Tony Blair begins Faith and Globalization lecture series at Yale, says religion has potential to harm or heal

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Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair went back to school Friday, launching his new role as a lecturer on religion at top US university Yale. During the first seminar, he said that religious faith inspired some people to do harm but it also had the potential to do great things in the modern world. The "faith and globalization" course is intended to explore religious faith's power to bring the world's people together instead of driving them apart.

"I genuinely believe that the issue to do with faith and globalization is the single-most determining issue of the 21st century", said Mr Blair During the first seminar, "Faith is important because it motivates people...to do harm. But it also has the potential to do good." The course he is co-teaching as Yale's Howland Distinguished Fellow is linked to the work of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, which seeks to work for peace between religions in an age of globalization. Blair is also a special envoy of the Mideast Quartet, the group of big powers attempting to coordinate a peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

In an interview with the university's Yale Daily News, Mr Blair admitted to being nervous about the job. "I was never a star student, and I'm coming along mixing with a whole lot of people who I'm sure are a whole lot more clever and smarter than I am," he said. According to the university, hundreds of students applied for places on the course. However, Yale University president Richard Levin said Mr Blair's arrival on campus had also met with controversy. He told BBC News: "As is the case in Britain, a lot of young people are opposed to the Iraq war and so I think there are some students that would consider that a serious problem. "But I also think our students are very excited about having the former prime minister of the United Kingdom here as a figure on campus," he added.

Blair, speaking to students and faculty at Yale University, also said the U.S. financial crisis that is affecting worldwide markets shows "the interconnectedness of the world," he said, adding it underscores the need to work together on other economic problems.

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Photos courtesy of AFP, AP

Original Source: BBC News, International Herald Tribune, and Turkish Press

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