Tony Blair: Religious difference, not ideology, will fuel this century's epic battles

[cbayer]

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/25/religious-difference-ideology-conflicts-middle-east-tony-blair

We must encourage education and tolerance if we are to bring about peace in the Middle East and the rest of the world

Tony Blair
The Observer, Saturday 25 January 2014 21.00 GM


Technology – so much the harbinger of opportunity – can also be used to disseminate lessons of hate and division. Photograph: Getty Images

The last weeks have seen a ghastly roll call of terror attacks in the obvious places: Syria, Libya, Iraq and Lebanon, as well as Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia and Pakistan. Also suffering are places where we have only in recent years seen such violence: Nigeria, and in many parts of central Africa, in Russia and across central Asia, and in Burma, Thailand and the Philippines. We can either see all of these acts of killing as separate – produced by various political contexts – or we can start to see the clear common theme and start to produce a genuine global strategy to deal with it.

The fact is that, though of course there are individual grievances or reasons for the violence in each country, there is one thing self-evidently in common: the acts of terrorism are perpetrated by people motivated by an abuse of religion. It is a perversion of faith. But there is no doubt that those who commit the violence often do so by reference to their faith and the sectarian nature of the conflict is a sectarianism based on religion. There is no doubt either that this phenomenon is growing, not abating.

We have to be prepared to take the security measures necessary for our immediate protection. Since 9/11, the cost of those measures, and their burden, has been huge. However, security action alone, even military action, will not deal with the root cause. This extremism comes from a source. It is not innate. It is taught. It is taught sometimes in the formal education system; sometimes in the informal religious schools; sometimes in places of worship and it is promoted by a vast network of internet communications.

Technology, so much the harbinger of opportunity, can also be used by those who want to disseminate lessons of hate and division. Today's world is connected as never before. This has seen enormous advances. It means there is a kind of global conversation being conducted. This is exciting and often liberating. But it comes with the inevitable ability for those who want to get across a message that is extreme to do so. This has to be countered.

more at link

[trotsky]

1. Hey everybody, let's listen to the warmonger.

He'll know how to bring peace for sure.

[LeftishBrit]

2. If I want advice on peacemaking and how to avoid violence...

I'll go to someone other than Tony Blair.

'there is no doubt that those who commit the violence often do so by reference to their faith'

Indeed.

For example:


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bush-god-told-me-to-invade-iraq-6262644.html

and:


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/5373525/Tony-Blair-believed-God-wanted-him-to-go-to-war-to-fight-evil-claims-his-mentor.html

[trotsky]

3. Yup, Tony Blair cautions against those claiming to act according to god's will.

I guess he knows just how much destruction they can do.

[Act_of_Reparation]

4. Extreme Religion v. Extreme Politics? A spurious distinction...

Religion is, by definition, a subset of politics, and in most of the cases Blair cites, the two are practically indistinguishable.