Launch
The Foundation was launched in May 2008 in New York at the headquarters of media group Time Warner. In his speech, Blair outlined the Foundation's aim that "idealism becomes the new realism", and that one of its goals was to "counter extremism in all six leading religions" (i.e., according to the Foundation, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, and Sikhism). Blair said that while in office he feared being exposed as a "nutter" if he had talked about his religious views. Former US president Bill Clinton attended the launch, describing Blair as "a good man as well as a great leader". In an interview with Time magazine, Blair said the Foundation was "how I want to spend the rest of my life".
The Foundation's basic premises listed in their initial mission statement are: 1) faith is important to many, underpinning their systems of thought, their behaviour and the behaviour of many of the world's progressive movements, and that 2) the great religions share values of respect, justice and compassion. But it is also recognised that faith can be divisive, too. This is viewed by the Foundation as being based on distortions of faith rather than being intrinsic to it. Their aim is to use the tools of modern communication to "educate, inform and develop understanding" about various faiths, and the relationships between them. It aims to do this in such a way as to address global poverty and conflict.
The Foundation has several projects: Faith and Globalisation Initiative, Face to Faith, Faiths Act (an activist group), and Faith Shorts (for short religious films).
Read more about this topic: Tony Blair Faith Foundation
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—D.H. (David Herbert)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)