Forgiveness

The other day, a racist, homophobic, totalitarian, intolerant, misogynist mass murderer was killed. I refer of course to Osama bin Laden. Some people celebrated the event, some felt we should somehow be ashamed it happened. I felt, I must say, glad the man was dead. I wasn't going to burst into the street cheering nor on the other hand was I going to join the hand-wringing. The world is better off without such people. The man reaped what he had sewn. Those who live by the sword die by the sword. (Little bit Biblical that - and always worth remembering.)

Some pastors and priests put him on their Remembrance list in their parish newsletters. That's a list of people who have died or whose anniversaries occured during the week, the idea being the parishioners pray for their souls. They expected their move to be controversial. I didn't hear what came of the approach. It didn't happen in my parish but I thought the idea a sound one. It was a challenge to our ideals, and one that we should accept. We should pray for those who hate us. Edith Cavell, about to be murdered by her German captors in WWI,  set herself the challenge we should all be conscious of: "Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone."

Forgiveness is, I think, one of the gifts of Christianity. I don't believe the concept had much currency in older religions and societies. I could be wrong but that's the idea I have. Even if that is incorrect, it is fair to say that forgiveness is one of the keystones of Christianity, and a key to a better world. Jesus told us to love our enemies. If that wasn't enough, he also said we should love our neighbours, which may be even tougher. It's easier I think to forgive a man who lived in a cave or a luxury house halfway across the world and who killed people in other countries ten years ago, than it is the neighbour who has the drum-kit, the loud car and the wild parties when you have to work the next day. I have a friend who has hurt me, and I am still working through forgiving him. I have a friend who I hurt. I hope she has forgiven me. Forgiveness is a simple word, but a difficult concept.

That said I'm not sure I have forgiven bin Laden. His crimes were monstrous, not only in his mass-killings but the harm he has done to world society. He has helped to bring back sectarianism to a world that desperately didn't need it. He has created a mistrust of Islam which it will take moderate Islamists years, decades to overcome - if they even can. He may be dead but his legacy of violence and division will linger. Still I accept it behoves me to forgive him, and will continue to try to do so. What will that feel like? I am not sure.

Incidentally, people often call the fundamentalist Islamists 'medieval'. If only. Medieval Islam was a curious, outward-looking, tolerant, scientifically progressive society. As Karen Armstrong in her excellent The Battle for God shows, fundamentalism - whether it be Christian, Islamic or Jewish - is a modern creation of the 19th century.