To forgive is human, too

Rev.Dr.William G.Sinkford has spoken extensively on Iraq war, marriage equality, immigrant rights, environmental justice and Darfur to name a few isues

A simple search #Koran /on twitter will reveal the amount of venom and hate that is spread online related to the unfortunate and provocative statements from Pastor Terry Jones. The first time I saw a google alert on attempt by the Pastor to burn Koran on 11 Sept, my heart sank. I felt concerned about the humanity. It takes ages and massive steps by leaders and common man to build trust after all those untoward incidents that happened over eons. Once you think slowly things might be getting back to normal, from the middle of nowhere, jokers like Terry Jones turn up to destroy harmony in the world.

The media was awash with stories of Terry Jones. Washington Post few hours ago featured a story on Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer commenting that incidents like attempting to burn Koran to protest would "change the nature of what we can allow and protect." Closer to Sept 11, BBC News said, 'Koran burning would be a disaster.

Editor Vir Sanghvi in his tongue in cheek report in the Hindustan times wrote about 'small-town weirdo to global champion of redneck ignorance' . There were no dearth of news on hate, religous tension, clash civilisations etc. The very next day when the Pastor decided not to burn the Koran, I was invited by my host Joel to attend a Sunday service at the First Unitarian Church of Portland. For the small community of 1500 families, 12 Sept 2010 was special as it was the home coming of Rev. Dr. William J Sinkford .

In his soft but assertive voice, Rev Sinkford reminded the gathering about the importance of the month September. He said that the month was about forgiveness. Especially during the time of people like 'the pastor of a tiny church who decided to burn Koran'. He said, September is not only the month of forgiveness because of Sept 11, but also because this was the month of Ramadan as celebrated by Muslims.

I left the church with goose bumps after hearing the choir singing “Come, come, whoever you are,” words written by Rumi, a Muslim mystic. While the media is busy featuring the 'clash of civilisations', they care not to feature beautiful stories like people behind First Unitarian Church. These people pray everyday for all those people who died in war. They don't just pray for all the American soldiers who died in Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan. They pray for all. For all the human beings who were killed and wounded in the war. How religously some of the church associate peace groups were maintaining the statistics of Iraqi civilian deaths had to be seen to believe.

Mission statement of this distinguished church Portland reads they covenant :

To create a welcoming community of diverse individuals;
To promote love, reason, and freedom in religio;
To foster life long spiritual growth; and
To act for justice.

It's people like this that make the world a better place to live.