Politicians underestimate the power of religion in geopolitics, said former British Prime Minister Tony Blair at Yalta European Strategy forum in the Crimea.
“People expect that the world will become less religious, that people will abandon religion. But we see the opposite situation,” he said. “We can see the examples of Ukraine and Russia, where attempts to press religion in communist times did not succeed. We can see the example of China where the number of Christian churches is rapidly growing today and where the leaders notices that the society possessing faith and religion better understands social solidarity and is more attentive to social issues. The number of Evangelic Christians has been growing in the Southern America – conventional Catholic region. Half of the conflicts in the world are attributable to religious motives."
Impact of globalization on religion is especially important for Blair who founded Tony Blair Faith Foundation in 2007. “Globalization changes the context of religion. It brings people together through travelling and migration, draw people together on-line – via the Internet and social networks. People today are much more aware that there are people believing in other faiths and possessing other values.” Moreover, people far more interact between each other and share information and this may result in grandiose social shifts: “Waves of feeling and emotions distributed in social networks provoked “the Arab Spring,” Blair noted.
Religious studies and nurturing interreligious tolerance would help next generations “to grow understanding of other people, understanding their driving forces and motives.”
