Rescue religion from extremism - Blair

Rescue religion from extremism - Blair

www.news.com.au

The former British Prime Minister has gone public over his beliefs in a major speech on faith, saying religion had to be rescued from extremism in an era of growing globalisation.
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"For religion to be a positive force for good, it must be rescued not simply from extremism – faith as a means of exclusion – but also from irrelevance," he added.
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The worst danger, he said in his speech, was that "you are somehow messianically trying to co-opt God to bestow a divine legitimacy on your politics."

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But Mr Blair, now working as a Middle East peace envoy and seeking international consensus on global warming, did concede religion and politics could be uncomfortable bedfellows as leaders who talk about their faith "may be considered weird."

I applaud these comments from Blair, simply because i too believe that the problem with religions all across the world are extremists. It is a pity nothing can really be done about it, however, at least some world leaders are trying to do something about it.

www.news.com.au
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I think I agree with Blair, though it seems to me it's fundamentalism that makes religion extreme--e.g. Islamic fundamentalism, etc. The trouble is there needs to be a definition of the term "extreme." M y idea of what's extreme might not be another person's. Maybe Blair just means religions shouldn't have any strikingly distinctive characteristics, that they should teach nothing that would make the believer conflict with others, in which case I wouldn't agree with him.

reply to post by Sestias


I think the standardised definition of " extreme" should be when a person's religious beliefs overrides their responsibility towards their country or towards respecting the natural rights of others.

e.g. If an islamic officer refuses to fight in a war, he has breached the military covenant. His beliefs have interfered with the normal operations of the country and military to which he is affiliated with.

I think the most important part of the definition would be not to breach the natural rights of others.