The Ethics of Pardon and Peace: A Dialogue of Ideas between the Thought of Pope John Paul II and the Risale-i Nur

Abstract

At international congresses around world, there are always many papers and speeches about We hear speakers of each religious group profess that their religion wants peace, teaches peace, builds The leaders of various nations say how they are committed to peace among nations, peace in their regions, civil peace within their societies. There is a human paradox here that we must face. It seems like everyone is in favor of peace, no one ever admits to being against peace, and yet there is very little peace in world. The problem, I believe, lies in fact that we are all in favor of peace in abstract, but without saying in what peace consists, and without examining what is involved in building peace.Of those religious thinkers of modern times who have attempted to study concept of peace to explore what is involved in establishing and maintaining peace, I want to compare thought of two persons who have made an remarkable contribution to topic. One is a Christian, Pope John Paul II, leader of Catholic Church, and other a Muslim, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, author of Risale-i-Nur. In this paper I hope to bring together thinking of these two scholars and religious teachers into a kind of dialogue on theme: the ethics of peace. I will do this by summarizing position of Pope as basis or point of view from which I will then read and explain views of Said Nursi as found in Risale-i-Nur.1. John Paul II: Peace rests on two pillars: justice and forgivenessAs he does every year on 1 January, also this year, 2002, Pope John Paul II sent a message for World Day of Peace at beginning of new year.....