The Yale Experience

I really have been taking advantage from time to time of the opportunities here from time to time when I can squeeze it in. Tony Blair has committed himself to teach a "Faith and Globalization" course for 3 Fall terms, and as part of that he gives several lectures which are available to the campus at large. In the lecture I attended at the Yale Battell Chapel (click here for a virtual tour of the chapel), he summarized his thoughts regarding the role of Faith. (In the picture - taken with my phone - you can see Tony Blair at the podium and Yale President Levin in the chair.)

He started out by stating that "as the world becomes increasingly heterogeneous, religion will either become part of a problem or a solution." He then structured the remainder of his talk around the following 10 bullet points:

1. Faith matters

2. Faith is not in decline

3. Religious Faith can operate positively or negatively

4. Globalization is creating multi-faced societies

5. Globalization needs values

6. Faith is not the only means for supplying values, but it is a valuable one

7. The goal of Faith is human flourishing (a.k.a. spiritual capital)

8. Spiritual capital requires mutual tolerance AND respect

9. The key to respect is understanding

10. Organized Faith should support this understanding

He finished his talk by stating that interdependence cannot function without values.

My overall impression was that he is a genuinely good person who is trying hard to make a positive difference. He was very well spoken, quick on his feet with his wit, and obviously very intelligent.

One last piece of advice from one of his stories: He was meeting with a middle east leader, and commented about the camel that kept poking its head into the tent. The leader asked him if he had ever had camel's milk, and without thinking, he said, "no." The camel disappeared, and a few moments later he was presented with a tall glass of foamy, warm milk. As would be expected, he cautiously took a sip. The leader balked, and demonstrated how to chug the glass in its entirety, and invited him to do the same! From that he learned that there is true merit to the principle of keeping your mouth shut!