Tony Blair! - Is this the same fool who regards tax as a force for weath creation, 90 detention without trial as a force for liberty and the bombing of embassies as a force for increased international understanding?

edward green, Upminster,

If "God" created the Earth 4.3 billion years ago and life started 3.5 billion years ago or so, how come it took all of that timeframe, give or take a few thousand years, for him to reveal his existence and even longer befor he managed to let the Chinese know?

Rubbish Tony and Rubbush Dubya

James McLaren, Lectoure, France

This guy is shameless.
Maybe he could allow some of those poor and destitute people to take shelter in one of his many houses. Houses paid for using expense claims nad tax payers money.

Shameless hypocrite.

Steve, London,

If TB acted on the alleged teachings of Christ then maybe he would be given a little more respect.

Clive Stringer, Eggesford, England

Is this the same individual who receives £100K - £200K for a lecture – who has a £4.6M publishing contract, not to mention the pension that would feed a quarter of the starving in the third world? has he found piety? - NO - he has found another Money-Go-Round!

Michael Nye, Colnbrook, Slough, U.K.

to us bible baptist,Tony Blair is the fulfilment of bible phrophesy.he fits the man that will unite all religion before the return of Christ from heaven.revelation 13:13-18.since he is now a roman catholic,he is back by the vicar of God the pope who will build the temple in jerusalem.2thes.2:1-12

velasco, tuguegarao, philippines

Andy T, The ruling elites don't need religion to control us. They
already have all the money, women and beer. They control us
by making us work 60 hours a week and giving us a little beer.

John, Placentia, California

Mr Blair's remarks seems to be very sensible to me.
I wish to him the best of luck in his new role and adventure.

Edoardo, Southport, UK

Even as a born-again Christian myself, I would have great difficulty in explaining to Muslims the reasons for the Crusades, let alone obedience to Jesus Christ in invading Iraq. Maybe TB is trying to do penance for being such an egocentric poodle to another egocentric in recent years.

Bob Ericson, Tewkesbury, Glos,

Religion is just a controlling mechanism used by ruling elites, it looks like Tony was working for them all along and has now taken up a new position in the Propaganda war on the minds.

Andy T, North East, England,

"Blair sells religion as force for good"

Well, how much is he asking for? What is the price we have to pay, in blood, money or oil?

jayil, london, uk

So,

How does Tony explain The Crusades in the context of religion as a force for good?

Tony is missing a fundamental point: all humans are essentially tribal and mostly prefer to live among others like themselves. It's an evolutionary adaptation. Religion is one defining tribal characteristic.

Scott, Durham, NC, USA

Marxism as a religion has caused countless deaths and incapacitated human liberty....Politics is the Religion of Death which has caused much suffering through self-delusion and deceit.....yet it is bound up with the Religion of Money

Voyager, London, England

Well Done Tony, I think that it is a Noble thing to use your knowledge, fame (or infamy) and position to address one of the fundemental issues facing the world today. ie, getting differant people to live together in harmony. Curious to know why the conversion to Catholocism though?

Nick, Brisbane , Australia

A lot of your comments are angry and cynical. Anger and cynicism isn't going to bring together the major religions and save '000s from malaria. Whatever you think of his motivations, all credit to Blair for trying a new approach.

Francis Hesketh, Birkenhead, UK

"Religion" gets the blame for wars - but really its not religion but greed for power, land and water that causes war - religion doesn't kill people, people kill people. The 2 greatest holocausts of all time were perpetrated by atheists acting out a humanist credo - ie Hitler & Stalin.

Francis Hesketh, Birkenhead, UK

Suuure religion is a force for good: Get down on your evangelical knees with George Bush and look what happens.

Arik Silverman, Milwaukee, USA

Religion is historically responsible countless wars, not least the "war on terror", if we accept this as a genuine war. I have no doubt that Mr Blair has the best of intentions, but inter-faith co-operation is doomed to fail until muslims accept all other faiths as being equally valid as Islam.

