "But I think that when you start to engage in that type of thing — that actually you’d be better off if you converted to my faith — if you’re not incredibly careful about how you approach that conversation — that’s actually what leads to a lot of confrontation and difficulty.†'
He had no conviction in standing up for what he believed in then, and he still has no firm conviction on what to stand on now. Trying to leave controversial issues till they pop-up shows his weak stand from the start.
Michael Sahai, Singapore,
Everything changed when Blair left office and confirmed with his own words that for over ten years we had been governed by a self-confessed nutter.
John Bloomfield, Weybridge, UK
The God Deception or the Bliar Deception - not really sure which is worse...
James, Salisbury, UK
Blair thought he was God when he was in Downing Street
Pete, Barry, Wales
Blair "The Latter Day Mesiah"
So misunderstood - he was really put on earth to save us from ourselves. Or not!
I really, really wish he would just "fade away" and let us forget all about him.
Yetta, Copenhagen, Denmark
You would think that Blair would have the decency, not to mention self-preservation instinct to keep a low profile. But he's the failing vaudeville performer that doesn't know when to leave the stage. "They love me. Just one more con will see me right."
Andrew Milner, Yokohama, Japan
I'd have been more impressed if he had exhibited a consistent belief in anything at all,other than the greater glory of Tony Blair, while he led this country down the road to ruin.
His Damascene conversion and new found zeal in promoting his faith only emphasise his lack of conviction and Christian committment during his time as a politician.
Bernard, Edinburgh, Scotland
Extremism and irrelevance? People who live in glass hoouses?
richard, Horley,
Yawn yawn Tony !!!! Saving the world again no doubt !!! Saving the world from alot of the damage caused by you !!!
Ian Payne, WALSALL,