Forgiveness News
Forgiveness: How Anyone Can Learn This Virtue
MercatorNet.com, North Strathfield, Australia –
The world is overshadowed by atrocities which cry out for justice – and forgiveness: the brutality of ISIS, the abductions of Boko Haram; the Boston Marathon bombing; terrorist attacks in New York, London, Madrid, Sydney, Paris; the Charleston massacre…
We asked Robert Enright, a psychologist and founding board member of the International Forgiveness Institute, as well as author of a new book, 8 Keys to Forgiveness, how some people manage to forgive even crimes like these, and whether it’s an art that can be learned.
That’s the introduction to an article published today by MercatorNet, an Australian online news and commentary site whose goal is “navigating modern complexities.” In the article, Dr. Enright explains:
- Why some people forgive while others remain full of hate;
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Why forgiveness is so much more than just a coping mechanism;
- Why forgiveness education should be a learning staple for all children; and,
- How forgiveness, including self-forgiveness, can be learned by anyone in the world.
“Forgiveness is about having love in the heart for those who have not been loving to you,” Dr. Enright explains. He adds that the “how to” of 
forgiveness, including even how to forgive yourself, is spelled out in his just-released book, 8 Keys to Forgiveness.
“Forgiveness is open to all people in the world if they choose to exercise this particular virtue when hurt by others,” the article quotes Dr. Enright as saying. “Our research includes people of many faith traditions, as well as those with no faith. When those who choose the forgiveness path finish the work, their well-being tends to improve as seen in the research findings.”
Read the entire article: Forgiveness: why we need to have mercy on the merciless. . .and how anyone can learn this virtue.
African-American Church has “deep history of forgiveness”
Editor’s Note: This a follow-up article to the story we posted yesterday on the forgiveness offered by the victim’s families to the suspect accused of killing nine people during a Bible study session at a Charleston church (see below). Journalist Adam Harris wrote this article for BBC News.
“What we saw in court today was the best of the black tradition – that your evilness, your hatred will not distort the faith,” says Dr. Eddie Glaude, professor of religion and African American studies at Princeton University. “There is a tendency to normalise black forgiveness and, in doing so, lose sight of what a miracle it is.”
By all accounts, the African-American church has a deep history of forgiveness rooted in faith and tied into the history of white supremacy in the US.
“Members of the black church believe in the ethos of the founding figures: all persons are created equal in the sight of God,” according to Dr. Alton Pollard III, dean of the Howard School of Divinity.
That notion is what makes it easier to forgive.
“God is always greater and because of that, even in horrific conditions, we can still be faithful,” says Dr Pollard. “Because of faithfulness, we have the capacity to forgive.”
That ability to forgive has emerged as both an act of mercy and a tool against oppression.
Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously said: “We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.”
“There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us,” he added. “When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”
Read the unedited, full-length version of this BBC News article – Charleston shootings: Power of forgiveness in African-American church
Here’s another BBC News article you’ll want to read – South Carolina shooting: Historic Church that hosted Dr King about the amazing history of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) and its important role in the civil rights movement. In 1822, for example, the Church was a target of the authorities who foiled a planned slave revolt led by Denmark Vesey, one of the founders. More than 1,000 people were arrested over the plan and 35 of them, including Vesey, were executed and the church itself was burned to the ground. It was rebuilt in 1834. As it looks today. ⇒
Charleston Church Victims’ Families Respond With Forgiveness
ABC News Internet Ventures – South Carolina police have arrested a 21-year-old suspect they say shot and killed nine people during a Bible study session he attended inside their historic Charleston church Wednesday night.
Today, during his initial court appearance, the suspect heard not only words of anguish and pain from the victims’ families but words of love and forgiveness as well.
“I forgive you, my family forgives you,” said Anthony Thompson, whose relative Myra Thompson was killed. “We would like you to take this opportunity to repent. … Do that and you’ll be better off than you are right now.”
The families are determined not to respond in kind to the hate that resulted in the deaths of their loved ones, said Alana Simmons, who lost her grandfather, the Rev. Daniel Simmons.
“Although my grandfather and the other victims died at the hands of hate,” she said, “this is proof — everyone’s plea for your soul is proof they lived in love and their legacies will live in love, so hate won’t win.”
