Notes from dialogue between Dave Robinson, World Vision International Partnership Leader: Islamic Contexts, and
Ebrahim Rasool, Ambassador from the Republic of South Africa to the United States
2014 World Vision Day of Prayer.
National Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C.
10/1/2014
Steven Howard
-Is adversity necessary for foundation of good character?
-Heart has a finite capacity. Fill it with bitterness, no room for love.
-What goes into your heart?
-In South Africa, we had conscious leaders who wrestled with their souls before they led.
-Before prison, Nelson Mandela was an intolerant man. In prison, he reflected on his previous
prejudices. He needed prison to purge the bitterness from his heart before he became a leader of
reconciliation.
-People aren’t our enemies, unjust systems are.
-In anti-apartheid activism, we had to make sure that whites were visibly apart of our movement. We
had to hold black people accountable as well so that they did not form the impression that all white
South Africans were evil and all non-white South Africans were good.
-Evil is not the natural endowment of a people.
-Truth and Reconciliation commission is based off of forgiveness.
-Notion of reparation for past wrongs does not work. Human life can’t be monetized. It discredits the
suffering and pain of those persecuted to attempt to put a price on their tribulations.
-Post-modernism relativizes everything. There is nothing that lifts our eyes to visions above ourselves.
Religions must respond thoughtfully with orthodoxy to nihilism (of which postmodernism is).
--Extra Note from Steven: Informally after his lecture, the Ambassador went into some more
depth about this. He stated that meshing religions together isn’t the way for interfaith cooperation to
work. Orthodoxy needs to be maintained, but the commonalities between faiths need to be emphasized
when they are working together. So interreligious liturgies in South Africa would usually emphasize Old
Testament passages so as to unify multiple faiths together. I also thought of his mentioning of Moses
and Jonah in his own lecture—figures both of our faiths celebrate.
-In the Quran, God tells us to go on a different path. Not the obvious path of the Five Pillars of Islam, but
on the path of freeing the people who are enslaved.
-Globalization discounts faith and tradition.
-Loving relationships with neighbors are prerequisites for a loving relationship with God.
-Rabbis state that compromise is the bridge between peace activism and justice activism. Peace activism
without compromise can perpetuate conflict and justice activism without compromise can post-pone
peace.
-How do we makeshift from competitive faith to cooperative faith?
--We are battling for the very concept of faith in the world today.
-Forgiveness: You can’t ask for what you don’t forgive. You can’t refuse to forgive your neighbor and
then ask God to forgive you.
-In South Africa anti-apartheid movement, we met in a World Vision property. No need for explicit
proselytization, we could tell the Christian organization was loving by its actions.
-Acts of kindness are physical manifestations of deeper missions.
-What we don’t know, we fear and act in ignorance.
-How do we do things both physical and metaphysical?
-We are facilitators of the reconciliation process.
-Extremism thrives when people are outside of their mandate.
-Victims can’t participate in reconciliation process...they’re not in a position to discuss. Release your
people from victimhood. Mandela affirmed people.
-You can’t have “racial harmony” with inequalities between genders, religions, people of different sexual
orientations, etc. because these latter inequalities invalidate a society’s perceived sense of equality with
race.
-Steven H.’s note: Sort of a new way of stating Martin Luther King’s, “Injustice anywhere is a
threat to justice everywhere.”
Steven H.’s note: During his informal discussion with the interns after the talk, I asked the ambassador
about we Americans can learn about racial reconciliation from South Africa. He stated the U.S. needs to
understand that racial inequality in this society is not a thing of the past, but is still a struggle that needs
to be viewed as such. Consequently, the reconciliation process here needs to continue and Ferguson
should be viewed as an opportunity for dialogue and not division. He mentioned the U.S. rose to
superpower status with large immigrant population and their descendants, but now we emphasize the
“melting pot” model and we are not advancing at the rate we used to. He stated multiculturalism needs
to be affirmed and celebrated. We have to celebrate our identity as an immigrant nation and stop
forcing people to reject their native cultures.
-I also asked him what advice he had for my future Peace Corps service in Morocco since I am a Christian
who will be working in a predominantly Muslim society. This is specifically when he mentioned the
preservation of orthodoxy and the celebration of commonality note I mentioned above. He told me to
emphasize my commonalities with the people there and not our differences.
