Week 12 Lecture:

How Do We Forgive?

What is Forgiveness?

• The mental and or spiritual process of ceasing to feel resentment or anger against another person for a perceived offense, difference or mistake. –letting it go (today’s society). –something happened to cause some level of harm; whether it was perceived or not, there is a connection or relationship between the individuals(not necessarily good) –forgiveness ends the cycle of offense and you move forward
• (Re)connect, recognize the common humanity of the other and end the cycle of offense.

Judaism and Forgiveness:

• Personal responsibility of the wrongdoer
• Apology to those harmed
• Forgiveness from God for wrongs against God
• Forgiveness without apology
• Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)--to make things right (ask forgiveness for people you have harmed over the past year; forgiveness from god, people, reach out to ppl and acknowledge you harmed them and ask for forgiveness)
• Sincere repentance
• Class: if someone harms someone else, but if they sincerely apologize and try to make it right, then the wronged individual is religiously required to grant forgiveness. If the wrongdoer does not apologize, there is no religious obligation for the person to forgive.
• Sin against god- denying god, doing something ecologically harmful
• **example she used in class with me for exam– what process do i need to do to forgive the prof**

Christianity and Forgiveness:

• Forgiveness as a spiritual duty
• God as source of forgiveness (which is why they are asked to forgive)
• Roman Catholicism:
  • Forgiveness ‘mediated’ by the Church
  • Sacrament of reconciliation (confession) a sacrament is a vessel of god’s grace– the eucharist (when we receive it we receive gods mercy and love)
• Sincere expression of repentance
• Class: Protestant christians- forgiveness is given by asking god directly for forgiveness– need to be sincere and repent, also need to forgive others
• Catholic– forgiveness is mediated by the church –mediated: the church mediated the relationship between god and the individual; church facilitates the conversation– priest may ask them to atone or repent, such as community service. Protestant is more personal and informal/direct, while catholic there is a process and its formal/private, priest gives you absolution.
• EXAM: whats different between the catholic and protestant approach

Islam and Forgiveness:

• Prerequisite for true peace
• Allah (God) as source of all forgiveness
• Divine forgiveness and repentance–from god
• Human forgiveness-forgive and be forgiven- from humans

In Islam, forgiveness involves:

• Recognizing the offense and its admission before God
• Commitment not to repeat the offense
• (doing whatever needs to be done to rectify the offense–in case of offense against human)
• Asking Allah for forgiveness
• For forgiveness from god– only 3 steps– recognize, commitment, ask for forgiveness
• For forgiveness from humans– all steps

Hinduism and Forgiveness:

• Penance-an act or something you do to try and make it right
  • Performing atonement for wrongdoing-try and make it right or rectify the wrongdoing
  • Connection to karma–our past actions and thoughts; we accumulate good karma when we forgive, we get bad karma when we harm others

Buddhism and Forgiveness:

• Forgiveness as means to prevent harmful emotions from impeding mental and spiritual well-being
• Release from suffering through meditation and insight into nature of reality
• Questioning of the reality of the passions that make forgiveness necessary, as well as the attachment that gives rise to the passions themselves.
• Class:All of our attachments–karma; when we hold onto the harms we've committed and others have committed against us, it gets in the way of our spiritual progress. Forgiveness prevents these emotions from being a barrier to our mental and spiritual well-being. Attachments cause dukkha-keeps us on the wheel of samsara. Forgiveness sets us free.

Case Study: South Africa

Apartheid and South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Facts:

• 17th century colonized by Dutch
• Afrikaners= people of Africa
• Ethnic groups:
  • Black- 75.2%
  • White- 13.6%
  • Coloured- 8.6%
  • Indian- 2.6%

Apartheid:

• “Separateness”
• “Apartness”
• Racial separation between white minority group in africa and black south africans
• Included distinct policies and laws to keep people separate

History of Apartheid:

• 1948- National Party win election
• 1949- Prohibition of Mixed Marriages–marry within your race; no mixed marriages
• 1950- Population Registration Act–every person’s race was recorded
• 1950- Group Area’s Act–control residential patterns; different residential areas between different races (this was area was for white south africans, this was for black)--only could live in areas where their race was. Whites received the best land, blacks got less land and poorer quality.
• 1952- Pass Laws– every black south african to carry a piece of id called a pass book, it had ur photo, name address, employment record, place of origin, criminal record. –required to produce it on command, if u didnt have it u were put in jail, couldnt leave township without permission from authority (police)
• 1953- Bantu Education Act– bantu (what the whites called the blacks). It is legislation that created a separate curriculum between whites and blacks. This act was intended to suit the natures of the blacks. Curriculum designed to keep blacks in certain jobs over other jobs. Kept separation between them

Apartheid As Social Sin:

• Social Sin:
  • Resides in a group, community, and people
  • It is not produced by deliberation and free choice
  • It produces evil consequences, but no guilt in the ordinary sense
  • It is committed out of collective blindness

4 Levels of Social Sin:***KNOW BAUM FOR EXAM****

Level 1: Injustices and dehumanizing trends built into the institutions

Level 2: Cultural and religious symbols that reinforce the unjust institutions

Level 3: False consciousness

Level 4: Collective decisions

Level 1: Injustices and dehumanizing trends built into the institutions

• Injustice built into social, political, economic, religious, and other institutions that embody collective life–the case study shows a need for forgiveness- harm is being perpetuated

Level 2: Cultural and religious symbols that reinforce the unjust institutions

• They legitimize and reinforce the unjust institutions, thus intensifying the harm done to people.
• The Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) supported the Apartheid with its religious underpinnings by suggesting that Afrikaners were God’s chosen people and that blacks were subservient species. In the Afrikaner’s worldview, apartheid and the church went hand in hand.

Battle of Blood RIver- December 16, 1838

• 460 Voortrekkers defeat 16 000 Zulus
• Voortrekker Monument
• Zulu Monument

Alan Davies Infected Christianity: A Study of Modern Racism

Ancient Israel:

• Liberated from the Egyptians
• Escape into the wilderness
• Battle against the canaanites
• Covenant with God at Mount Sinai

Afrikaners:

• Liberated from the british
• Great Trek of 1853-40
• Battle against the Zulu
• Covenant with God at the Battle of Blood River

Level 3: False Consciousness

• Created by these institutions, people involve themselves collectively in destructive actions as if they were doing the right thing.
• e.g) Eugene de Kock- Prime Evil- former commander of Vlakpass

Level 4: Collective Decisions

• Generated by the distorted consciousness, which increases the injustices in society and intensifies the power of the dehumanizing trend.
• Apartheid laws
• Resistance and repression 1950’s and 60’s
• Conflict intensifies 1970’s and 80’s

April 1994- First Democratic Election in South Africa

Truth- the road to reconciliation

Truth Commission:

• An official, temporary mechanism that is established to investigate a pattern of past human rights abuses or violations
• It has the task to investigate, report, and recommend reforms, and in the process serve to formally acknowledge past wrongs that we silenced and denied.

Structure of South Africa’s TRC:

1. Human Rights Violations Committee
2. Amnesty Committee
3. Reparations and Rehabilitation Committee