In this video, as part of a Harvard course, Tony Blair talks about the importance of understanding religion regardless of one’s personal believes. All too many people in the world belong to one or another religion and in order for us to succeed in this world, it is a must to know where the others are coming from. Why is this important? Because individual choices produce powerful changes around the word and that voice cannot be stopped, it defines our lives.

Tony Blair attributes ones’ belonging to a religion to the following factors:

1- Tradition
2- Identity
3- Values

I completely agree on this. Although one could talk about God, of some sort, at the end of the day most people are bound by a religion due to above mentioned factors. Even those who very eagerly believe in God, still do it for one of the reasons above. After all, you can’t prove what you can’t see, unless of course it could be scientifically deduced.

Tony concludes by recommending that religion could either be the force of good (aspirations, moral codes, motivation), or evil (irrational violence). It is up to us to make use it for the better.