TIMESONLINE: Tony Blair talks about his Faith Foundation, which is no less than an attempt to save religion from extremism and irrelevance
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.” Tony Blair Didn’t Do God in Downing Street. Now He’s Making Up for Lost Time >>> By Murad Ahmed and Daniel Finkelstein | April 8, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback)
