Interesting, the differences in attitudes toward religion between countries. While George Bush can hardly say “Good morning” to his wife without adding “…and may God bless America” — and indeed, an American politician could not get elected unless he or she makes such platitudes throughout their campaign — the reaction to what Tony Blair said yesterday — that God would judge the invasion of Iraq — has drawn some very harsh criticism. Among it, the quote “We don’t want Bush or Khomeini-type fundamentalism in our politics…” from MP Evan Harris. I never thought I’d hear a president’s name slung alongside the Khomeini’s, but there it is.
And maybe it’s deserved. Violence is violence; is it really more acceptable when a state uses its military to enact violence than when a nonstate group commits terrorism? Is it acceptable when civilian casualties due to state military action, though largely unintended, far outnumber the intended civilian deaths through acts of terrorism? Is the destruction of foreign infrastructure and seizure of natural resources — and the long slow death that follows — less senseless than attacks on western symbols? Does invoking God’s name somehow make Bush or Blair holier than the martyr who cries out for Allah?
Skirl | Dan Dickinson 
That Blair backlash is completely opportunistic and overstated. I saw the interview on Parkinson, and he said it only after pressed, after saying he didn’t really want to talk about matters of faith, and he spit it out in a minimised, throwaway way. He said over and over that the people, and history, will judge.
It’s simply that even this level of religious admission is unheard of in contemporary British politics. But everyone knows Tony’s a Christian, and what he said was not at all unusual or fundamentalist or in any way worrying to me or others who don’t care for him.
I never intended to paint Blair as a fundamentalist, and re-reading my post I suppose it might’ve come across that way. Harris’ quote was just a segue into the Bush vs. Khomeini discussion; I should’ve made it clear that I was speaking more of Bush’s (and America’s) fundamentalism. I just assumed it would be obvious. 🙂
Still, most of those questions I ask are still relevant regardless of whether Tony Blair thought he was doing God’s good work. My point was as much to do with myopic thinking in general as with religious fundamentalism in particular: is it more acceptable for Western states to wage war, control nuclear weapons and occupy countries than it is for terrorist groups to use suicide bombs, seek out nuclear weapons and recruit internationally?