From: Richard Ridge (richard_ridge@tao-group.com)
Date: Tue Jan 15 2002 - 09:05:15 MST
In other words: the Uk Government now regards the promotion of religion (any
religion will do, we're not choosy) as its personal business. It seems
fairly clear that Tony Blair is every bit as much a religious revivalist as
GW Bush.
Blair names tzar no 3 to look after religion
By Jonathan Petre and Francis Elliott, Deputy Political Editor Daily
Telegraph
(Filed: 16/12/2001)
FIRST there was the drug tzar, then the homelessness tzar. Now Tony Blair
has created the first "faith tzar" to watch over the religiously minded
among his flock.
The Prime Minister has appointed John Battle, the former Foreign Office
minister, as his personal envoy among the Christian denominations and faith
groups in Britain.
Mr Battle, the Labour MP for Leeds West and a practising Roman Catholic, has
a wide-ranging brief to advise the Prime Minister on religious issues, from
the disestablishment of the Church of England to faith schools.
The former minister, who until the summer was responding to crises in Asia
and South America, is now visiting mosques, synagogues, temples and churches
in an effort to ease tensions between different faiths and the outside
world.
[Yes, he has united them all in wanting him to leave them alone -RR]
One of his roles is to reassure the Churches that they have the moral
support of the Prime Minister, who has made no secret of the influence of
his Christianity on his political beliefs, to the dismay of many
anti-religious liberals.
Senior clerics expressed surprise at the appointment yesterday. One said:
"We already have so many different people and groups co-ordinating all sorts
of initiatives that no one knows what is going on half the time.
"The other tzars created by Mr Blair seem to have had a limited impact, and
I doubt whether this one will be any different."
Mr Battle said, however, that he had an important role, particularly at a
time when tensions were high. "My task is about whether the best of the
faith community can find fuller expression rather than the worst being
asserted all the time," he said.
"The question I ask is, are we making space for faith traditions or is the
culture shutting them down?"
"Do they feel they have enough space to breathe and live. It might be
tensions between them or within them or it might be the faith traditions
feeling all the rest of the world is against them.
"The job is to be out and about in Britain, creating that space, looking at
the impact of inter-faith communities and feeding that back into the power
centre."
Mr Battle, who once studied to become a Catholic priest but left before he
had finished training, said that he had already held meetings with religious
leaders.
His appointment was made five months ago, after he lost his job as a
minister, but until now he has kept a low profile. He is, however, to speak
about his new role in an interview in this week's Church of England
Newspaper.
He said that the job was unpaid and had no title, but he reported personally
to Mr Blair. He said that the September 11 terrorist attacks had given his
role a particular edge, and he had visited a number of mosques in recent
weeks.
Last week he took a delegation of Sikh leaders to meet Mr Blair in Downing
Street.
He said: "Because they wear turbans and have beards, many people felt they
looked more like Osama bin Laden Muslims than the Muslims do in Britain.
"It was important that the Prime Minister knew that and they had an
opportunity to express that to the Prime Minister."
Keith Porteous Wood, the executive director of the National Secular Society,
said: "The Prime Minister ought to be appointing a tzar to represent the
growing number of non-believers who are feeling increasingly alienated by
the Government's pro-religious policies, particularly over religious
representatives in the House of Lords and faith schools."
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