“Religious faith will be of the same significance to the 21st Century as political ideology was to the 20th Century,” Tony Blair said on Thursday in a statement before Friday’s launch in New York of his new Faith Foundation to improve understanding between different religions and fight global poverty by mobilizing people through faith.
Blair is not the first person to talk about how important religion is and will be in the 21st century. Decades ago, the late French writer André Malraux reportedly went so far as to issue a wonderfully Gallic sweeping statement: “The 21st century will be religious or it will not be.”
Even if British understatement isn’t what it used to be, Blair’s comment is really quite bold. The main political ideologies of the 20th century were communism, Nazism and fascism. They rallied huge masses of people, justified totalitarian regimes and imposed skewed views of the world on whole populations. When communism collapsed across Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union following the fall of the Berlin Wall, millions of people felt that they had been liberated.
I’m sure Blair doesn’t mean to evoke this negative aspect of the political ideologies that gripped the 20th century. He’s clearly thinking of the positive power of faith, as he explains in this interview in Time. Isn’t it clumsy, then, to compare religion to the ideologies of the 20th century?
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The only things religion has brought politics are bigotry, prejudice, condemnation, persecution, victimisation, war, violence, torture, wholesale theft, money extraction and murder.
Religion is the distillation of man’s control freakery compulsion.
- Posted by The Truth Is...Just to counterpoint a few observations other people have made so far:
*There is no link at all between Fascism and even classical Stalinism. Fascism is a severely pro-capitalist ideology (Churchill the ubercapitalist for instance praised Mussolini’s “Roman Genius” and was a great admirer) based in complex racism, nationalism and a kind of deranged voluntarism which was also very complex. Stalinism on the other hand is a perversion of Revolutionary Socialism, which also, in different conditions, spawned Blair’s own party and his tendency of Social Democracy. They were both changed into what they were by reactions and failures in the movement, but they drew on the urge for change in people that inspired the Russian Revolution. Stalinism systematically destroyed the legacy of the Russian Revolution, but they could for a long time draw on the progressive ideals of Bolsheviks . During WWII Stalin partly restored the Orthodox church and stroked nationalism as well (”motherland”).
*”Democracy” does have an ideology, Liberalism. Obviously this doesn’t match up with the common use of “Liberal,” though it is recognized by whomever coined Libertarianism, because Liberalism really is the correct label for capitalist ideology. Liberalism is freedom from all impediments to individual profit (usually in the broad sense), property relations that allow complete private ownership of the means to produce, and a state of capitalist consensus, (originally just land-owners could vote in the US you have to realize, but now the same effect is accomplished by fund-raising barriers and lobbying, so it is actually even more an effective government of capitalist consensus). This ideology isn’t always advertised, but it spoken of very broadly by some of the bolder spokesmen.
- Posted by Roy Fairbank[...] Third Way style religion Via Gulf Stream Blues I’ve come across some of the utter rubbish Tony Blair has been saying about religion over the past few days. “Religious faith will be of [...]
- Posted by Jon Worth » Blair: Third Way style religionif i may be permitted to comment further on this matter. Sadly, no one seems to want to declare the Christian message and relate it to this situation. The popular declaration of the 3 monotheistic religions, is a spin too far! (TRUE)Christianity, based upon The Bible, is not a religion, it is God revealing Himself, supremely in Jesus Christ(Hebrews 1:1-3)) Jesus is the ONLY way to God(John 14:6) This is anathema to Islam, and an offence to the Jew. We need to move away from the caricatures of what Christianity is or isn’t, and return to a Biblical understanding. Then it will be clear that there can be no smudge. There is only ONE ‘foundation’ and that is Jesus Christ, and the Apostle Paul warns us in 1 Corinthians 3 to be very careful how we build upon it/Him.
- Posted by andrew fairheadWe need great discernment to sort out the rights and wrongs of what so called ‘religious’ people are saying. It’s a whole lot better when we use the Bible, as our only guide, and put our trust in the One who is central to its message-Jesus! -The way, the truth, the Life! He is the One for life here and for hearafter!
Thanks for your time in reading this…….please dont be ‘taken in’. Turn to the Ultimate authority!
Religion is a crutch that we do not need.
If God existed - would, for example, God really stand by and watch children being horribly murdered and do absolutely nothing when indeed God is supposed to have an almighty power?
