Prime Minister Tony Blair says he prayed to God when deciding whether or not to send UK troops to Iraq. Mr Blair answered "yes" when asked on ITV1 chat show Parkinson if he had sought holy intervention on the issue. "Of course, you struggle with your own conscience about it... and its one of these situations that, I suppose, very few people ever find themselves in." The interview, Michael Parkinson's first on his chat show with a serving PM, will be shown on Saturday. "In the end, there is a judgement that, I think if you have faith about these things, you realise that judgement is made by other people... and if you believe in God, it's made by God as well," Mr Blair said. "When you're faced with a decision like that, some of those decisions have been very, very difficult, most of all because you know these are people's lives and, in some case, their deaths. The only way you can take a decision like that is to do the right thing according to your conscience
Aye very odd isnt it, God told him to kill lots of innocent civilians and lie to the people of the country he represents for the reason as to why.
I think God is just used as an excuse. Hmmnnn isn't this what the Islamists use 2 justify their own actions ? What he ought 2 have done is 2 have had the guts 2 stick by his own convictions and not hide behind anything else.
So what about the whole 'thou shalt not kill' and 'turn the other cheek'? In his position I would have prayed too though. And it's certainly better that he tells some truth, some of the time than no truth any of the time. He's a Catholic BTW.
It's actually "Thou shalt not murder", there is a difference. Also he's not yet admitted to being catholic even though his wife is, according to downing street he's still an anglican. It does smack of trying to escape the responsibilities of his actions/choices. He decided to go to war, to lie to the public, I don't think it is reasonable to claim that God shares the blame for the outcome, we apparently have free will, you make your choice and pray it's the right one or help with dealing with the consequences.
Or perhaps he is trying to impart a secret message to his middle eastern counterparts that it was indeed the will of allah!!
God told me to slap some random womens arse one drunken night. The holy bugger didn't tell me I'd get a restraining order as well. Sick *******! I bet he's up there right now sniggering away.
What does it matter if he is catholic? Everyone has there own way of making choices, so what if he prays to a god? The vast majority of people on this earth do.
Who said it mattered? I was just pointing out that he wasn't, or at the least denies he is I think you got the wrong end of the stick. Sure, you can pray to God, ask for advice, but at the end of the day you make the choice alone, and you live with the consequences. Or at least I believe you should.
... and then the **** crowed a third time. Nah - he's not a Catholic. The official stance of the church toward the invasion of Iraq was that it was not justifiable under any circumstances, yet Blair (in consultation with the God he shares with George W Bush and the American people) did it anyway. And when people voiced their suspicions that Blair was going to convert to Catholicism when he was out of office, he was told by the church not to sit on the fence - i.e. he was either a Catholic or not, and of course he decided he wasn't. That's all there is to it. He's nothing more than a hypocrite, and the worst kind of liar. God knows there's already enough of that sort in the Church already without adding phony Tony to the mix. You have to laugh at the irony in Blair condemning suicide bombers following what they believe to be God's will when they blow up themselves and a few others in a bus, or train or market. Yet when Blair's war results in the deaths of 30,000 (and counting) civilians alone, he simply says, "In the end, there is a judgement that, I think if you have faith about these things, you realise that judgement is made by other people... and if you believe in God, it's made by God as well." Absolutely pathetic!
Well, you're right as in kill is a mistranslation, but it's neither murder or kill, as they don't actually know the exact meaning of the hebrew word used.
Blair and Bush are religious nutjobs, no different to suicide bombers who blow themselves up because they think their god approves of it. Bush has already said god told him to invade Iraq.. If only we could ship all these religious lunatics off to another planet where they can all fight and kill each other, and leave earth to the rest of us relatively sane people..
This scares me... Talk about the ultimate in denability. I suppose Blair will claim that God told him to mislead parliament and lie to everyone too.. It's nutters like this that give religion a bad name, and it's a classic example of why religion gets blamed for things that it has absolutely nothing to do with.
This might be a first step to getting some people on the "other side" to put down their guns - they may go with someone who said "God told me to do it" than a heaten infidel.
CBS - The Bible says that sin can only be atoned for by the spilling of blood, which explains sacrifices and the crucifixion, but doesn't get close to explaining holy war and so on. The world is a different place to back in the OT. I don't think God is so big on getting people to wage war on each other these days. Radical Muslims clearly disagree.
Really, so certain bad things happen in a complete vacuum from their background ideology, and have absolutely nothing to do with any negative acts claimed in their name?
The bible says that OUR SINS have BEEN atoned by the spilling of HOLY BLOOD. Which is where Jesus came in (although i have yet to see a ideological explanation of why Jesus' death should in any way absolve us) Check what's happening in Africa in the name of Christianity. Anyway, my post was a glib throwaway comment. There are many ways of explaining various phenomenons of organised violence aroun the world, many aspects that they can be blamed upon and religion is a component of them whether it suits our benevolent view of authoritative religion or not.
