Tony Blair Faith Foundation

Faith in the Marketplace?  the second seminar in the series entitled “New Perspectives on Faith and Development” which is being jointly hosted by The Tony Blair Faith Foundation, DIFID, Islamic Relief, World Vision and Oxfam and in association with the RSA took place on Wednesday 30th of September.   There was lively debate between keynote speakers: Ken Costa and Tariq Ramadan and discussants Reverend Giles Fraser and John Reynolds – carefully balanced by Steve Chalke as Chair. The irony that it is those in the developing world who will be hardest hit by the gl

The Tony Blair Faith Foundation, DFID, Islamic Relief, World Vision and Oxfam are working together in association with the RSA to host 6 groundbreaking seminars to discuss the new perspectives emerging on Faith and Development. " Economics is too important to be left to economists" said Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams recently. The global recession has caused us all to reflect our current economic system and ask: Have our financial markets suffered from a lack of values?

Yom Kippur, the most sacred and solemn day of the Jewish year, brings the Days of Repentance to a close. It is an opportunity for all faiths to reflect on individual conduct over the past year and seek ways to do more, above all by intensifying efforts to help the less fortunate and needy in the world.

At 8am on Tuesday Ruth and I, along with members of the Together Against Malaria (TAM) teams, drove across an already hot and bustling Nampula city to the 'Baptista Ebenezer' church. Tucked away behind a market stall selling chickens, cashew nuts and mobile phone cards, we were warmly welcomed into the church by Pastor Louis dos Santos from a nearby Evangelical church.

Ian Jamison and I happily embarked upon our flight and found the experience from the start an indication of all things oriental to come.The journey to Hyderabad from Karachi took around two hours. A rather dry arid route, not too dissimilar from the geographical contours of California or Colorado.

To all those celebrating Eid-Ul-Fitr and the special month of Ramadan, we would like to send our very best wishes for what was a very blessed month and a festival of great importance worldwide. The month of Ramadan is one of the most important dates in the Islamic calendar. The Qu'ran was first revealed during this month and the wisdom of the special verses are given specific attention during prayers and recital worldwide.

L'shanah tovah to all those celebrating the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. The commemoration of the creation of the world is a very important time for the Jewish community. It is not only a time of celebration, but also one of reflection. The futures hoped-for sweetness mingles with humility and repentance.

To all those celebrating Navaratri we send our very best wishes. The variety of ways in which this festival is celebrated around the world enables us to encounter some powerful lessons about our common humanity, and our relationship with the world around us. Those celebrations that emphasise the end of harvest remind us of the need for all of us to work together to ensure the preservation of the environment and the many for whom bad harvests mean they go to bed hungry.

The teachers that I've been working with over the last couple of days have been really inspiring - although there is some trepidation about the whole business of engaging with religion with their students, they have maintained exceptional energy and enthusiasm, and even at the end of the second day were coming out with some great ideas about how they might engage with the programme in their school.

Even before I started officially working for the Foundation, I found myself on my way to Thailand to run a training event for schools in South East Asia who were interested in getting involved in the Face to Faith Programme. There were some people there who had already committed to the Programme, and wanted to be the Lead Schools for their Country, as well as others who had come along to observe the training, and get a feel for the nature of the project.