October 31, 2007
Source: BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7071731.stm
Cherie Blair has dedicated much of her career as a barrister to the field of human rights, and has long campaigned on the issue of women's equality.
Her lecture though was an unusual one for her in arguing so forcefully against the role religion can play in perpetuating prejudice. Mrs Blair is herself a committed Roman Catholic.
"Religion is only as good as the people who operate it," she said in an interview for the BBC before the lecture.
She was careful however to argue that at the heart of all the major faiths the principles of universal human rights were sacrosanct, and problems came with the way religious texts were interpreted.