My dear readers,
Former British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, heads a new organization to build a better world through “interfaith harmony.” Reproduced here are two recent articles which inform Bible-believing Christians of significant happenings in these perilous times.
1. TONY BLAIR WANTS TO BUILD NEW WORLD THROUGH INTERFAITH HARMONY
Friday Church News Notes
Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister, has launched a new organization to help build a better world. It is called the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, and one of its tools is promoting interfaith harmony. Blair, who joined the Roman Catholic Church last December, says: “In an era of globalization, there is nothing more important than getting people of different faiths and cultures to understand each other better and live in peace and mutual respect; and to give faith itself its proper place in the future. ... By stressing the values of respect, justice and compassion which the great religions hold in common, he believes faith can help unite the world and shape its direction for the better” (Christian Post, May 30, 2008).
Blair warns about religious people who are divisive, which would apply not only to Islamic terrorists but also to Bible-believing Christians who preach an exclusive faith through Jesus Christ. In the minds of New Agers, one of the greatest obstacles to world harmony is the Bible and those who take it seriously, and hate crimes laws are shaping up as an excellent tool to silence them. (CN 16 June 2008)
2. End Time World shaping up
Protestant Truth of UK (July-August 2008) has an article on the same topic. Early in April ex-Prime Minister, Tony Blair, gave the first of a series of lectures sponsored by the Forte family and held in the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Westminster. The series was entitled "Faith and Life in Britain,” and Mr Blair took as his subject "Faith and Globalisation.”
What Mr Blair had to say gives us an insight into a way of thinking that on the surface may appear very good to a great many people but that spiritually is terribly dangerous. It represents an underlying philosophy dominating the direction in which it seems our society is increasingly moving in the interests of its survival.
What, then, is Mr Blair’s theme? He wants people of faith to play their part in living together in peaceful coexistence while retaining their distinctive identity. Interfaith action and encounter are vital, he says, because they symbolize peaceful coexistence. Religious faith has a positive role in shaping values and can be a force for progress, though it has to be rescued “from the extremist and exclusionary tendency within religion today.”
3. Need to respect other faiths
He deals with the negative presuppositions that many have concerning religious faith, culminating with “the notion that religion is divisive, irrational, and harmful.” Attention is given to the effects of the Enlightenment, and the continuing influence of religion. He contrasts acts of terror done in the name of religion with the evil deeds of the last century engendered by political ideology. He then goes on to outline the good done by people and organizations motivated by religious faith.
Mr Blair takes up the fact that religious faith can lead to extremism. He sees extremists “in virtually every religion.” They see faith not just as a badge of identity but “as a means of excluding the other person who does not share it.” He sees nothing wrong in believing one’s faith to be the only true faith, but that should not lead to lack of respect for others, or a denigration of others as being “somehow lesser human beings.” He maintains that most religious people are concerned about truth.
A long section follows that outlines changes, conditions, and problem areas throughout the world, leading him to the conclusion that there is a “need to discover and rediscover our essential humility before God, our dignity as found in our lives being placed at the service of the Source and Goal of everything.” The Foundation that Mr Blair has started will help different faith organizations to work together for the common good. It will, though, “not be about chucking faith into a doctrinal melting pot” but presenting it “as something dynamic, modern, and full of present relevance.” This involves dealing with both extremism and irrelevance.
4. Working together for the common good
Faith, he argues, “answers to the basic, irrepressible, irresistible human wish for spiritual betterment, to do good, to think and act beyond the limitations of selfish human desires.” For people of faith “God is not some wise Old Man up in the sky, but the true source of life. God is selfless love, merciful and an infinite dispenser of Grace.” Faith says that there are absolutes, revealing our sin and need of forgiveness.
As Mr Blair draws towards the end he says that, “whilst we should not foist our belief on others, we should not be ashamed either to assert it or be proud of it … If people of different faiths can coexist happily, in mutual respect and solidarity, so can our world.” Faith is seen, then, as a solution to conflict.
What should be the Christian response to this? We could ignore it altogether, we might condemn it outright, or we could use it to sharpen our understanding of our own position with regard to faith and our relationships to others, the most positive action to take.
Christians would find it difficult to justify not living with their neighbours peacefully, whatever religion they might hold. Paul told the Roman Christians, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men” (Ro 12:18 ). The right attitude to our relationships with others is taught by our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount, and we see it exemplified in the parable of the good Samaritan. Christian faith and practice cut across all natural boundaries. We are to love God and we are to love our neighbour, whatever beliefs that neighbour might have or from whatever community he or she might come.
All this ought to go without saying. Sadly, however, it has not always been true, nor is it so today. Defensiveness and fear can lead to non-Christian attitudes and actions for which justification may be claimed on the grounds of standing up for the truth. We are not standing up for the truth, however, when we adopt the tactics of the world and behave in ways that Scripture condemns. Mr Blair’s lecture faces Christians like ourselves with a vital question. How can we live peaceably in a pluralistic society and at the same time maintain the uniqueness of Christianity as the truth through which alone people can be right with God? (Protestant Truth’s article on Tony Blair’s initiative will be concluded next week – Ed)
Lovingly in the Lord
Dr SH Tow, Sr Pastor