Blair 'to devote life to faith'

[Deckard]

Originally Posted by chuck

And in breaking news.... absolutely .

Well that's good news.

(groan)

[Deckard]

Incidentally, I think in retrospect I was probably a little too cynical in my initial post of this thread. It's just that it's hard not to choke at the thought of someone - so closely aligned with action that was always going to exacerbate existing religious tension - miraculously explaining how he's now going to foster global peace and understanding. Even besides the obvious gorilla of Iraq, it's hard not to recall, for instance, his silence following the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon, among several other examples.

But perhaps you're right jOHN, we should give him the benefit of the doubt. When I hear remarks from him like "faith will be fundamental to how the world develops" I tend to interpret it as "what we need is more faith", and my kneejerk reaction is one of utter disagreement. But on reflection, I guess his position is at least based on pragmatism - like it or not, faith IS going to be fundamental to how the world develops over the coming decades, and let's face it, it's unlikely we're going to see some mass exodus from religion, at least certainly throughout most Islamic countries. So yes, the world does need more inter-faith dialogue, and it does need voices of moderation. At least, until we reach the next new Enlightenment, that is.

(assuming humanity survives that long)

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

Originally Posted by Deckard

(assuming humanity survives that long)

We will.