Religion Mr Blair, who converted to Roman Catholicism after he stepped down as Prime Minister in 2007, was to address the question "Is religion a force for good or ill?" with Mr Hitchens, author of the best-selling God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Mr Hitchens, 61, a former socialist who supported the Iraq war, is having chemotherapy for oesophageal cancer, and has indicated he believes he may not have long to live. He recently debated his brother, the conservative journalist Peter Hitchens, 59, in Washington on the subject: "Can Civilisation Survive Without God?" Throughout his time in front-line British politics, Mr Blair was reluctant to discuss his faith, although it was known he regularly attended Catholic masses at the Immaculate Heart of Mary at Great Missenden, the nearest Catholic church to Chequers. In his recent autobiography, Mr Blair gave few details of his conversion to Catholicism but made clear that faith was a central force in his career. He described Peter Thomson, the Australian-born Anglican priest he met at Oxford, as "probably the most influential person" in his life. In a pre-debate interview with the Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper, Mr Blair said he felt religion could be a "civilising force" in the world. "I think the place of faith in the era of globalisation is the single biggest issue of the 21st century. "In terms of how people live together, how we minimise the prospects of conflict and maximise the prospects of peace, the place of religion in our society today is essential. ... I think religion could be, in an era of globalisation, a civilising force." Mr. Hitchens said religion should be opposed because of its "radical frontal attack on human dignity" in presuming that humans would not otherwise know the difference between right and wrong. He described evangelising as "a sign of intellectual and moral weakness".Tony Blair debates faith with writer Christopher Hitchens
Tony Blair was due to make the most extensive comments of his career on Friday regarding his personal Christian faith in a public debate in Toronto with the atheist writer Christopher Hitchens.
Sunday 28 November 2010
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