福利姬自慰

Former British prime minister Tony Blair addresses the 福利姬自慰community at the Multi-faith Centre. (Photo by Jon Horvatin)

Former British prime minister discusses faith and action

Tony Blair visits 福利姬自慰Multi-faith Centre

Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, founder of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, applauded the efforts of the foundation鈥檚 six Canadian Faiths Act Fellows to help eradicate malaria and address other pressing community issues.

Blair recently took part in a discussion at the Multi-faith Centre on U of T鈥檚 St. George Campus where he talked about the impact of faith communities on global health outcomes alongside expert 福利姬自慰academics, faith leaders and his foundation鈥檚 Faiths Act Fellows (See of Blair's visit). Faiths Act is the foundation鈥檚 multi-faith social action program comprising 34 fellows across the world taking action together against preventable disease and extreme poverty.

One of Blair鈥檚 larger goals is to help people of various faiths to learn to live and work together.

鈥淭he threats to stability in the world are actually a lot to do with the question of whether people of different cultures, backgrounds and faiths can co-exist peacefully together or not,鈥 said Blair. 鈥淭he reason this is so difficult today, as opposed to in previous times, is not that these difference didn鈥檛 exist, but the context in which differences and diversity operate is completely different today.

 鈥淢igration physically is pushing people together, and then you have the internet and online communities, which means there鈥檚 instant communication among people across the world, which also brings people together. The question really is this: as globalization pushes the world together, does religion become a civilizing force or does religion become a phantom identity in opposition to others which tries to push that globalization away?鈥

Blair contrasted the insular world in which he grew up with the world his son lives in today.

鈥淎t my 11-year-old鈥檚 birthday party a short time ago, he had four faiths represented amongst his friends, seven nationalities and several different colours of skin. Personally I鈥檓 excited by it.鈥

During the event, Blair honoured the contributions of the six Canadians of Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Baha鈥檌 faiths who are the Faiths Act Fellows and added that Toronto is a great place to expand interfaith work.

 鈥淚鈥檓 immensely proud of the work the Faiths Act fellows are doing and I can鈥檛 think of a better place for us to do it than Toronto. It鈥檚 a diverse community here in Toronto.鈥  

He noted 福利姬自慰is perfectly positioned to help them make an impact.

鈥淭he university has been really kind to us in hosting this and the university is above all else the place these issues should be discussed and debated. It鈥檚 really important at this stage -- where people are in their student years -- that they do get a sense of cultures coming together, so the university has a great role to play.鈥

This year, two Faiths Acts Fellows are based at U of T. Davina Finn, who is Jewish and Anna Siu, a Christian and a 福利姬自慰graduate, are raising funds for and awareness about eliminating of deaths from malaria and related maternal and child health issues. They will support the work of 福利姬自慰researchers engaged in malaria projects in malaria-endemic countries such as Uganda. 

In addition, another recent 福利姬自慰alumna, Farhana Rahman, serves as a Faiths Act fellow elsewhere in Canada. A Muslim, she specialised in International Relations and Peace and Conflict Studies at U of T, with a Language Citation in Modern Standard Arabic.  Her passion is development and women鈥檚 issues and she has done internships abroad that focus on women and human rights.

Rahman said she is proud of this opportunity to combine faith with public service.

鈥淚鈥檝e interacted with people of other faiths and it really helps to understand your own beliefs and develops tolerance with other people,鈥 she said. 鈥淭his is my way of giving back to the community and it really inspires me.鈥

 


 

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