Witnesses of Mercy for Peace and Reconciliation

82 rom the rich roundtables reflecting the strength of mercy, not only as a spiritual value, but also as a force for spiritual and social change towards peace and greater good, we are glad to share the following thoughts. v We need to live with mercy for each other, including those belonging to different religious traditions. But more important and challenging is the ability to live with mercy for those whom we consider extremists and who can sometimes be a source of violence or threat towards us. The challenge is to keep seeing extremists as human beings and to keep faith that they are not outside God’s mercy. Instead of demonising our enemies, we are challenged as believers to keep them in our love and prayer. v We need to believe, as our participants have shared with us, that dialogue can perform miracles in the most extreme and difficult situations. When one of our participants and his children were kidnapped by Da’esh, he and his wife were able to maintain communication with the kidnappers on human and spiritual levels. Hence, mercy requires continued belief in dialogue even though our interlocutor doesn’t adopt the same values and attitudes. v It is crucial not to dissociate mercy from real life, but to consider mercy as wedded to political responsibility. Mercy cannot be an argument against accountability, especially for those in positions of responsibility in public life, nor can it be an argument for accepting injustice. On the contrary, mercy and compassion can be driving forces for engagement towards social change. The example of the resistance of an indigenous people in India in the preservation of their rights and the natural environment is significant in showing how being merciful requires the seeking of justice. In this framework, mercy calls for global and interfaith solidarity to face unfair and unjust situations. v Small communities – in the interest of equal citizenship, we should avoid using the term “minorities” – can play a crucial role of mediation and provide a safe place in time of conflict between larger communities. The example of the Muslim community of Rwanda shows how, by opening homes and mosques, Muslims were able to save lives and host people fleeing the conflict between Tutsi and Hutu. Therefore, mercy empowers small groups within society, and allows them to play an extremely important role, especially in time of conflict or violence. v Mercy should also help us to accept our own weaknesses and prepares us to accept the weakness of the Other. We become merciful when we also acknowledge and recognise our own weakness and accept the mercy of others. Sharing our experiences of mercy leads us to talking about our beautiful teachings and deeds of being merciful towards others. Yet, it can be a more challenging and deep way of thinking about mercy, when we consider how we receive acts of mercy from others, and acknowledge that we have our own weaknesses as others have their own. So mercy also teaches us humility. v We all believe that we need to understand our religion and its traditions very well, and to have a good understanding of other traditions too. This makes us able to understand and to promote the commonalities, and acknowledge them as concrete signs of mercy. v In the context of tensions and conflicts – with significant gaps in the powers of political authorities to prevent opportunities for those who want to manipulate religious identities for their own causes and conflictual interests – religious leaders and communities must always be alert and engage together in preventive action before the vacuum is filled with chaotic and violent actions. Some further, brief reflections on the presentations The first three points below were well made by one of our speakers who exemplifies strength of faith, not only in God but also in humanity in the times of the harshest conflict. F WITNESSING MERCY FOR PEACE AND RECONCILIAT ION Lessons learned, summarised by Dr. Nayla Tabbara and Rev. Prof. Fadi Daou