I think people sometimes think my religious faith played a direct part in some of those decisions; it really didn’t.
But some people have other ideas…
It’s very simple to explain the idea of Blair the Warrior," [John Burton] says. "It was part of Tony living out his faith.
Did Blair use religion to justify the war? Personally, I hope not. Can you think of a worse excuse? I can think of a much more believable reason for the war. (H/T Bristol Dave)
I’ve always been a supporter of the separation of Church and State. The only problem is, when the actors of the state have deeply held religious beliefs, you can guarantee they’ll play a part in the decision making, no matter what. George Bush is a good example. Who can honestly say religion didn’t play a part in his government’s policies? On a related note…
I’m driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, ‘George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.’ And I did, and then God would tell me, ‘George go and end the tyranny in Iraq,’ and I did.
To an extent, I guess using the force of the state to enforce your religious views in not much different from using the force of the state to enforce your political views. Either way, it’s using force to make people live their lives a certain way. I personally go by the rule “Does it infringe the rights of others? If so, don’t do it”. Whether or not this constitutes “forcing” a way of life is debatable.
I think what annoys me most — as a Christian — about that last post is that he didn’t. I’m all for divine inspiration causing people to commit great acts of Random Altruism, but let’s look at the contrast here.
God asked Mother Teresa to go help the poor of Calcutta. She did.
God asks George Bush to go fight the terrorists in Afgahnistan, and he orders others to do it.
Not exactly the same thing. I like to think maybe if George Bush had personally fought the terrorists himself, maybe he wouldn’t have taken such a literal interpretation of “fight.”
The individual is a whole. You cannot separate the religious Blair from the political man. Some people think the religion must be apply only inside the churches, inside the temples. Personally I am always the same, inside and outside the church. Peace does not mean to say always yes, nevertheless it cannot be imposed.The peace is only a private affair. If you have peace inside your heart, only then you can spread it all over. But if your mind or soul is tossed by conflicts, never you can bring peace to the others, as you cannot give what you don’t have got.
The book I have recently written may help in this direction and I want to draw it to your attention. The title is “Travels of the mind” and it is available at http://www.stategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TravelsOfTheMind.html
If you have any question I am most willing to discuss about this topic.
Ettore Grillo