With the complex concepts of forgiveness and healing at the forefront in recent media coverage of the Charleston church shooting, 草莓社区 professors , PhD, and , PhD, co-directors of the, have appeared in national media outlets.
Zehr was interviewed for a ThinkProgress article [published June 23, 2015] by senior religion reporter Jack Jenkins, 鈥�.鈥�
Stauffer joined a [aired June 24, 2015] hosted by to talk about the social impacts of high-profile acts of forgiveness. David Anderson Hooker, PhD, a instructor, was also on the panel in his role as consultant to the
“It is encouraging to see the national media recognizing the Zehr Institute as a source for restorative justice commentary in response to tragic events like the shooting in Charleston,鈥� said , executive director of EMU鈥檚 Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, which houses the Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice. 鈥淗oward Zehr, Carl Stauffer and David Anderson Hooker bring on-the-ground experience that inform how communities can begin the process toward healing.鈥�
Zehr: Forgiveness is ‘hard work’
The examines both the media response to the shooting and the later televised, tearful moments when family members offered forgiveness, via satellite, to alleged gunman Dylann Roof.
A media focus on faith-based healing can be problematic, Zehr said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a mixed blessing. On the one hand, [forgiveness] does call out the best in us. But it also can obscure the justice component, and it can feel like an easy fix for people.鈥�
Zehr also pointed out that media 鈥渃an sometimes magnify this pressure [to forgive] by focusing intensely on acts of forgiveness instead of the hard work of reconciliation that follows that forgiveness.鈥�
Panel touches on restorative practices
Stauffer and Hooker joined The Rev. Alyn E. Waller, senior pastor of Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and The Rev. Susan Brooks Thistlewaite, professor of theology at Chicago Theological Seminary.
Stauffer was asked to address the question of what it means to engage in practices of forgiveness that are restorative.
鈥淲e can uphold the humanity of all people involved, but we can also hold each other accountable,鈥� said Stauffer, referencing transitional justice processes he鈥檚 been involved with in South Africa and Sierra Leone. Stauffer also pointed out the 鈥渟ocial significance of these expressions of forgiveness鈥� towards breaking cycles of violence 鈥渇or the sake of the community moving forward.鈥�
Acknowledgment of structural violence is a necessary precursor to meaningful conversation, he said.
Discussing the personal and political reasons behind forgiveness, Hooker reiterated that truthtelling must take place about the educational, social, and religious systems that produce and implicitly condone such acts. 鈥淲hat it is that we forgive?鈥� he asked. 鈥淚f we forgive the individual, that鈥檚 fine. We should not forgive the act nor the systems that make that act possible, reasonable and even, not surprising.鈥