Tony Blair Faith Foundation
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The Tony Blair Faith Foundation was an interfaith
charitable foundation A foundation (also referred to as a charitable foundation) is a type of nonprofit organization or charitable trust that usually provides funding and support to other charitable organizations through grants, while also potentially participating d ...
established in May 2008 by former British prime minister
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...
. Since December 2016 its work has been continued by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.


Launch

The Foundation was launched in May 2008 in New York at the headquarters of the media group
Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...
. In his speech, Blair outlined the Foundation's aim that "idealism becomes the new realism", and that one of its goals was to "counter extremism in all six leading religions" (i.e., according to the Foundation,
Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
,
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
,
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
,
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...
,
Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
, and
Sikhism Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...
). Blair said that while in office, he feared being exposed as a "nutter" if he had talked about his religious views. Former US president
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
attended the launch, describing Blair as "a good man as well as a great leader". In an interview with ''Time'' magazine, Blair said the Foundation was "how I want to spend the rest of my life". The foundation listed several goals: "The foundation provides the practical support required to help prevent religious prejudice, conflict and extremism. At school, university and professional level the foundation provides various education programmes. The foundation encouraged interfaith initiatives to tackle global poverty and conflict." The Foundation's basic premises, as listed in its initial mission statement, were that 1) faith is important to many, underpinning their systems of thought, their behaviour and the behaviour of many of the world's progressive movements, and that 2) the great religions share values of respect, justice and compassion. But the statement also recognised that faith can be divisive, too; this is viewed by the Foundation as being based on distortions of faith rather than being intrinsic to it. The aim of the Foundation was to use the tools of modern communication to "educate, inform and develop understanding" about various faiths, and the relationships between them. It aimed to do this in such a way as to address global poverty and conflict. The Foundation had several projects: Faith and Globalisation Initiative, Face to Faith (later Generation Global), Faiths Act (an activist group), and Faith Shorts (for short religious films).


Faith and Globalisation Initiative

Faith and Globalisation Initiative launched in Yale University in September 2008 was an attempt to build a "global conversation" between an "elite group" of universities. As part of this attempt, Blair was to be the Howland Distinguished Fellow at Yale and was one of the professors for the course.


Face to Faith

Face to Faith was a programme for schoolchildren (12–17 years) which allowed via videoconferencing international interaction where cross-faith discussions may take place. The proclaimed aim was to break down religious and cultural differences and thereby reduce conflict.


Faiths Act initiative

Faiths Act was a project of the Foundation described as an attempt to build a global movement to both "inspire and mobilise" those who believe, in a faith, to address the
Millennium Development Goals In the United Nations, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 created following the Millennium Summit, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. These w ...
. The project focused on deaths from
malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...
.


Faith Shorts film project

The project known as Faith Shorts was announced in March 2010 for short-length movies which increase "understanding between religions". Awards were presented for the films rated highest.


Directors, executives and advisors

Angela Salt was the executive director of the foundation, which was registered as charity in the UK with Tony Blair as its Patron. The trustees were Robert Clinton, Robert Coke and Jeremy Sinclair. The Foundation was also registered as a charity in the US with the following directors: Alfred E. Smith IV, Linda LeSourd Lader, Ruth Turner, Timothy C. Collins and
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...
. Ruth Turner, formerly Director of Government Relations within Tony Blair's Prime Ministerial office, was the first Chief Executive.


International Religious Advisory Council

The Foundation had an International Religious Advisory Council made up of members of what the Foundation considered to be the six major religions. Its role was to advise Tony Blair on the work of the Foundation. Its members were: ''
Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
'' * Roshi Joan Halifax, Abbot of the
Upaya Zen Center Upaya Institute and Zen Center is a center for residential Zen practice located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and founded by Joan Halifax Roshi. The center focuses on integration of Zen practice with social action, with traditional cultivation of wisdo ...
''
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
'' * Rick Warren, Founding and Senior Pastor of Saddleback Church and Founder of the P.E.A.C.E Coalition. * Josiah Idowu-Fearon, Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council * Richard Chartres,
Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...
* David Coffey, President of the
Baptist World Alliance The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is an international communion of Baptists, with an estimated 51 million people from 266 member bodies in 134 countries and territories as of 2024. A voluntary association of Baptist churches, the BWA accounts f ...
* Joel Edwards, Director of Micah Challenge International and former General Director of the Evangelical Alliance. ''
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...
'' * Anantanand Rambachan, Professor and Chair of the Religion Department at St. Olaf College, Minnesota ''
Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
'' * Rabbi David Rosen, Chairman of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations * Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth ''
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
'' * HE Dr Mustafa Ceric, Grand Mufti of Bosnia-Herzegovina * Dr Ismail Khudr Al-Shatti, Advisor in Diwan of the prime minister of Kuwait and former president of the Gulf Institute for Futures and Strategic Studies ''
Sikhism Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...
'' * Professor Jagtar Singh Grewal, former chairman of the India Institute of Advanced Study and former vice-chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University


Funding

A major contributor was Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk through his Victor Pinchuk Foundation.


Criticism

Hugh O'Shaughnessy in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' stated that the Foundation "inspires ridicule". He noted that Professor Michel Schooyans of the Catholic University of Leuven and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences "accused Blair and his wife of supporting a messianic US plan for world domination." The criticism's focus was that the Foundation's approach amounted to reducing the religions to the same, predetermined common denominator. This meant "stripping them of their identity". Schooyans arguing that "(t)his project threatens to set us back to an age in which political power was ascribed the mission of promoting a religious confession, or of changing it. In the case of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, this is also a matter of promoting one and only one religious confession, which a universal, global political power would impose on the entire world." The director of the Muslim charity Forward Thinking, Huda Jawad was reported by the BBC as raising doubts about levels of support from many Muslims for the Foundation, given Blair's foreign-policy record. On 2 April 2009, sceptic and secularist
Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author. He is an Oxford fellow, emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Simonyi Professor for the Publ ...
mocked the Foundation in a spoof letter, published in the ''
New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...
''. In it, Dawkins ridiculed the idea that faith is not a divisive force, and attacked religion's record on promoting dialogue and equality. Between April 2008 and April 2009, the foundation raised more than 3.5 million pounds, and paid, according to the ''Daily Telegraph'', six-figure salaries to its top officials. An implied criticism was that these pay scales were in line with much larger charitable organisations. However, the wages were also reported to be the result of external recommendations and a strategy of hiring a small number of capable senior staff to co-ordinate a variety of efforts."Tony Blair's faith charity pays six figure salaries to top officials"
Robert Mendick, ''The Telegraph'', 13 February 2010. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
A former editor of a Foundation website,
Martin Bright Martin Derek Bright (born 5 June 1966) is a British journalist. He worked for the BBC World Service and ''The Guardian'' before becoming ''The Observer's'' education correspondent and then home affairs editor. From 2005 to 2009, he was the polit ...
, was critical of the organisation and its style. He mentioned the problems associated with the need to tiptoe around some of Tony Blair's business interests in Kazakhstan, Romania and the Gulf, his advising of the new government of Egypt being "a nightmare", the organisation's use of "ritzy offices in a West End tower block", the employment of five people in a communications department "whose sole aim seemed to be to say as little as possible" and the use of unpaid interns.


References


External links


Tony Blair Faith Foundation
(organisation website) * {{Tony Blair Foundations based in the United Kingdom Tony Blair 2008 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2008 Religious organisations based in London Religion and society