Ture Damtoft, London, UK

"Blair sells religion as force for good" - he'd sell anything as long as he could make money from it.

BO, England,

It seems to me that those who do not know religion (atheists) think that it is evil, while those who do know it (ie. go to their church/mosque) know that it is a force for good. Make of that what you will.

Chris, Epsom,

Faith is the unquestioning method that leads to dogma and eventually hypocrisy. It is reason that permits questioning and seeks solutions. This fundamental approach must not be obliterated by celebrities that haven't given the issue due thought.

Dale Netherton, Farmington, United States

Historically, religion has been a force for evil and caused more suffering than any other aspect of life.
To look on the bright side - Mr Blair's unique takents seem well-suited to propagate its bitter taste and put an end to the entire farce once and for all.

Rosemary, Germany,

A religious foundation based in Wall St ; is this the most appropriate location? Is Mr T . Blair making fools of us?

tari, London,

He also said: 'Religious faith will be of the same significance to the 21st century as political ideology was to the 20th century.' I hope not, since political ideology killed more people in the 20th century than in the history of the world to that point.

paul freeman, London, England

I says a great deal for Roman catholicism that it's latest convert and salesperson in none other than a proven liar, cheat and war monger who deceived his own countrymen before moving his promoconartist business to the USA. Well I suppose that's where most of the other religio-business syndicates are - and thankfully well away from here.

Sean, Coventry, UK

I hope that Tony Blair is as wrong about religion becoming more important in the 21st century as he was about the war in Iraq. We need a world less driven by religion. The idea that religion with it's inate bigotry, irrationality and intolerance is a force for good is wrong.

Tony Gosling, London, UK

does he have a licece i thought you had to be certified these days?

jim, edinburgh,

Good luck Mr Blair, it is a noble thing you do (makes up for the mistakes of the past). Religon is a force for good and has done more good than anything else. It is sad that people have doubt your mental state just because they can't argue with your endevaour.

Steven, Buckhurst Hill,

"Sells" is the operative word here. I'm sure Tony is making money out of this somewhere.

Whether he does or not, what could be more hare-brained than a war criminal running a religious foundation?

Tony and his mate just get stranger and stranger with every passing week.

JOHN CHUCKMAN, Toronto, Canada

I fear Blair is the Anti-Christ dressing himself up as the second Messiah. Why else would he view himself so egocentrically?

Either that or somebody needs to treat his schizophrenic delusional mental state. The man is becoming increasingly unbalanced in his judgment.

Edwin, Bucharest,

Where are the men in white coats when you need them?

Mike L, Chippenham, Wilts

It's depressing to read so much cynicism. I guess this might be why we need the Foundation - to remember a day when we believed in more than self interest.

Good luck Tony Blair - aim for the sky but keep your feet on the ground.

Peter, Bromley, UK

"religion as force for good"

God told Mr Bush to invade Iraq. That decision wasn't good at all. Hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced together with thousands of US and UK soldiers. Mr Blair said his decision was right. In other words killing those people was the right thing to do?

jayil, london, uk

I'm convinced he is mad & his wife is a close second. Everything he does & says is a complete contradiction. How does he reconcile engineering a war with his Christian beliefs. KIDS ARE STILL DIEING because he contrived a phoney dossier to go to war!! Now the money pours in. Mad, completely mad.

michael, nice, france

This man is dangerous - but this is not surprising. Go back to 1997 and you will see how evangelical he was even then.

Ian Burgess, Bristol,

I find what seems to be a rapidly developing Messiah Complex very disturbing, most of what distinguishes Blair from real christians has been mentioned above.
The Labour Party was founded by socialists and methodists Blair has betrayed all that those people stood for

Rebecca Louise Hunt, Lancaster,

I seriously doubt the intelligence of anyone who listens to lectures on faith from a man who postponed his ow faith for eleven years until he no longer found it politically inconvenient to acknowledge it.
Blair's position hardly compares favourably with Thomas More's, does it?

