Week 13

The other day in class we watched a movie documenting the religious violence in Liberia at the turn of the century. The movie outlined the actions of courageous women who, Muslim and Christian alike, came together and protested for peace among their nations warring factions. Although they were faced with much adversity and stalled peace talks that seemed hopeless, they never ceased to stand together, day by day through the hardest of times, until their peace terms were met.

This movie illustrated a few themes that we have been discussing all year. The first was how political and ethnic controversies can be placed under the guise of religious conflict. The current president, Charles Taylor, and rebel warlords were fighting one another for political power and wealth and, although they may have been separated by religious affiliations, were not fighting for religious motives. The second theme that it brought up was a more recent one, the importance of acceptance and forgiveness in religious peacemaking. This can be seen both in the women’s actions of banding together, Muslims and Christians, and accepting and forgiving each other in order to initiate peacemaking. In addition, this can also be seen in the women’s proclamations of forgiveness in their reform ideas. They state how they have forgiven the violent actors and that they don’t ask for repercussions of the past. They know this will only continue the cycle and feel that this forgiveness is a necessary action in order for Liberia to move forward and reform/overcome its violent past.

Although this movie depicted the mass violence that occurs in places all over the globe, it provides a hopeful outlook. It proves that peace can be found in the most distressed and violent places and that the will of a brave few can change a nations outlook for the future.