Bishop's letters: January 06 +Graham

Truth and Reconciliation

The name Nelson Mandela is well-known. He was released from prison in South Africa in 1990, having endured 28years in prison for leading an organisation fighting for the rights of black people. It was just four years later, in 1994, that he became the first black President of the nation. He entered prison an angry freedom fighter. He emerged with the sole desire to build a new nation with equal opportunities for everyone, of whatever ethnic background.


The influence of Christian teaching on Mandela in his youth formed the man he is. His own spirit of forgiveness and magnanimity blazed a trail for the new nation. Working with the Anglican Archbishop, Desmond Tutu, Mandela led the parliament to pass a law establishing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Over a period of 18months victims told their appalling stories to public televised hearings. But more remarkable was the opportunity for oppressors – police and security forces – to tell the truth and, if it was judged that they had done so, to receive amnesty for their shocking crimes.

The families of victims began to hear where those loved ones who had disappeared were buried or where they had been burnt or thrown to crocodiles. Later they received some compensation, though, sadly, far less than the TRC had recommended.

During my recent study leave in South Africa I interviewed several members of this now famous Commission. The consensus among them, and with others whom I met, was that the Commission had provided national catharsis. No-one could any longer say that they did not know what had happened. Huge problems remain in South Africa, but with the TRC the nation took a huge step towards the healing of the evil apartheid years when coloured and black people were treated as less than white people.

What sort of justice is this? Can it ever be just not to punish people for their crimes, but to offer pardon and a new start? Is it fair to the victims? There is no doubt that had criminal proceedings been tried, much of the truth would have remained hidden. This justice is restorative. It is a justice which aims at building a people who live rightly. Punishment does not change people. Pardon and forgiveness give people full dignity and a new start. And in just the same way, God wants to deal with every one of us, for all of us need God’s forgiveness, freely offered to us in Christ.

But here is the crunch! No nation will embrace Truth and Reconciliation without the foundation of Christian faith. Throw Jesus out and the edifice of Christian values will collapse. It is one of the follies of this generation to think that we can ignore the worship and teaching of Jesus, as most do, but keep the values he brought. If Jesus goes, forgiveness goes. The can be no Truth and Reconciliation experience in a nation without Christ Jesus. Instead there will only be punishment and vengeance.

So how could Anthony Walker’s mother speak so movingly about forgiving the two youths who murdered her son? Only because she truly worshipped and followed Jesus Christ. In this new year her example is one to follow.

Bishop Graham