Newsroom - Media
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08.01.10
Understanding other religions is key to peace, Tony Blair tells Dubai - The National
DUBAI // An understanding of other religions may hold the key to peaceful global coexistence, the former British prime minister Tony Blair said yesterday during a visit to the Winchester School in Dubai.
“If we only understood each other a little better it might be easier to get along with each other,” he said during an event last night held in his honour. “Ignorance breeds fear and fear breeds conflict.”
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23.11.09
Faith in Action - The Washington Post/ On Faith
As Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams occupies a unique position in the religious world, with the potential to bridge religious and secular. As leader of Britain's established religion, he engages constantly with political leaders. So the title of his recent speech in London jumped out at me: "Relating Intelligently to Religion". Heaven knows, surely that's what we need.
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22.01.10
The Innovators - Annika Small
Annika Small clearly relishes the challenge offered by guiding nascent organisations in their development. Having taken Futurelab through its independence from NESTA to become an institution with a worldwide reputation for innovative research into education and the use of technology, she is now with The Tony Blair Faith Foundation (TTBF) as its director of education.
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12.01.10
McGill joins Tony Blair Faith Foundation - McGIll tribune reports
Last month, McGill University became an official partner of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and a committed member to the foundation's Faith and Globalization Initiative.
Founded in 2008 by former British prime minister Tony Blair, the foundation seeks to cultivate respect and cooperation among the world's major religions, as well as to work with religious groups on development projects and education programs.
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09.12.09
Spiritual greatness is grounded in humility - Pritpal Kaur reporting for The Times
The fifth Council for a Parliament of the World’s religions has allowed us to encounter real spiritual greatness. It happened in a seminar entitled ‘Religious Leadership in a globalised world’ led by the Elijah Board of the World’s Religious Leaders. The topic of religious leadership is being increasingly aired – the Chicago-based Interfaith Youth Core hosted a conference in October 2009, on ‘Leadership for a religiously diverse world.’ And the Elijah Board has held one in Haifa.
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09.12.09
Our relationship with the poor is not about charity- Jem Jebbia reporting for The Times
Sometimes it’s hard as a Buddhist to engage my own community in social action. Many would say it is against their theology to be active at all, especially in politically charged affairs. But I learned yesterday why Buddhists should not only be involved in social action, but should be at the forefront.
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07.12.09
You can find faith in very unexpected places… Sean Rose reporting for The Times
Up early on Sunday. Adrenalin still running. A Catholic Mass in the Ukrainian (or Byzantine) Rite was happening somewhere in town. I arrived a few minutes late to find people still waiting outside the Church: about a dozen, mostly men, mostly much older than me. For an early Summer’s morning it was surprisingly cold. We started to get impatient. The priest must have overslept. I began to wish I had done the same and found somewhere to attend Mass later in the day.
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07.12.09
Pupils linking up to tackle world issues - The Bolton News
Issues affecting the world today are being discussed by “young ambassadors” across the world. Every six weeks, children from Westhoughton High School speak to their counterparts from across the globe via video link to discuss issues normally tackled by the world leaders of the G8 — poverty, human trafficking and conflict, together with religion and culture.
Since the launch of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation’s new Face to Faith programme in June, teenagers say that barriers are already being broken down and ignorance is being replaced with respect and understanding. Elliott Grainger, aged 13, said: “Through the programme we are understanding different cultures and faith a lot more from people our own age.”
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06.12.09
McGill, Tony Blair join forces - McGill Reporter
and the fourth in the world - to partner with the Tony Blair Faith Foundation’s Faith and Globalization Initiative. Blair, the former British Prime Minister, made the announcement on Thrusday along with Ellen Aitken, McGill’s Dean of the Faculty of Religious Studies in a live video press conference from Yale University. The initiative is a global network of universities committed to exploring the complex interrelationship of faith and globalization in the modern world.
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06.12.09
The opening night of the congress- Pritpal Kaur reprts for The Times
A warm Saturday evening and thousands of people are crowding into the atrium of the Melbourne Convention Centre. We are waiting to get into the auditorium for the second plenary of the Parliament about the international context of the interfaith movement.
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05.12.09
Faith in Parliament - Pritpal Kaur’s biography for the Times
I am a 26 year-old Sikh from Leeds, working with Sean Rose at the Nishkam Civic Association. I attended the Fourth Parliament of the World's Religions in Barcelona in 2004 and was overwhelmed by the contribution of the Sikh volunteers from Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha. We` managed to provide Langar (blessed vegetarian food) to 7000 participants every day of the gathering.
