Faith-Based Reconciliation comprises eight core values

Reconciliationas a MoralVisionSlideshow PresentationTranscript

Unify communities1. MORAL VISIONAnything people can conceive, and believe, they can achieve.Moral visions-- & Reflect the very soul of a community Form the basis of a social contract Guide action Shape the interpretation of events Inspire self-sacrifice Carry social aspirationssocieties

Faith Based Reconciliation provides a framework for understanding and working with these systems. These webs form social ecosystems. The web of relationships we live in give us life and identity. Relationships and Communities behave like living thingsthey grow, multiply, get wounded, and can heal.2. Relationships are Organisms

3. Relationship is of the Essence Leave your gift before the altar. First go and be reconciled to yourbrother; then come and offer your gift. --Mat 5:24

When consciousness is transformed, nothing is changed. But everything is different. Under the right conditions, dialogue between people in conflict can produce a transformation of consciousness. Reconciliation is an experiential, not an intellectual, process. 4. Reconciliation is Not Compromiseor Splitting the Difference.No problem can be solved on the same level of consciousness atwhich it was createdAlbert Einstein

ntangle and transform stubborn uconflicts. nderstand how relationships are unurtured, get wounded, and howthey heal; avigate the moral dimensions of nrelationships and conflict; 5. FaithBased Reconciliation:A Moral Vision Based on8 Key PrinciplesTruth and Mercy have met together; Justice and Peace have kissed.--Psalm 85:10These principles give us a languageand a conceptual framework to

Intimacy with GodThe rest of this presentation briefly discusses each. Surrendering to God Healing Collective Wounds Healing Relationships Justice Peacemaking Inclusivity Pluralism6. These Principles Describe the Physiologyof Healthy Living Social SystemsThey can be thought of in these terms:

Pluralism demands listening and dialogue. And a commitment to stay in dialoguewith ones commitments intact. Pluralism is not relativism. It doesnt weaken our distinctive identities or moral commitments. Pluralism is not mere tolerance. Its the active pursuit of understanding across lines of difference. Rain forest Pluralism not just diversity. Diversity is inevitable. Pluralism is an achievement. Tree farm 7. 1. PLURALISM"My humanity Is bound up in yours, for we can onlybe human together. --Desmond Tutu

Inclusion demolishes walls of hostility, and replaces them with agreed boundaries. Chancing the arm Inclusion confronts our emotional barriers to the other and our natural impulse to reject those who are different. Inclusion is about unity, not uniformity. The principle of inclusion reflects our need to constructively engage one another.8. 2. INCLUSION I destroy my enemy when I make him my friend. --Abraham Lincoln

Peacemaking ultimately aims to resolve conflict cooperatively. Peacemaking prefers to resolve conflict without violence; even without coercion. Peacemaking is the alternative to the law of

the jungle. When we engage with those who are different, we quickly discover the need for peaceful conflict resolution.9. 3. PEACEMAKING:Non-violent Conflict Resolution"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.-- Mat. 5:9 Thus, true social justice cannot be achieved competitively. It must be a joint search for the common good. To prevent future conflict, we must work to balance relationships. Past and present injustice or inequity may require a balancing of accounts. The process of peacemaking leads us to ask what injustices or inequities have produced the conflict.10. 4. SOCIAL JUSTICE:Pursuing the Common GoodThe arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 11. 5. HEALING RELATIONSHIPS:Forgiveness, Repentance & Healing includes sharing the burden of injury, and redeeming that which cannot be changed. The Prodigal Son, Rembrandt Forgiveness and repentance soften the heart, and permit healing. Hardness of heart impairs the relationship between people, and also their relationship with God. To establish social justice we must address injury and offence. Hardness of heart becomes an obstacle. RedemptionForgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future." --Paul Broesser We seek not to bury the past, but to redeem and transform it. To create a new future, wounds of the past must be healed: - Acknowledgment of the truth; - Repudiation of the wrong; - Sharing of the burden. They burden the soul of the community, and produce further wounding. Unhealed collective wounds tie the community to the past.12. Surrender to God liberates us to serve one another. Celtic Trefoil Surrender to God liberates us from the needand the right to dominate or oppress one another. The reign of God includes and embraces all. Recognition of this fact is transformative. 13. 7. SURRENDER TO GOD: Living Out the Belief in a Higher Power, and a Deeper Unity In God We Trust --U.S. Currency Each person must work out their own salvation. Detail of Pieta, Michelangelo God influences human affairs through individuals, by means of conscience. A pluralistic society respects the free exercise of conscience. The pluralistic societyor any idealized communityis not an end in itself.14. 8. FINDING INTIMACY WITH GODGod grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know thedifference. --Reinhold Neibuhr

The goal of reconciliation is to transform the human heart. Its about helping people to become reconciling; to relate to the world in a new way. Its not just to help people in conflict to be reconciled. The goal of reconciliation is not just to change conditions. 15. FAITH-BASED RECONCILIATIONis an idea whose time has come.Nothing is quite so powerful as an idea whose time has come. --Victor Hugo

16. This presentation is based on the book, Faith Based Reconciliation By The Rev. Brian CoxText, layout and graphic editing by Michael Witmer