Christian-Muslim relations were high on the agenda last week when the world-wide debate launched by A Common Word took a further step forward with an international conference at Yale, one of the world's leading universities.
The conference was co-hosted by Professor Miroslav Volf of Yale's Divinity School and Center for Faith and Culture and by HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan. It attracted an impressive array of Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious leaders, scholars and intellectuals from around the word. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation was pleased to be represented at the meeting.
A Common Word was the letter issued by 138 Muslim clerics, scholars and intellectuals, addressed to all Christian leaders across the globe, in October 2007. It was prompted by a deep concern over the state of Christian-Muslim relations and a firm conviction that Christians and Muslims are bound together by a common belief in the Unity of God and a shared commitment to the dual commands to love both God and neighbour. It invited dialogue on that basis.
In his opening remarks last week Professor Volf drew attention to the Christian-Muslim tensions which menace the modern world, but also sensed that a wind of hope was beginning to blow and new light penetrating the darkness, of which the Yale conference was a further manifestation.
The conference was dedicated to deepening understanding between the two faiths, a deepening which is absolutely necessary in a world where faith remains of vital significance to billions of people -how they think, how they behave, how they interact with each other. And in a globalised world where travel, communications and migration are constantly pushing diverse people closer together, such understanding becomes urgent. Religion is not simply a private affair, a common misconception in the West in particular, but a force with profound implications for the public arena. Indeed, this is precisely what motivated Tony Blair to establish his Foundation in the first place. The dual command to love God and to love neighbour, which A Common Word is focused on, provides a powerful and practical way in which to address the many problems which we all share. Prince Ghazi stressed that this was not an attempt to create an artificial union between the two faiths but an endeavour to find an essential common ground, the better to ensure that religions are part of the solution and not an impediment.
Although primarily focused on Christian-Muslim relations, a number of Jewish representatives were present, because of the appropriateness of including insights from the third and oldest of the Abrahamic religions.
Momentum on A Common Word will be maintained through further meetings at Lambeth Palace and Cambridge University in the UK, the Vatican, Georgetown University in the USA and Jordan over the next year, demonstrating the seriousness with which the Common Word process is being taken.
The Yale conference was an important milestone in the dissemination and reception of A Common Word. And A Common Word, and the dialogue flowing from it, offers an important opportunity to help turn conflict into co-existence and suspicion into respect.
It is no exaggeration to describe interfaith relations as an exponentially growing endeavour and that there has never been so much interreligious dialogue and cooperation in human history as there is today.
Yet all too often all this activity remains peripheral to much of the public square and especially to affairs of state. I am not suggesting that interfaith relations can (let alone should) take the place of political leadership and diplomacy. But I do believe that it is a critically essential component in building healthy societies and in resolving conflicts.
An Interfaith Foundation led by one of the most notable statesmen of our times, has the potential to connect these worlds as never before; and it is my honour to congratulate Tony Blair on the establishment of this Foundation and to express the prayer that the One Source and Guide of our world will bless this endeavour, that it in turn may be a blessing to society as a whole.
Rabbi David Rosen KCSG
International Director of Interreligious Affairs
American Jewish Committee
Chairman
International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations – IJCIC
The vision and values of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation are desperately needed today when every major issue in our world is influenced for good or harm by faith factors. It would be foolish to ignore how religious conviction impacts personal and national identity, poverty and education, extremism and reconciliation, disease and development, peace and progress. In any effort to help people learn to live and work together, we must engage the vast networks, resources, wisdom, and influence of the faith communities. My friends, Tony Blair is uniquely prepared with the gifts of temperament, knowledge, experience, leadership, and global respect essential for a task this great. I honestly don’t know of anyone better suited for this challenge. It’s why I agreed to serve on the Advisory Board. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation’s potential for doing good is staggering.
Rick Warren
Saddleback Church
Purpose Driven Network
P.E.A.C.E. Coalition
I welcome with joy and hope the dedication of the Rt. Hon. Tony Blair to initiate a Faith Foundation for the purpose of promoting cooperation among the world’s religions for human wellbeing, mutual understanding and trust. This work is an urgent necessity of our times. All of our religious traditions, in addition to their unique teachings about human destiny and fulfillment, include a vision of an ideal world community characterized by justice, peace, prosperity and freedom from violence, fear and exploitation. This vision, however, will not be realized without our willingness to reach across the historical boundaries of our faiths and extend our hands in friendship and fellowship in the search for common values and solutions. Our hopes for just and peaceful communities will only be realized together or not at all.
Mr. Blair brings to this good work a deep personal faith, considerable skills of leadership, energetic commitment, a respect for the uniqueness of each faith, and insight about the transformative potential of religion. Our collaboration in this effort is not an option. It is an imperative of our common existence and interrelated lives.
Anantanand Rambachan
Professor and Chair
Religion Department
St. Olaf College
Minnesota, USA
I warmly welcome this and every initiative which encourages the important contribution that people of faith can and do make to the common good around the world and helps to progress mutual understanding between the faiths. I trust and pray that the work of the Foundation, and of all those individuals and organisations with which it will collaborate in the coming years will bear lasting fruit, and inspire even greater engagement across the borders of religious difference and diversity.
Dr Rowan Williams
Archbishop of Canterbury
The great tragedy of our times is that the headlines are dominated by the violent fringe of religious communities. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation understands that there is a deep yearning amongst the vast majority of people of all faiths to reject this violence publicly and make real their most enduring principle - to protect and enhance the God-given gift of life. The Interfaith Youth Core and I are proud to partner with the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and diverse people of good faith all over the world to apply this principle in a campaign to end deaths from malaria. Together, we will ensure that the twenty-first century is remembered not as a time of inter-religious violence, but as a period when people of all faiths cooperated to stop one of the giant ills afflicting humankind.
Dr. Eboo Patel
Founder and Executive Director,
Interfaith Youth Core
I pledge my support for the Tony Blair Faith Foundation because I share the vision of fostering respectful relations between the historic faith traditions of the world.
It is of vital importance for the peace of the nations that the faith traditions learn how to live with their deepest differences.
As a committed Christian I profess my sole allegiance to Jesus Christ, but I also know I am called to honour and respect those of other faith traditions. When there is a meeting of different faiths it requires every party to be faithful to their own convictions and respectful of other traditions. This value is the historic heritage of religious liberty.
When the faith traditions break down the walls of suspicion and silence there can be a more effective partnership in working together to achieve the Millennium Development goals.
I warmly commend the imaginative initiatives of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.
David Coffey
President
Baptist World Alliance
The Tony Blair Faith Foundation's vision of inter-religious dialogue and understanding at a time when our world is so imperilled is of profound importance. I believe that most religions in their very foundation share precious common values of regard for all of life. At this time, it is an imperative that we work together to heal the divisiveness in today's world, and nurture the best in each other, so that our children and their children can meet a world that is sane and healthy.
Roshi Joan Halifax
Abbot
Upaya Zen Center
I am delighted that the Faith Foundation is seeking a greater co-
operation between faiths in an effort to combat malaria and pursue the
Millennium Development goals. Extreme poverty is arguably the
greatest moral and ethical issue of our day and there is an urgent
need for people to work together to fight it.
Reverend Nicky Gumbel
Alpha Chaplain and Pioneer,
Holy Trinity Brompton