Press Release

Religion and Reconciliation in South Africa Voices of Religious Leaders Edited by Audrey R. Chapman and Bernard Spong For Immediate Release Contact: Sharon Kelly Tel. (484) 531-8380 Email: publicity@templetonpress.org Tuesday, April 01, 2003

Forgiveness and Reconciliation Between Former Adversaries?

Post-Apartheid South Africa's Experience May Serve as a Model

Post-apartheid South Africa's efforts to come to terms with its past offer an opportunity for exploring the interaction between justice, forgiveness, and reconciliation in a transitional society. Specifically, its Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, provides a model for studying the efficacy of utilizing a truth commission to promote societal reconciliation and transcend the conflict and divisions of the past. Because the TRC's approach to reconciliation was shaped and imbued with religious content, the role, influence, and implications of religion on national and political reconciliation may also be analyzed and evaluated.

In Religion and Reconciliation in South Africa: Voices of Religious Leaders, edited by Audrey R. Chapman and Bernard Spong (Templeton Foundation Press, $22.95), thirty-three leaders from a wide range of faith communities converse on the religious foundations of reconciliation as reflected by the experiences of the TRC and the status of relevant church-sponsored programs. Their discussions cover:

• The concept of national versus political reconciliation, and the requirements for each
• The differences and similarities between religious and political approaches to reconciliation
• The question of whether or not reconciliation requires forgiveness between former victims and perpetrators
• The appropriate role of religious representatives in a truth commission process
• The contributions and limitations of the TRC itself, and how useful it is as a model that other countries might emulate
• Examples of other initiatives that contemporary religious communities are taking to promote reconciliation among their members and in the wider society

The views of these religious leaders were sought as a component of a comprehensive assessment of the TRC conducted by the Science and Human Rights Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, with the collaboration of the Johannesburg-based Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation.

This volume includes a summary of the Apartheid legacy of deep social divisions, psychological scars, and distrust between groups. It also looks at the public role of South

Africa's religious communities and leaders, some of whom applauded the TRC's framing of issues in terms of repentance and forgiveness, and some of whom found it distasteful.

The editors note that given South Africa's history, the mandate given the TRC to balance truth-finding with promoting reconciliation made a great deal of sense. But, they add, what seems appropriate in theory may not be feasible in practice. The goals of agreeing on "truth" and "promoting reconciliation" may be in conflict. Arguments and debates on the issues, varying interpretations of responsibility, and significant discrepancies in perspectives influenced the way the commission accumulated evidence and shaped its findings.

The TRC was unusual because religious thinkers and clergy played major roles. Studying it, evaluating the issues that were raised, the conflicts, and the areas of agreement, may help with the conceptualizing of reconciliation for other transitional societies struggling to heal.

Religion and Reconciliation in South Africa has extensive notes and an index.

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About the editors:
Audrey R. Chapman serves as the director of the Science and Human Rights Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and is the former director of the Program of Dialogue for Ethics for AAAS. She works closely with the United Nations Office of the High Commission for Human Rights and the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

Reverend Bernard Spong is a native of the United Kingdom who came to South Africa as a missionary in 1963. In 1977 he began a media training organization working alongside the South African Council of Churches (SACC) and in 1991 became the Communications Director of the SACC for the years of negotiation and transition in South Africa.

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