The shuttle tragedy and the debate over war in Iraq were background to 14 speeches about “Forgiveness: Breaking the Chain of Hate” made by English author Michael Henderson in Southern California in February.

he shuttle tragedy and the debate over war in Iraq were background to 14 speeches about “Forgiveness: Breaking the Chain of Hate” made by English author Michael Henderson in Southern California in February. He and his wife, Erica, were guests of families in the Los Angeles and Palm Desert area. The visit included radio and press interviews and venues ranged from The Lodge in Rancho Mirage to the Museum of Cultural Diversity in Carson, and included Episcopal and Presbyterian churches, the College of the Desert and Westridge School for Girls in Pasadena. Lively questions and answer sessions followed each talk. As one attendee said, “What a pleasure it is to be at an occasion where the focus is on answers rather than problems.”

Henderson said that he used the word forgiveness as shorthand for “a recognition of our universal humanity, a modesty or even humility about ourselves and our nation’s shortcomings, and a commitment to the longer term.” He quoted Martin Luther King, Jr., who said, “Forgiveness is not just an occasional act: it is a permanent attitude.” To talk of forgiveness of the Germans and Japanese in the middle of World War 11 might have been unrealistic, the English visitor said, but a forgiving spirit could still prevail over taking pleasure at the sufferings of others, and to be thinking of what should come after a war was a real test of statesmanship.

If there was one message from the stories in his book, it was “Start with yourself.” He challenged his audiences to reach out to the “other” at this time “whether the other is someone from another faith or another country or even, dare I say it, from a different political party than our own.” There were inspired initiatives all of us could take, if we so wished, to break the chain of hate. It could be at a personal or a national level. It might have to do with apology or with forgiveness or it might be a simple gesture of friendship.

He cited the action by churchgoers in the diocese of New York to raise money to rebuild a mosque in Kabul that was destroyed by American bombs in 2001. It was initiated by Bishop Mark S. Sisk, who had become New York’s diocesan bishop just two weeks after September 11 and decided to make Christian/Muslim dialogue a central theme of his work. “I believe it is our duty as Christian leaders, witnesses to the promise of the living Lord, to take initiatives that can bind up the wounds of the human community,” the Bishop said.

Henderson also suggested the need to look at our past to see where we have contributed to some of the present hates. “It is certainly something we in Britain need to do in relation to Ireland,” he said. He described how President Harry Truman visited Chapultepec Castle on the 100th anniversary of the battle there and laid a wreath on the tomb of Mexico’s “Boy Heroes”. It was the first time a US leader had publicly acknowledged this source of national pain. One headline read, “Truman heals an old national wound for ever.” Truman’s biographer, David McCullough, wrote that by this courtesy the president “did more to improve Mexican-American relations than had any president in a century.”

Henderson said that the US could also be proud of another action that did much to break the chain of hate. It was the official apology by the US government 13 years ago to the 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent who were illegally interned during World War 11 and the payment of one and a quarter billion dollars in reparations. One Nisei told Henderson that she was grateful for the money but that the apology was what meant the most to her.

In Palm Desert Henderson addressed a joint meeting of the English-Speaking Union and the World Affairs Council. The Secretary of the Council, Donald B. Prell, conducted a book review in the Palm Desert Public Library. “When I first picked up Henderson’s book I was a confirmed skeptic, “he said. “I am no longer that skeptic. This is not a book of duckbilled platitudes. It is real and revealing, and certainly worth reading.”

Wendy Flint, vice president of the World Affairs Council, arranged for the visitor to speak at her Presbyterian Church. She had been nervous about asking the Pastor if he could replace the usual sermon. “Not to worry,” she reports. “There was an overwhelmingly positive response and people were hungry for a ‘humanitarian’ presentation of positive national and world action. In short—he was inspirational.” In fact, one of the congregation commented afterwards, “I have been searching all over the desert for a church that gives sermons like that.”

Lively contributions at the Museum for Cultural Diversity included a college lecturer who admitted, “I would find it hard to give up my hatred of George Bush” and an African American dealing with the fear raised in him by the Confederate flag.

Rev Ruth Gray, who invited the Hendersons to California, said, “I hope we can have other speakers from Initiatives of Change.”

Many of Henderson’s books are available from Grosvenor Books, including the new edition of Forgiveness: Breaking the Chain of Hate.