Forgiveness
Could you forgive the person who killed your child or who raped or tortured you? Why do some people show mercy to those who have committed the cruellest acts against them?
Could you forgive the person who killed your child or who raped or tortured you? Some crimes, some events are so awful, so cruel, it’s impossible to imagine ever being able to say to the wrongdoer, ‘I forgive you’.
Mike Williams hears the stories of those who have experienced unimaginable pain and suffering at the hands of others. And discovers what it feels like to turn anger and desire for revenge against the perpetrators into compassion and understanding for them. What does the act of forgiveness mean to the offender?
The programme explores how learning to forgive can make us happier and healthier. But how in some cases, the atrocity is so enormous that forgiveness is a step too far.
Contributors:
Madeleine Black, Counsellor based in Glasgow, Scotland
Robert Enright, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin, USA
Martin Palmer, Theologian and Historian of religion
Sarah Heatley, mother of Nina and Jack
Kemal Pervanic, survivor, Omarska concentration camp during the Bosnian war
Presenter: Mike Williams
Producer: Sally Abrahams
(Photo: Family standing on cliff edge with hills in background. Credit: 91Èȱ¬ Copyright (with permission from contributor)
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Could you forgive the person who did this to you?
Duration: 01:56
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- Fri 23 Dec 2016 19:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service West and Central Africa & East and Southern Africa only
- Fri 23 Dec 2016 20:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service UK DAB/Freeview, Online, Europe and the Middle East, Americas and the Caribbean & Australasia only
- Fri 23 Dec 2016 21:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service East Asia & South Asia only
- Christmas Day 2016 11:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service except News Internet
- Boxing Day 2016 02:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service Americas and the Caribbean
- Boxing Day 2016 03:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service UK DAB/Freeview, Online & Europe and the Middle East only
- Boxing Day 2016 04:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service East Asia & South Asia only
- Boxing Day 2016 05:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service Australasia
- Boxing Day 2016 07:32GMT91Èȱ¬ World Service East and Southern Africa & Europe and the Middle East only
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