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04.12.09
A parliament for all faiths - Faiths Act Fellows Reporting for the Times
Pritpal Kaur, 26, Sean Rose, 21 and Jem Jebbia, 21, are in Australia this week for the World Parliament of Religions. Fellows of the International Faith Acts programme of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, they are joining up to 8,000 representatives of the world's faiths all meeting in Melbourne this week to discuss the most pressing issues of the age. Priorities for the parliament include global poverty, environmental change, youth education, spirituality and the arts and reconciliation among indigenous peoples.
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01.12.09
Vive la difference - Annika Small and Face to Faith - merlinjohnonline
For me the core is the dealing with difference, and our ability to be explicit about the differences between religions," explains Annika Small director of education at the Tony Blair Faith Foundation when describing its Face to Faith programme
"There is a lot of work that goes on that tries to find the similarities between religions - and it's very important and there is a lot of similarity – but where we get into problems is where we try to hide the differences." Launched earlier this year, the programme is connecting young people across the globe to learn directly from each other.
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01.12.09
Charter for Compassion Launches in Washington D.C - The American Muslim (by Randa Kuziez)
Last week, around two hundred people in the D.C. area gathered to hear the reading of the words of the Charter for Compassion at the Washington D.C. launch, one of many locations in which the Charter launched around the world. The words in the Charter reflect an image of how the world can be if it is activated by compassion and the Golden rule.
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19.11.09
Religion ‘good for development’ - developments magazine
“Faith organisations have a unique reach because they represent, and are respected by, their faith community, giving extra credibility with local religious communities on the ground which can facilitate their work.” So said former UK prime minister Tony Blair at the launch of the Tony Blair Foundation Faith and Development Seminars, endorsing a new report that explores how faith-based organisations can work more effectively across the religious divide. -
15.11.09
Rowan’s vision for development - guardian.co.uk
Rowan Williams has called for a broadening of the development agenda, so that secular agencies working in developing countries might become more fluent in the language of faith. Conversely, he stressed, faith-based communities must be more open to the imperatives of the "development establishment." Learning from each other would not only be good for development. It might make possible the "distribution of dignity", alongside the establishment of rights, he said.
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09.11.09
Mitzvah Day embodies my vision - Jewish Chronicle
Interfaith action is central to the Jewish good deeds day - and also to my work
The Jewish community has a long history of public service. It is central to the core beliefs of the Jewish faith — Tzedek, Tzdek, Tirdof (Justice, Justice, Shall you pursue). Indeed, the Torah itself is, in its entirety, the DIY guide to making the world a healthier, wholer and saner place.
Today we are seeing more and more examples of interfaith work within the Jewish community. For example, Project Muso, an integrated primary health-care programme running in a predominantly Muslim Mali community, was founded by Jewish medical students.
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09.11.09
Blair Hails Economic Steps in West Bank - New York Times
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinians marked two significant economic breakthroughs on Tuesday, counterpoints to the growing crisis in peace negotiations with Israel: a second cellphone company opened, with a planned investment of hundreds of millions of dollars; and a long-closed crossing point from Israel opened to limited motor traffic.Both events were overseen by Tony Blair, the international envoy to the conflict and former British prime minister, who is focused on Palestinian institutions and economic progress. -
08.11.09
Campus Faith Hub mobilises students to social action - Christian Today
A tour of university campuses across the UK has been launched to mobilise students of all faiths and none to shared social action.The Campus Faith Hub tour is a collaboration between The Tony Blair Faith Foundation, the Three Faiths Forum and the Coexistence Trust.
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19.10.09
Women Want to get Youth Involved in Achieving UN Goals- Metro News.CA
Sara Eftekhar, 19, left, and Elyse Brazel, 26, are working to promote an international movement aimed at bringing youth from different religious and philosophical backgrounds together to work towards achieving the UN’s Millennium Development Goals by 2015. This year, their aim is to work towards eliminating deaths from malaria around the world. Elyse Brazel and Sara Eftekhar have big plans for World Malaria Day. The two women hope to bring thousands of people out to a large-scale event on Parliament Hill next April 25 to raise awareness and funds to help eradicate malaria.


