The former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, gave (http://www.courant.com/news/education/hc-blair0920.artsep20,0,5756992.story) an introductory hello to a multitude at Yale’s Woolsey Hall on Friday, initiating the beginning of a new chapter in his interdisciplinary career: now as “Professor Blair”.
Blair is set to teach a course on “Faith and Globalization Initiative” to a mixture of carefully selected graduates and undergraduates at Yale Divinity School. The course stands, not only to grant Yale a little more prestige, but also as a step forward for Tony Blair’s Faith Foundation (http://tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/).
Both Blair’s course and his Foundation aim at acknowledging the importance of religion in public life and at improving an understanding of, and the positive interactions between, the major religions. With Globalization in mind, unlike Romney (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16981132) and the majority of presidential candidates, Blair refreshingly acknowledges the important presence of Non-Abrahamic religions within the global community.
But wait? I thought religion was supposed to be dead in Europe? And maybe that’s why he’s not teaching there. Whatever the case, this recently Catholicized household name is doing his part to blur the lines between religion and politics: just like his political counterparts in the American Presidential Campaigns.