By Michael Witmer
Bill, If you came away from our time together feeling like you were invited to quietude, I’d say we failed miserably in our purpose.
Faith-based reconciliation is no invitation to stand idly by in the face of injustice. It’s a way to anwer violence with something other than violence.
One thing the misadventures of the last 8 years (not to mention the whole last century!) have shown us is how far violence can go in solving our conflicts.
We’ve also seen the limits of legislative and court battles as instruments in building up and healing communities. Sometimes war and coersion are inevitable, but these represent the failures that faith based reconciliation works to avoid.
It’s about giving peace a chance. And another. And another.
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November 10, 2008 at 5:50 am
Applications of Reconciliation
Undoubtedly I was not as clear as I should have been in my previous post. I was reflecting on what I perceive as a problem of reconciling as it is practiced at times in the world.
Our time together was an example of how it ought to work. It is moments of clarity like the meeting at Gethsemane that raise the possibility- dare I say hope- of true peace.