Peace through Dialogue, But First Fess Up to the Mess Up so I can Forgive You.
This is the theory behind the program underlying the "Abrahamic Family Reunion" project.
The grand mia culpa has to come before hurts can be swallowed, healed and forgiveness offered. Or at least it is a good first step to any reconciliation. It is enormously healing to hear someone say they acknowledge what they did was wrong or harmful and they regret it. Then the 'I am sorry' has some meaning. Otherwise it is an empty gesture that sits on a trust vacuum.
This, explained Joe Montville to the Rumi Forum (http://www.rumiforum.org/) this week in discussing the efforts of the project he founded [see, http://www.abrahamicfamilyreunion.org/] has to be done with some authority in cultural groups for cultural or ethnic sins to be forgiven to reconcile conflicting peoples to peaceful co-existence.
Sometimes the harm was done deliberately, and the harming agent still thinks unjustifiably that they were justified or right in doing it. Both sides of the Crusades thought the slaughter served God. In that case forgiveness is downright nearly impossible one might think- But not with Christ- all things are possible with Christ who, after all, said "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Jesus forgives people even when and while they don't have a clue how insanely idiotic they were, how wrong-headed (perhaps evil even) even while well -meaningly they think that they are in God's will. Every person who condemned Jesus was sure they were doing God's will and work. People on both sides of any Holy War or Religious war always think that they are on the side of the Angels. The value structures that perpetuate one's belief in one's rightness do not always concurrently jibe with the conflicting party's value structures. Self-delusion persists as fiercely as bad translations of religious texts.
The Abrahamic Family Reunion tries it appears to humbly bring people together- like one big happy family, airing grievances, and being totally honest about where religion went off the rails.
Healing the Abrahamic family is Montville's goal after a long career as an official State Department diplomat who got tired of taking shuttles to the National Cathedral to attend funerals of his fallen collegues who served in the Middle East. He coined the "track II" moniker for unofficial diplomatic parallel planes of more personal individual cultural healing approaches.
Montville touched on some of the things intellectual honesty begs more exposure of: Pogroms, the slaughter of Jews in towns wholesale through history, the bad doctrine or dogma that pinned the death of Jesus before Vatican II onto "the Jews"- collectively which fuelled anti-semitism in Europe that still bubbles under its currents.
Intellectual honesty about whose butter swathes your bread is key. Corruption breeds compulsions that are destructive.
The Peace through Dialogue folks it seems are not just about jabberwalky flap-jaw-boning for the sake of it. They are after the roots of the discontent to see if root canal is feasible. Root canal is always painful, but once the rot is identified, it has to be pulled out or the whole mouth remains infected. Yes, the Catholic church must admit, he said that it engaged in some evil happenings, just as all sides of any religious conflict must admit that it went over the top.
When everyone sits down and admits the errors of their ways, then we can say "I am sorry" and mean it, hold hands and sing Cumbayah, he seemed to say. I'm game for a big chat if I don't have to hold my breath at the same time.
Forgive them Father, They Don't Know What the Hell They Are Doing.
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At the forefront of the pedagogy of peace inter-faith initiatives is the Rumi Forum in Washington, DC and internationally. Many thanks for the fine lectures they regularly offer to the public. See their website for events, www.rumiforum.org and especially sign up for the upcoming Religion and Peace in the Middle East event on Nov.18th.
Thursday (tomorrow) Saint Matthews Cathedral in DC is hosting a talk on Islam and Catholicism at 7:00pm.
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