Tony makes his move

So Tony Blair finally follows his heart and soul and joins to the Roman Catholic Church.

Each to their own. I have a great deal of respect for Roman Catholicism but a church that excludes women from it hierarchy and even from the beds it its priesthood has a long way to go to becoming something I would want to join.

People often ask if politics and religion should be mix. For me they are by necessity intertwined. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said, "when people say politics and religion do not mix, I ask them what bible they are reading"

The key is what role it plays in your politics. For me its not that God tells me what to do but that everything I do must be tested against the call of God to love not just my neighbour, or even the stranger, but my enemy. And to discern how to do that, to find the courage to do that, I need times of silence, prayer and stillness, times with God.

Religion and Politics do mix, just as atheism and politics mix. Its about knowing what you believe and then, in our frail and often failing human ways, living out that belief whatever the cost.