Some words are of the devil. ‘Apartheid’, ‘segregation’,
‘separateness’ are all translated as ‘deprivation’: of civil rights, freedoms,
dignity, livelihood, hope. Using terms like ‘detention centre’ and
‘resettlement’ when we mean ‘prison’ and ‘exile’ we lie with pretty words. And
the devil is the father of lies.
Desmond
Tutu realised the vital nature of truth when he pointed out that the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission did not issue blanket amnesty ‘… amnesty is granted
only to those who plead guilty, who accept responsibility for what they have
done.’ The harm to the national fabric must be spoken in order for people to be
able to live together. ‘True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse,
the pain, the degradation, the truth.’ Archbishop Tutu respects the power of
ideology and conditioning. The commission revealed how ‘virtually every
institution, every aspect of life, came under the control of this ideology.
Everything conditioned white people to think and act in a particular kind of
way.’ This comprehension leads to compassion, to awareness of human frailty,
even the hope that some may become ‘more ready to accept accountability more
easily.’[1]
‘Perfect
repentance’, Rabbi Sacks says, ‘comes about when you find yourself in the same
situation but this time you act differently.’ It’s a ‘change of heart’ preceded
by ‘regret, remorse, confession.’[2]
Confession of the truth.
This is a
warning against ideologies, othering, and untruths. Our time of mass migration
presents a challenge to the ethics of every nation. John D’Arcy May suggests
‘that the actual acceptance of people of other faiths and traditions is itself
a religious act which must spring from a spirituality of non-violence.’[3]
Let us then confess our sins before God, resolving to lead a new life, hewing
to the truth of what has been done and is being done by our governments and
left undone by ourselves.
[1] Material
in this paragraph from Desmond Tutu, No
Future Without Forgiveness (London: Rider, 1999), 51;218;203;204.
[2] Jonathan
Sacks, Not in God’s Name: Confronting
Religious Violence, (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2015), 154.
[3] John
D’Arcy May, Transcendence and Violence:
The Encounter of Buddhist, Christian and Primal Traditions (New York: Continuum,
2003), 153.
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