Ebrahim Rasool, Ambassador from the Republic of South Africa to the United States
2014 World Vision Day of Prayer.
National Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C.
10/1/2014
Steven Howard
-Is adversity necessary for foundation of good character?
-Heart has a finite capacity. Fill it with bitterness, no room for love.
-What goes into your heart?
-In South Africa, we had conscious leaders who wrestled with their souls before they led.
-Before prison, Nelson Mandela was an intolerant man. In prison, he reflected on his previous
prejudices. He needed prison to purge the bitterness from his heart before he became a leader of
reconciliation.
-People aren’t our enemies, unjust systems are.
-In anti-apartheid activism, we had to make sure that whites were visibly apart of our movement. We
had to hold black people accountable as well so that they did not form the impression that all white
South Africans were evil and all non-white South Africans were good.
-Evil is not the natural endowment of a people.
-Truth and Reconciliation commission is based off of forgiveness.
-Notion of reparation for past wrongs does not work. Human life can’t be monetized. It discredits the
suffering and pain of those persecuted to attempt to put a price on their tribulations.
-Post-modernism relativizes everything. There is nothing that lifts our eyes to visions above ourselves.
Religions must respond thoughtfully with orthodoxy to nihilism (of which postmodernism is).
--Extra Note from Steven: Informally after his lecture, the Ambassador went into some more
depth about this. He stated that meshing religions together isn’t the way for interfaith cooperation to
work. Orthodoxy needs to be maintained, but the commonalities between faiths need to be emphasized
when they are working together. So interreligious liturgies in South Africa would usually emphasize Old
Testament passages so as to unify multiple faiths together. I also thought of his mentioning of Moses
and Jonah in his own lecture—figures both of our faiths celebrate.
-In the Quran, God tells us to go on a different path. Not the obvious path of the Five Pillars of Islam, but
on the path of freeing the people who are enslaved.
-Globalization discounts faith and tradition.
-Loving relationships with neighbors are prerequisites for a loving relationship with God.
-Rabbis state that compromise is the bridge between peace activism and justice activism. Peace activism
without compromise can perpetuate conflict and justice activism without compromise can post-pone
peace.
-How do we makeshift from competitive faith to cooperative faith?
--We are battling for the very concept of faith in the world today.
-Forgiveness: You can’t ask for what you don’t forgive. You can’t refuse to forgive your neighbor and
then ask God to forgive you.
-In South Africa anti-apartheid movement, we met in a World Vision property. No need for explicit
proselytization, we could tell the Christian organization was loving by its actions.
-Acts of kindness are physical manifestations of deeper missions.
-What we don’t know, we fear and act in ignorance.
-How do we do things both physical and metaphysical?
-We are facilitators of the reconciliation process.
-Extremism thrives when people are outside of their mandate.
-Victims can’t participate in reconciliation process...they’re not in a position to discuss. Release your
people from victimhood. Mandela affirmed people.
-You can’t have “racial harmony” with inequalities between genders, religions, people of different sexual
orientations, etc. because these latter inequalities invalidate a society’s perceived sense of equality with
race.
-Steven H.’s note: Sort of a new way of stating Martin Luther King’s, “Injustice anywhere is a
threat to justice everywhere.”
Steven H.’s note: During his informal discussion with the interns after the talk, I asked the ambassador
about we Americans can learn about racial reconciliation from South Africa. He stated the U.S. needs to
understand that racial inequality in this society is not a thing of the past, but is still a struggle that needs
to be viewed as such. Consequently, the reconciliation process here needs to continue and Ferguson
should be viewed as an opportunity for dialogue and not division. He mentioned the U.S. rose to
superpower status with large immigrant population and their descendants, but now we emphasize the
“melting pot” model and we are not advancing at the rate we used to. He stated multiculturalism needs
to be affirmed and celebrated. We have to celebrate our identity as an immigrant nation and stop
forcing people to reject their native cultures.
-I also asked him what advice he had for my future Peace Corps service in Morocco since I am a Christian
who will be working in a predominantly Muslim society. This is specifically when he mentioned the
preservation of orthodoxy and the celebration of commonality note I mentioned above. He told me to
emphasize my commonalities with the people there and not our differences.
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