RECENT CATHOLIC convert Tony Blair has challenged Pope Benedict XVI’s “entrenched” attitudes on homosexuality and suggested it is time he and other church leaders started “rethinking” the issue.
The former British prime minister, who finally converted to Catholicism after leaving office in 2007, said there were “many good and great things” the Catholic Church did and “many fantastic things” the pope stood for.
But he told gay magazine Attitude: "I think what is interesting is that if you went into any Catholic church, particularly a well-attended one, on any Sunday evening here and did a poll of the congregation, you'd be surprised at how liberal-minded people were."
The faith of ordinary Catholics, Mr Blair said, was rarely found “in entrenched attitudes” of the kind reflected in the pope’s depiction of homosexuality as “a more or less strong tendency toward an intrinsic moral evil”.
Mr Blair identified the “huge generational shift” at play in this debate, saying: “There’s probably that same fear amongst religious leaders that if you concede ground on an issue like this, because attitudes and thinking evolve over time, where does that end? You’d start having to rethink many, many things. Now, my view is that rethinking is good.”
Mr Blair continued: “Actually, we need an attitude of mind where rethinking and the concept of evolving attitudes becomes part of the discipline with which you approach your religious faith.”
While some Catholic converts become noticeably more conservative, Mr Blair – who has established his own Tony Blair Faith Foundation to promote understanding between the main religions – placed himself firmly on the liberal wing in the interview.
Conventional wisdom was not necessarily wise, he said: “It can be wrong and it can be just a form of conservatism that hides behind a consensus.
“If you look back in time through the suffragette movement, the fight against slavery, it’s amazing how the same arguments in favour of prejudice crop up again and again.”
Based on his own contacts, Mr Blair also suggested that the anti-gay mood was shifting in evangelical circles in the United States:
“I think there is a generational shift that is happening. If you talk to the older generation, yes, you will still get a lot of pushback, and parts of the Bible quoted, and so on.
“But if you look at the younger generation of evangelicals, this is increasingly for them something that they wish to be out of – at least in terms of having their position confined to being anti-gay.”