Felecia Sanders survived the Wednesday night attack by pretending to be dead, but lost her son Tywanza. She also spoke in the courtroom. It is not unusual in South Carolina for the families of victims to be given a chance to address the court during a bond hearing.
“We welcomed you Wednesday night in our Bible study with open arms. You have killed some of the most beautifulest people that I know. Every fiber in my body hurts … and I’ll never be the same,” Sanders said.
“Tywanza was my hero,” she added. “As we said in Bible Study, we enjoyed you but may God have mercy on you.”
After the suspect was ordered held on $1 million bond for nine murders, his family issued a statement offering prayers and sympathy for the victims, and expressing “shock, grief and disbelief as to what happened that night.”
“We have all been touched by the moving words from the victims’ families offering God’s forgiveness and love in the face of such horrible suffering,” the statement said.
Read the full story from ABC News: // Charleston Church Victims’ Families Forgive Suspect in Court
Read CNN’s coverage: Charleston church shooter hears victims’ kin say, ‘I forgive you’
Woman Forgives Man Who Ran Down and Killed her Husband
Daily Mail.com, London, UK – A 74-year-old woman in Bournemouth, England (about 2-hours southeast of London) has appealed to a municipal judge to help the driver who ran down her husband avoid a prison sentence.
Patricia Machin said she had no “ill thoughts or grudges” against Brian Williamson, the driver of the car that killed her 77-year-old husband Gerrard as he was crossing the road to buy his morning paper. Mrs Machin even hugged the sobbing defendant as he left court after receiving a suspended sentence.
“It isn’t that I have forgiven Brian, it was that I never blamed him in the first place,” Mrs. Machin said. “It was a mistake. He has suffered enough already and will have to live with what he did. I didn’t want to see him going to prison; he is someone’s son after all.”
In a letter to the sentencing judge, Mrs. Machin wrote:
“I have never for a single second had any sort of angry or vengeful thoughts towards this young man. If asked, he would confirm to you that just after the accident and his arrest, I comforted him in his distress. Even though at the time we stood beside a pool of Gerrard’s blood, and I was panicking, because having gone out to look for Gerrard, I was faced with the horror of the situation, I felt only pity for the driver.”
In a separate letter she sent Williamson just before the sentencing hearing she wrote:
“Today is a very important day and I will be in court to support you. On the day of the accident, however bad it was for me, I realise it was 1,000 times worse for you. Will you make me a promise, that you will get on with your young life, knowing that you will always be supported by my prayers?”
Closure for Boston Bombing Victims: Death Penalty, Life in Prison, or Forgiveness?
CNN.com U.S. News, New York City, NY – When a federal jury sentenced Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death last month, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh issued a statement expressing “hope [that] this verdict provides a small amount of closure” to everyone affected by the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed four people and wounded hundreds more.
Like Mayor Walsh, most everyone hopes the victims of the bombing — including the families of the four people murdered by the Tsarnaev brothers — can find some relief from their anguish. Will this death sentence for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev help them?
Bill and Denise Richard, whose 8-year-old son was killed in the bombing, don’t think so. They recently wrote an open letter in the Boston Globe urging the Justice Department to take the death penalty “off the table.”
“The continued pursuit of that punishment could bring years of appeals and prolong reliving the most painful day of our lives,” wrote the Richards, who suffered severe injuries from the bombing; their 7-year-old daughter lost her left leg.
For many victims, feelings of pain and loss may never go away, regardless of how Tsarnaev is punished. But psychological research has found that one way to achieve greater peace of mind is through forgiveness.
Researchers like Dr. Robert Enright, co-founder of the International Forgiveness Institute in Madison, WI, stress that forgiving does not mean absolving an offender of guilt; instead, it means deliberately letting go of feelings of anger and vengeance toward the offender — a way to stop ruminating on the offense and free yourself of the power it has over you.
“It’s a way of saying, ‘I’m going to take my life back because I’m getting swallowed up by hatred,” according to Loren Toussaint, an associate professor of psychology at Luther College (Decorah, Iowa), who studies forgiveness. “It’s an act of transformative empowerment … that allows someone to move forward.”
Read the full story including research results from crime victims on the effects of punishment vs forgiveness: “Does Death Penalty Bring Closure?“
