|PIC1|The Tony Blair Faith Foundation has launched a new global education programme to help young people better understand the world’s major religions.

Face to Faith was launched on Tuesday by Blair, who took part in a video conference between three schools in the UK, Palestine and Bethlehem.

With an estimated four billion people, or two thirds of the world's population, adhering to a faith, Face to Faith has been put together by an international group of educational experts for the Foundation to "ensure that a lack of knowledge does not lead to prejudice, antagonism and tension".

The programme brings together video conferencing, an online community and course syllabus to encourage exchange between young people of different faiths. It is already up and running in schools in North America, Europe and Asia.

Speaking at the launch in London, Blair said: "If you look round the different parts of the world and you look at conflicts, I would say a very large percentage of them have a religious dimension or a faith dimension to them.

"So to get young people at an early age to be comfortable with people of a different faith is extremely important."