Interfaith
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Forgiveness for the Future
Rev Dr Marcus Braybrooke: World Congress of Faiths
Marina Cantacuzino: The Forgiveness Project (TFP)
Jo Berry: Building Bridges of Peace
Brian Frost: Ecumenist and Writer on Forgiveness
2pm-6pm Saturday 8th September, 2012 – Refreshments at 1.30pm
43 Lancaster Gate, London, W2 3NA
I agree with Marina Cantacuzino that forgiveness is not the exclusive property of Christianity. He quoted several faiths scriptures on forgiveness and reconciliation.
‘The best deed of a great man is to forgive and forget.’ Islam (Shiite). Nahjul Balagha, Saying 201
‘Where there is forgiveness, there is God Himself.’ Sikhism. Adi Granth, Shalok, Kabir, p. 1372
‘The superior man tends to forgive wrongs and deals leniently with crimes.’ Confucianism. I Ching 40: Release
‘Who takes vengeance or bears a grudge acts like one who, having cut one hand while handling a knife, avenges himself by stabbing the other hand.’ Judaism. Jerusalem Talmud, Nedarim 9.4
Sukhbir Singh came to present the words of Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh on the Charter of Forgiveness. This Charter adds to the Charter of Compassion that Karen Armstrong and others have initiated. The work on the Charter began four or five years ago and it is not yet finished.
Forgiving is an activity necessary for healing and reconciliation and the overcoming of legacies and memories of injustice, conflicts and wars of the past. This allows people to be liberated from being imprisoned in the past and allows the grace of the Divine to restore peace and harmony among individuals and communities.
The Introduction to this evening’s meeting would, I thought, be the obvious place upon which to base my own contribution to our thoughts and discussions. Calling all Peoples to praise The Lord, with trumpet, lute and harp, may not, I suggest, necessarily equate to harmonious relationships between one Faith and Another. All too often history has been witness to religious conflict, with each protagonist apparently convinced they were fighting ‘in the name of G-d’. And that first paragraph actually refers not simply to ‘differences’ but ‘religious differences’. These actual (or sometimes perceived) differences have indeed led to much suffering, but not, I suggest, either to genocidal brutality or indeed, the Holocaust.
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