Robert, Hull,

Blair has been quoted as saying,

“What faith can do is not tell you what is right but give you the strength to do it.”

Yes, we know Saint Tony and it's for that very reason why we don't want anyone who believes the fairy tales to have any significant power.

Russ, Reading, UK

Most of your commentators miss the fact that the religious factions don't have a problem with mass killing because it is all god's will and they can shift the blame to him. And Blair won't see protests in the ME countries because they don't care about ex-politicos with no more real clout.

KR, Stockport,

If you take the fear and control message out of all religions the fundmental message is to love and respect each other. How about that for a start!

Linda, Kalo Horio, Crete

Religion was a force for good back in the day when there were huge problems with rule following, explaining things and it united people. But it has also been a force for evil and evil doings (lots of). Most recently terrorism and halting scientific advances. In this day and age it is not needed.

Graeme, Edinburgh,

Dear God, please protect me from your followers. Thank you. Amen.

andy, Glasgow, UK

It should be incumbent upon Prime Ministers to reveal if they have deep seated religious beliefs. Did they affect his decision making? If people want to believe in all of this superstitious mumbo jumbo or read horoscopes every day then that is entirely up to them. Prime Ministers need to tell us.

Paul Owen, Birmingham, UK

History tells us that when God gets involved in politics that he does not make a very good job of it.

Mr G, Leeds, UK

Great. Just what we need. The 'ideologies of the 20th Century' created the worst 100 years of war and inhumanity to man since we crawled down from the trees. And now Blair is promising religion will replace ideology for this century. More war, terror and inhumanity then?

Ben, London, London

As long as the churches of this country continue to discriminate against women, homosexuals, transsexuals and people of other religions and pompously claim that societies problems are due to the decline of their various religious orders they will never be a force for good in society.

Graham, London, England

Blair is partly right - only those religions which preach and practice tolerance are a force for good. Can anyone guess which ones?

Subramaniam, Paris,

Believe what you want, but let us live according to the secular law. It's religion that needs to adapt to reality not secularism. Oh for a world free of nations and religions!

paul freeman, London, England

Perhaps Europe being probably the most highly educated continent has something to do with its secularism, or perhaps the thousands of years of brutality and war caused by religion has resulted in the cultural abandonment of god as a practical route to a fulfilled, happy and free life

Chris, Leicester, England

Poverty and disease do not discriminate on the grounds of religion - why should Tony Blair?

Help should be given to those who need it regardless of religion.

Des, Edinburgh,

The angry cynicism n prejudice of my compatriots creates a stifling and scary homogeneity of thought.

It is oppressive n condemning of dissent from the secular mindset of unexamined atheism and contemptuously dismisses theists as fools.

Another time n place - the goulags would beckon.

Nathan, Inverness, UK

Faith isn't an 'alternative' to conflict, but often a causal factor.
There are already numerous academic programmes studying 'conflict resolution' - not faith based because it isn't a necessary component.
Good ones also closed because Blair & Co. wouldn't fund reasoned academic theory or critics.

Stuart Hartill, Ramsey, Isle of Man,

Good luck Mr Blair,Perhaps you could start with unifying the hundreds of splinter christian groups which grow annually.

iain rae, Tunbridge Wells, U.K.

The Blairs' notorious spin doctor, Alastair Campbell, once vehemently declared, 'We don't 'do' God'.
Another lie from New Labour then.

R.M., London, England

It is sad that many secular English men are so ignorant about religion that they believe it is about "Santa Claus". Cynicism is a claim to omniscience and there is far to much of it in Britain.

Ed, Dartford, UK

nar·cis·sism - noun inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity.
Silly little dreams for a silly little boy

Gilchro1, Perth, Scotland

We can't seem to get away from this war criminal. Can't he apply to US citizenship? (Bush is missing his poodle)

jayil, london, uk

This devoutly religious man seems to have no conscience regarding the many thousands of deaths resulting from his crazy actions as Prime Minister. What kind of force for good has his religion beent?
With his track recortd for amassing money you have to wonder what fees this foundation must meet.

