Forgiving ISIS?

[Levite]

“It may seem unbelievable to some of your readers, but as a Christian and a Christian minister I have a responsibility to myself and to others to guide them down this path of forgiveness. We don’t forgive the act because the act is heinous. But we do forgive the killers from the depths of our hearts. Otherwise, we would become consumed by anger and hatred. It becomes a spiral of violence that has no place in this world.”

– Bishop Angaelos, general bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK

Is it wise to forgive ISIS? Why or why not?

At least from a Jewish perspective, we are encouraged to forgive transgressors-- only when they have done teshuvah, the process of repentance.

So if ISIS's members disbanded their organization, turned themselves in to duly constituted international authorities, freed all their captives, turned over all their assets for reparations to their victims, admitted publicly that they were wrong and had done wrong, accepted the legal consequences of their actions (even if those consequences included the death penalty), and publicly asked God to forgive the evil they had done, then I would be inclined to forgive them.

 

[YmirGF]

Forgiveness is cheap. Ammo ain't. Spare no expense on these misunderstanders of Islam.

 

[columbus]

It may seem unbelievable to some of your readers, but as a Christian and a Christian minister I have a responsibility to myself and to others to guide them down this path of forgiveness. We don’t forgive the act because the act is heinous. But we do forgive the killers from the depths of our hearts. Otherwise, we would become consumed by anger and hatred. It becomes a spiral of violence that has no place in this world.”


I'm impressed by the Bishop. I believe the world could do with more of his ethical teaching. Especially the Muslim world.

He is a religious figure, not a media, political, or military leader. He has nothing to do with the response to the crisis from those perspectives. Within his bailiwick he is doing what he is supposed to do, raise the bar for human morality.
Kudos to him.

Tom

 

[CMike]

Forgiveness isn't always good. By forgiving when the person isn't seeking forgiveness you are condoning their actions.

 

[columbus]

Forgiveness isn't always good. By forgiving when the person isn't seeking forgiveness you are condoning their actions.

The bishop and I mean something different by forgiveness than you seem to mean. We mean "get past the corrosive emotions when the reality cannot be changed". Nothing about condoning anything.

Quite the opposite, if you condone a behavior there is nothing to forgive. I think he made that clear in the quote.

Tom