The Hindu : For God's sake, no

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 06, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

For God's sake, no

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON MAY 5. Is it appropriate for the Prime Minister of a secular country, where many profess no faith at all, to make crucial political judgments on the basis of his own religious convictions? Would it be right, for example, for a Muslim Prime Minister of a non-Islamic state to declare "jehad" on the plea that he would account for his actions on the Day of Judgment or that it is consistent with his understanding of Islam? Or, nearer home, can Atal Behari Vajpayee invoke the tenets of Hinduism to justify decisions that could affect millions of non-Hindus in India?

A row has erupted in Britain after the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, in an interview at the weekend, justified his decision to join the invasion of Iraq saying he was ready to "meet my Maker" and answer before God for "those who have died or been horribly maimed as a result of my decisions".

It also emerged that he wanted to end his pre-war TV broadcast to the nation with the words "God bless you" but was persuaded by his aides to substitute it with "thank you" after they told him that invoking God's name was not right on this occasion.

"You are talking to lots of people who don't want chaplains pushing stuff down their throats," they explained to him. Mr Blair agreed but complained that his advisers were a "most ungodly lot".

But it is Mr. Blair's remarks suggesting that he would rather be judged by his "Maker" than by his people which have provoked a sharp reaction in a country where there is strict separation between the church and the state, and atheists are shown the same consideration as the believers.

The British Prime Minister is known to have a deeply religious bent and has been often accused of parading them in public — most controversially when he appeared at the launch of his party's 2001 general election campaign clutching a hymnbook.

Commentators have speculated whether his "bonding" with the United States President, George W. Bush, has anything to do with the fact that he too is a fervent Christian.

On a BBC interview a few weeks ago, Mr. Blair was asked if and President Bush prayed together when they met to discuss Iraq. Apparently his "ungodly" aides at Downing Street worry constantly about his vulnerability to such questions, and recently his communications chief, Alastair Campbell — an avowed atheist — stepped in and said: "We don't do God", when a journalist from Vanity Fair quizzed Mr. Blair about religion.

While some have been impressed by his candid acknowledgment of his spiritual convictions, others say that as Prime Minister he has no business mixing his private beliefs with politics and, certainly, justifying hugely contentious political decisions on grounds that it is between him and his "Maker" is downright "barmy". He has been criticised for allowing his "messianic'' zeal to have the better of his democratic instincts.

"He has an unhinged belief, firstly in the purity of his own intention, secondly in the fact that his own good intentions can only lead to good results, and thirdly that he's going to win people over, that he's going to persuade people. Prime Ministers ought to take a cool view on the balance of calculations," Mathew Parris, a leading commentator and a former Tory MP, told the BBC.

The Times, which was the first to publish Mr. Blair's controversial remarks, noted the "importance" which Mr. Blair attaches to his faith "in sharp contrast to the attitudes of his closest advisers". The newspaper's behind-the-scenes account of his handling of the Iraq crisis underlined what it described as the "centrality of the Prime Minister's faith to his actions", but critics were upset that the leader of a secular country should have chosen to invoke his Christian beliefs to defend his actions.

"Isn't it much like those Muslim fundamentalist suicide bombers who claim they are acting out of their belief in martyrdom," asked one.

Some, however, said that like everyone else a politician too had a right to his faith and there was nothing wrong in Mr. Blair choosing to speak openly about his beliefs. They also recalled that it was Mr. Blair who did much to temper the "fundamentalist tendencies" of the Bush administration in the wake of September 11 and to make sure that the U.S.-led "crusade'' against terrorism was not construed as an attack on Islam.

Nevertheless, the dominant view is that there is something faintly absurd and opportunistic about his seeking refuge in the idea of the Day of Judgment to explain an unpopular political decision.

To quote Alan Bennett, a leading British playwright and a Blair-ite to boot: "May be, Mr. Blair should read a few more books, but, please, not prayer books".

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