Tony Blair “profoundly wrong” to imagine religion as a peacemaking tool
Posted: September 10, 2009.
Published: September 11, 2009.
Print: National Secular Society
Tony Blair profoundly wrong to imagine religion as a peacemaking tool. Tony Blair’s claim that religion can bring peace and prosperity to the world has been challenged as profoundly wrong and counterproductive this week by the President of the National Secular Society.
Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, said: “Tony Blair is on entirely the wrong path if he truly wants the world to progress to peace and prosperity. This obsession with ‘faith’ has clouded his judgment and brought his reputation to its knees – as well as bringing death and destruction on a major scale to the people of Iraq. This idea that religion — if it can settle its differences — has the capacity to save the world is an utter fantasy and completely contradicted by history. Religions have never been able to settle their differences and they never will. For every small truce declared by well-meaning people promoting ‘interfaith dialogue’ there are a dozen lethal religious conflagrations burning. The very nature of religion means that those that fundamentally disagree about what constitutes ‘the truth’ must always be at war. By constantly promoting the possibility of religion being a force for positive change, Blair stands in the way of the very progress he so obviously desires. It is only by looking at other ways to live together that don’t involve religion that we are likely to able to stop this crazy conflict over ‘faith’. Tony Blair should be using his influence to promote a secular solution, not encouraging people to put even more emphasis on the religion that causes them to hate each other so intensely.”
Excellent response by the President of the National Secular Society to Tony Blair’s fantasy of all religions just getting along.
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