I couldn't believe this when I heard it on TV last night. I hope the press take him to the cleaners for it!!

Sounds like His Blairness has been "compromised" by the American President.

And according to what he said later in the interview, he wants a piece of the French President too. Jeez the man's insatiable!

*shakes head*
I'm interested to see what Christians have to say about this.

I can't really criticise him for it.

I don't agree with any of it, but I don't believe it's anything like Bush's "God told me to kill people" rhetoric. He had a really awful decision to make, his religious leanings have been public knowledge since before he was elected, and in situations like that people inclined to do so are going to pray.

This is just one of those topics where people will find fault with however he tries to explain himself, and having made plenty of cheap shots at Blair on previous occasions, this time I really don't think it's fair to lay into him for an uncharacteristic moment of sincerity.

Actually- a non-story.
Tony's Christianity has been guiding this since the day he was elected.
It is LONG known he attends Church every Sunday- his wife's Catholic parish in London to be precise.
The attacks are from anti-war campaigners who'd attack him come what may and WILL come from 'talking heads'.
'Talking heads' have nothing worth saying however, so Tony will ignore them (the parasites of the jounalistic world- op. ed.'s are interesting but its just one persons usually ill-considered opinion).
Most journo's KNOW this stuff.
Tony prays? Known about it for years.

Tony's acions in Iraq were consistant to what he has been saying for years...
back in April 1999 he allowed the world to know just what he was willing to do- in his famous speech in Chicargo he laid out what was to come (this speech being seen now as one of THE cornerstones of 'Neo Conservatism').
He said "The most pressing-foreign policy problem we face is to identify the circumstances in which we should get actively involved in other peoples comflicts..."
Think about that.
He also said...
"War is an imperfect instrument for righting humanitarian distress, but armed force is sometimes the only means of dealing with dictators"
(grin)
And just before he said that he also said...
"Many of our problems have been caused by two dangerous and ruthless men- Saddamn Hussein and Slobodan Milsovic"

So, Tony, the Righteous Christian Warrior, has, since his start of his term in office, believed, as a basic value, that as a Chistian he has a duty to leave the world in a better place.
He beleived all the way back in 1999 that Western powers must intervene in places where humanitarian aid is needed (very Christian), and that if Dictators/Bad Men influence said humanitarian aid, then we must use our armies (NOT so Christian).
And he named two men both of whom he has supported actions against.
Remember he also had his boost as to why he was right..
Sierra Leone.
Blair saw a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions.
Bad people killing and raping and mutilating.
He finally sent in the SAS, the SBS and the Para's and killed an awful LOT of these bad men.
Sierra leone began to slowly come back from the absolute choas it once was.
The people there LOVE Tony for what he did.
He saw a RIGHTOUS cause and he went for it.

After Sierra Leone, after the righteous attack on Milsovic, only Saddamn was left.

So he tragetted him- and luckily Bush II was in power and he was inclinded after 9/11.

This is all public record.
That Tony prayed?
(nods)
yep- Tony's brand of Righteous Morality.

Warren Ellis got it wrong... what the prayer really was:
"God Said Unto Me, "Fuck Saddam, Slovodan and the Bad people in Seira Leone- they kill innocents- go forth Tony and experge them from the world"

And he has.

Think about it.
Tony HAS done EXACTLY what he said he would do.
That he prayed?
I reckon he's been pyraying since Day 1 of his term.

The really scary stuff we have to consider is this- how DID an overtly Christian man get power in the first place?
The answer- nobody pays attention.

Tony is famous his support of Hindu, and Jewish members of the House of Lords- men of faith like him.

In truth- the only journos having a go at Tony will be the ones who are so gormless that this is a surprise to them and the nes who hated him anyway.

If this scares you then this is perfectly normal.
But don't say he didn't warn us... he has.
Since 1999.

Can't accuse the man of couble standards- just of Britain NOT paying attention.

I don't understand what's to be disgusted by. A religious man said that when faced with a difficult decision he struggled with his conscience and prayed. Not exactly a surprise. He didn't say God told him to go to war, and he actually said that he would be judged by people and also ultimately by God - which is pretty much what I would expect any Christian to believe.

Form what I heard he said that he is going to have to answer to god for the decision he made.

"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."

In other words he knows damn well he is goinbg to have to answer to
a) the electorate and
b) god

for taking the uk to war in Iraq

I wonder which one he is more afraid of...

I can't see why you're disgusted; from my reading, what he said was that he knows he will be answerable to God for his decision, which is a POV that any Christian - any religious person - will have to face over any decision. My reading over what is said is not that 'God told me to go to war', but that he believes he will be able to justify his decision before God when he is Judged.
A basic tenet of Christianity is that you have free will but that you are answerable for the decisions you make using it. As far as I can see, Blair is saying that he used his free will to make a decision, but that he realised full well that he'd have to have some good ansewrs down the line, both before the elctorate and tha Almighty.
Of course, he hasn't had to have any good answers for the electorate because that bunch of witless sheep are happy to scrawl their shaky X on anything with a red rose plonked in front of them without looking at what they're signing up for. Thus Blair has nothing to fear from them, just his God.
Utterly disgusted? Why are you disgiusted that anyone should act in accordance with the tenets of their faith be it religious or not? That's what people do.