Washington National Cathedral

The Sunday Forum: Critical Issues in the Light of Faith

The Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, host

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu joins Cathedral Dean Samuel T. Lloyd III to address the topic, “Can We Forgive Our Enemies?”

Reconciliation is not an act, not a single achievement, but a process in which “each one of us has a part,” Tutu asserts. As the South African government and people strove to come to terms with the horrific legacy of apartheid, the African National Congress took the unusual step of leading inquiries into its own violent past. Other politicians and scholars also “gave the outlines of what we might do.

“But then,” Tutu says, pointing heavenward, “we have to say we probably have somebody batting for us up there, because we were given the extraordinary gift of a Nelson Mandela—who, by the way, was a young man when he went to jail, an angry young man appalled at the travesty of justice” in trials that sentenced anti-apartheid activists to life imprisonment. Mandela spent 27 years in prison. During this time, Tutu says, “Nelson Mandela evolved from an angry young man into someone who grew in magnanimity and in his understanding of the point of view of the other.” This long term also gave Mandela the moral authority to recommend and work for forgiveness instead of retribution and revenge.

Citing examples of torture and killings during the apartheid years, Dean Lloyd asks, “How was it that you all created a climate where people were willing to let go of what had been done to them?”

“In our African culture, there is something which is very difficult to put into English…ubuntu. Ubuntu speaks about the essence of being human,” explains Tutu. “We say that a person is a person through other persons…that it is impossible to be human as a solitary individual…We are created for interdependence, and my humanity is caught up in your humanity. I need you to be all you can be in order for me to become all I can be.” Forgiveness is therefore not altruistic but is instead the best form of self-interest. Conversely, a person who dehumanizes another is also dehumanized.

“America is a country of individualists,” Dean Lloyd points out, asking how ubuntu can apply to American society. Tutu answers with his characteristic playfulness, “I am your guest, so it would be rude to say that I disagree with you, but in fact I do.”

He then tells the tragic story of a white American settler in South Africa, Amy Beale, an opponent of apartheid who was nonetheless killed by a mob of young black South African men. Peter Beale, her father, later sought amnesty for the young men who killed his daughter, and also established the Amy Beale Foundation.

Tutu links this act of forgiveness to the generosity he observes in Americans. “You have in this country not given enough play to one of your most incredible characteristics,” Tutu says. “You are some of the most generous people I’ve ever come across…In terms of philanthropy, you are top of the league. And why don’t you export this rather than your bombs?”

When asked how he personally has endured a life of such hardship, Tutu replies, “You know what? It’s fun to be a Christian. It’s really fun!”

About The Most Rev. Desmond M. Tutu

Desmond Mpilo Tutu is a cleric and activist who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid. Tutu was elected and ordained the first black South African Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, and primate of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (now the Anglican Church of Southern Africa). He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.