E R Roberts, Cheadle, England

If Blair is so religious then a) why has he no problem with killing people on a mass scale? and b) why is his sole purpose in life to get rich quick while most of the world resides in poverty? This man's life reflects anything other than Christian values. The irony is stark.

Mary Allen, Enfield, UK

Blair Crucified the British workers and old Folks in the name of his new religion Global Warming.
If Christ came back today Blair would be holding the HAMMER.

Nemo

Jon Nemo, Llanelli, UK

Blair said: "What faith can do is not tell you what is right but give you the strength to do it." I find that very scary. It is the formula on which fundamentalists of all faiths base their extreme views and actions. Is this why we went to Iraq?

ACS, Bristol, UK

"fighting shy of discussing his deep Christian convictions for fear of alienating Britain's largely secular society"
As a politician he could not afford to alienate any section of society no large or small because this means losing votes. It is your interpretation that Britain is largely secular

MG, Newcastle,

If Blair wishes to believe in the supernatural and superstitious ritual that is a matter for him but, after a trial for war crimes, the rest of us would like to see him spend the rest of his life in a jail.

Neil, Gloucestershire, England

I am deeply uneasy with people in power feeling that they are receiving guidance from God - to question any decision reached this way must not only be wrong, but impious. Surely rational decision making and consideration of dissenting views must suffer?

Dean Hallett, Basingstoke, UK

I wonder how these millions of pounds are to be spent - and who will be scrutinising Blair's expenses. God only knows.

c chapman, corridonia, italia

Religion may be a force for good but Blair and his wife are walking proof that it doesn't work. As an example of something 'good' he gives religion a bad name. He needs to go away and stay quiet before he causes more trouble. I feel sorry for Catholics having to be linked to these hypocrites.

judy, Liverpool, England

Selling religion to the masses has been practiced for 2000+ years . From day one, it has always been done for ulterior motives, a few of which have been good:
- like for health reasons, to maintain the population levels, because life expectancy was short etc.
Now it is for enrichment and power

Gunther St, Portola Valley CA, USA

Mr Blair,

Your faith and religous instincts haven't helped the people of Iraq has it.
I suspect the religions of the World are not relishing your assistance.
The great gift of belief in God is that all you need do is ask for forgiveness, irrespective of your sins and general cock ups.

Joe, Geelong, VIC Australia

Good for Blair to at least ATTEMPT to do something that would bring peaceful relations between cultures of the world. Perhaps some of the commentors find some faith that would heal their anger and hate. Would that some enlightened leader formulate a plan to eradicate greed and ignorance!

Judy, Page,AZ, USA

I think this is a bad case of blurred vision. A man of faith would not lie or would he?

steve tea, manchester, cheshire

Its amazing that people have such a narrow view of history, this little island was Christian before it was the UK and over a thousand years of innovators, leaders and reformers have been part of a religious society, was Isaac Newton 'medieval'? Secularism is a generations conceit, seeing only itself

Bradley, Blackpool,

Is there no end ,to this mans egomania.

ronnie, Bucks, UK

His whole life is dedicated to self-deluded fairy-tales: (1) the fairy-tale that he was a good prime-minister; (2) the fairy-tale that the Iraq war was justified; (3) the fairy-tale of religion. Meanwhile, the rest of us have to live in the real world, Tony!!

Palu Downes, Milton Keynes, Bucks

It seems to me that, rather than promoting religion as a force for good, he would do better to spend his time diminishing religion as a force for anything.

Josh, Sydney, Australia

Perhaps he could do the world some good by taking vows of Poverty and silence and withdrawing into a closed monastery to give his life in quiet contemplation.
Then I shall believe that he is not in it for himself.

Howard , Basildon, England

It is embarresing that in secular 21st Century Britain we had a leader who believed in medieval philosophy. A clear indication that his mind had not developed beyond the level of "Santa Claus" and other fairy stories.

Ben, Edinburgh, UK