Politics and Religion

A couple of days ago, Tony Blair the ex Prime Minister of the UK and recently converted Catholic Christian launched his "Faith Foundation" with the intention to "harness the moral leadership of people of faith, to do good and to show the relevance of faith to the challenges of the modern world" ...

How worrying is that? Its the very concept that there is a supreme entity, who created the universe and all things in it, and to whose 'divine' plan we are working that's got us in such a mess in the first place.

I mean come on guys .... some 'supreme being' who apparently regularly visited the earth (before phone cameras) but who has since left us largely to our own devices? Even if you do buy into the 'universe creator' theory, and lets be honest there is a gaping flaw in this concept, namely where did the creator come from?

But even if a bit of fancy sophistry gets round that little problem, you are still left with the problem of which of all the worlds faith is correct? Is it the oldest ones? or maybe the most recent (as Muslims are trying to ram down our throats) 'world' religion is the correct one, or maybe the most numerous one? Maybe the only 'true' religion was wiped out by one of the more aggressive ones sometime in the past.

The first great world religion appears to have been the

Paleolithic "earth mother" religion that seems to have been worshipped in various forms across Europe, The Middle East, North Africa, the Indian Subcontinent and Siberia from around 24,000 BC (and probably earlier) until the Christian era of the Roman Empire, and even into Anglo Saxon times. She was universally represented as a large woman with big breasts, hips and usually no face, although around 5,000 BC she became represented by many different goddesses.

This period from the Paleolithic (2.5 million BC) through the Neolithic to the Christian era represents the vast majority of humanities time on earth ..... so is this the true religion?

Next came

Hinduism (Circa 5,500 BC) founded in the late Neolithic it undoubtedly has aspects of the Earth Mother religion in it. Therefore can claim to be a 'successor' to that first religion, but obviously has greatly changed over the last 7,000 yrs and its modern roots are from the Vedas (around 1,700 BC), so little remains that's directly attributable to the earlier religion. Has Approx a billion adherents mostly in India and Nepal.

and then

Zoroastrianism (Circa 1,000 BC) - Not a world religion in its spread, but notable as a Monotheist religion from the start, and therefore very likely an influence on Judaism which was not fully monotheistic at the time of the Babylon enslavement (around 586 BC) and it was the Zoroastrian Persians under Cyrus the Great who let them go back to Judea in 539 BC. After Islams conquest of Persia in the 7th Century AD, there are now only 200,000 followers mostly in India.

Judaism (early origins approx Circa 2,000 BC) Only classed as a 'world religion because of its association with Christianity and influence on Islam. It was a Henotheist religion until the Hellenistic period i.e. after Alexander the Great's death, i.e. until then, they believed that each nation had its own god, and Judaism only became fully monotheistic (only one god in the world) sometime after 323 BC.

It only spread around geographically after the Romans 'Banished' all Jews from what is now Israel after the revolts of 66 AD and 70 AD ... there are only around 14.6 million Jews in the world mostly in the US and Israel. Probably not a good candidate for the "True" religion because of its exclusivity which mean that they don't want us to become Jewish.

Buddhism (circa 500 BC) approx 330 million followers and at one time, until the Islamic conquests it was the main Asian religion from China, through South East Asia, and Northern India to Afghanistan. Emphasis on peaceful existence on the planet makes it a good choice for true religion on moral grounds.

Christianity (Circa 2,000 yrs ago) - an offshoot of Judaism, its supposedly a religion of peace and acceptance but that's not stopped its followers being involved in many wars in its name historically, but not in the last 100 yrs or so. Has about 1.8 Billion followers split between three main groups (Roman Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants). On numbers this is the worlds biggest religion and therefore could claim to be the 'true' religion.

Islam (Circa 632 AD) - with about 1.4 Billion followers split between Sunni's and Shia's and some smaller sects. The most recent of the 'world religions' and could therefore (and does) claim to be the final and absolute 'will of god'. Unfortunately they currently back this claim up with threats, violence and contempt for all the other religions listed above. But then I guess Christianity in about 1376 AD was somewhat more violent than it is now .... so only another 650 yrs before they calm down!

Now I don't know what Tony Blair was exactly thinking when he created his foundation to "show the relevance of faith to the challenges of the modern world", but frankly, given the fact that all these religions are in conflict with Islam, and often with some of the others as well, then it seems to me that "faiths" are more often than not the main causes of the "challenges" facing "the modern world".

If we were all non religious, then those who wish to kill or subjugate in the name of faith (currently mostly Muslims) wouldn't exist and we would surely live in a better world.

Blairs 'political legacy' in the UK is being dismantled as we speak, and this latest attempt to keep himself in the limelight seems just as doomed as his role as 'peace envoy' in the middle east after the Iraq debacle.

Just write the memoirs, Tony then shuffle off the stage son, your time is over.