LONDON, September 9, 2009 (WAFA)- Tony Blair warned against the 'dark side' of religion at a speech Monday night at the RSA. It was the first of six seminars on faith and development being organized by the Tony Blair Faith Foundation along with DFID, Islamic Relief, World Vision and Oxfam, TIMESONLINE said.

Tony Blair Faith Foundation inform his work in Israel, Palestine and the Middle East and vice versa.  He said he had been working with the rabbinate and the Christian and Muslim communities.  'I think it's very important for the Christian community on the Palestinian side not to feel disadvantaged.'

Then he went on to confess he could perhaps have been a little bit more knowledgeable about Israel-Palestine when he was running the country.

He spoke about how Israel puts in very sharp relief the question of world globalization and religion. 'Religion can be a way of people retaining their identity almost in opposition to the other person,' he said, reiterating what he said in his speech. 'What you see out there is the absolute importance [of religion] in a world in which people are not going to deny their faith, faith is not going to disappear.' We have this view in Europe that with globalization, faith will die out. 'There is that common view. It's not actually the way the world is working.'

He went on to say how getting to know the region through visiting it with the Foundation had increased his understanding of the issues: 'One of the most surprising and perhaps slightly shocking factors, given that for 10 years I was leading decisions as British Prime Minister, is how much better I understand it now than I did then.' 

He described how if you stand on a clear day where Moses stood on Mount, you don't just overlook the whole of Jordan can see right into Jerusalem, Israel and Sinai.  'The point is this - for me it is a sort of symbol of how the world is today. Because it is shrinking. People are being brought closer together and globalization is pushing that. If people can't find a way of taking their religious faith into peaceful co-existence with others, we are in for a  dangerous time.'

Co-existence in faith and development is indeed possible, and this is proven in the latest report from the Woolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths, one of the documents singled out for praise by Blair Monday night. One of the case studies shows World Jewish Relief and the Muslim charity Human Aid Focus working effectively to deliver aid in the wake of the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan.