No Justice

NO FORGIVENESS, NO JUSTICE is a challenging book which questions the grounds on which the Christian values of repentance and forgiveness should be granted in the quest for justice. Christian doctrines demand that forgiveness should be offered unconditionally in the spirit of Christ. However, in this troubled, war-torn world where atrocities are committed with impunity, Tindiwensi in his book argues that forgiveness would be rendered meaningless without a show of remorse and repentance in the first place. In northern Uganda, for instance, where for years the so-called Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) subjected their own people to acts of inhumane suffering reducing them to refugees in their own country any talk of forgiveness by the victims returning from the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps is almost callous in itself. This is especially so because the LRA has not only rebuffed any efforts at reconciliation but has not shown any willingness to admit wrongdoing, show remorse or ask for forgiveness for their war crimes against humanity. Such an unrepentant attitude on the part of the perpetrator almost precludes any consideration for forgiveness.