God cannot exist: if God existed then God is incredibly quilty of criminal inaction.
If I had the power to stop someone from being murdered, etc., I would do so - not stand watching.
My message to the world is that we are on our own - and we must all get real and treat each other with respect, dignity and politeness at all times.
Forget about God!
- Posted by The Truth Is...Sadly the intention of uniting ‘faiths’ under Mr. Blair’s ‘Foundation’ will be a foundation of sand, as in the parable told by Jesus in Matthews Gospel.
- Posted by andrew fairheadIt is impossible to unite opposites! Any attempt to try and achieve this can only mean dishonesty on the part of any who think they can ‘play’ in this dangerous game.
“For there is One God, and One Mediator between man and God, the Man Christ Jesus……….. “
does tony blair have a licence if so who gave it to him
- Posted by jimI see nothing of worth in this its just another extension of globalism.
Instead he liek many other so called leaders face reality on this earth now and see that the biggest threat to life and the future of all idelogies and religious ones is OVERPOPULATION and so slow extinction of life
God wont stop that Mr Blair
- Posted by tony trebilockSeriously though; this century will indeed be about religion.. Bravo sir for recognizing that. You only have to look around the world to call that one. What you are failing to tell people, is that the last couple of times that Muslims were mad at Christianity, And the catholic church was making a “comeback”; How many people were killed over this “Religious revival”. Maybe Mr. Blair should kick off the next round of crusades.
- Posted by bobby bobbertonI think Tony Blair is absolutely spot on when he states
“Religious faith will be of the same significance to the 21st Century as political ideology was to the 20th Century,”
Belief systems and the mind-set of individuals who feel
compelled to force those strongly held beliefs on others definitely needs addressing.
Lets hope Mr Blair your noble intentions are not misinterpreted as more evidence of Western European double standards.
- Posted by NickJim, my remark about Malraux was more a wry comment on his style than a fundamental criticism of its content. My point was just that the French were prone to sweeping statements like his while the British tended to be more reserved. As for democracy, it’s a form of government rather than an ideology per se. It takes different shapes according to other political ideas it is applied with, for example laissez-faire capitalism or welfare state socialism. The political ideologies of the 20th century combined certain political and social policies, economic systems and forms of government in distinctive ways that applied wherever they came to power. After the Anschluss, Austria was reorganised along the lines of Nazi Germany. After World War Two, Eastern Europe was reorganised along Soviet Communist lines. Democracy comes in so many forms that it can’t be called an ideology all by itself.
- Posted by Tom HeneghanBlair had nothing constructive to offer when he was Prime Minister and has nothing now. Why is Reuters touting his new “project”?
- Posted by Mike TI think religion will become a focus but not for the reasons Mr Blair would like. With global communities ever more aware of each other, there will be a good deal of questioning as to the purpose of individual faiths and how they coexist. This isn’t new and has been going on for centuries but it will be exacerbated by the spread of education and access to the media. The key difference will be the how much politicisation of religion(s) people will accept going forward.
- Posted by M BryanMust have a book coming out! Idiot.
- Posted by Rick HoughTony Blair says his Christian faith gave him the strength as prime minister to take tough decisions.
- Posted by FredIsn’t faith in a God just some convenient mythological concept on which to offload guilt?
“God made me do it!”
Pity him, should his faith waiver and he sees the enormity of the carnage he has wrought.
I can think of nothing more frightening than all these superstitious maniacs getting together and ruling the world. Superstition already causes most of the world’s conflicts, we don’t need any more.
- Posted by gregI would rather he dedicated the rest of his life eradicating religion globally. I also feel that no-one with such strong religious beliefs should be allowed any position of consequence.
- Posted by RobertYou criticise Malraux for making a “sweeping statement” and then go on to assert that “The main political ideologies of the 20th century were communism, Nazism and fascism.” Er.. really?
Isn’t democracy an ideology? What about capitalism and globalisation? The term may have been invented by socialist thinkers but does that mean that ideology must forever be taken as a byword for corrupt communist regimes and - through some bizarre association - fascism?
- Posted by JimWhat a worry ! Thanks to his religion we ended up with a war in Iraq.
I’m reminded of an American comedian who recently said the best thing you could do with all the world’s religious leaders was to line them up on a cliff and push them over the edge together - and leave the rest of us to our lives.
- Posted by BARRY