Faith and politics

The latest issue of "The Progressive Christian" contains a quote from Tony Blair, cited from an interview in the Los Angeles Times:

"One of the oddest questions I get asked in interviews, and I get asked a lot of questions, is: is faith important to your politics? It's like asking someone whether their health is important to them or their family. If you are someone 'of faith,' it is the focal point of belief in your life. There is no conceivable way that it wouldn't affect your politics."

Blair has been wearing his faith on his sleeve a lot lately. Blair was also one of George Bush's biggest cheerleaders for war. If Blair's faith led him to support the war in Iraq, then the world would have been better off if he had had a little less faith. Put another way, if given a choice between a world full of atheists who worked for peace and justice, or a world full of faithful Christians who committed or abetted the committing of war crimes, I would take the former every single time.