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Episode details

Radio 4,3 mins

Rev Professor David Wilkinson - 08/10/2018

Thought for the Day

Available for over a year

Good morning. The confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh as a judge on the US supreme court coincides with the first anniversary of the hashtag #MeToo, which raised a new consciousness of sexual assault and harassment following the Weinstein allegations. It’s difficult not to see this bitter political fight in a bigger context of other serious issues around women across the globe. A couple of days ago this year’s Nobel Peace Prize went to the anti-rape activists, Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege. Over the past 20 years, Mukwege has treated over 50,000 survivors of sexual violence, left scarred and stigmatised by rape being used as a weapon of war. Indeed, women in the Panzi Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo were singing, dancing and weeping for joy at the award for their own ‘Dr Miracle’. The son of a Pentecostal minister he was inspired to become a doctor after travelling with his father and praying for the sick. Now his Christian faith shapes his work, to care not just for the physical injuries of victims but to support them so that they can regain their dignity. This reaches beyond medicine. Outspoken against the Congolese government he calls for free and fair elections. But this comes with a price. He survived an attempted kidnapping and murder and now has to live in the hospital where he works. His vision is large. Speaking at the Lutheran World Assembly, he said. ‘It is up to us…through God’s word, to exorcise all the macho demons possessing the world so that women who are victims of male barbarity can experience the reign of God in their lives’. It is a challenge to governments and indeed to churches, for the institutional life of the Christian church has often been and continues to be a place of abuse of women, rather than a reflection of the Kingdom of God that Jesus described as a reign of justice, opportunity and grace for all. The process of justice in the Kavanaugh hearings was complex and will be much debated, not least because such conflicting testimony needs further authentication. That case is far more contested than those confronting the Nobel Prize winners. But earlier last week President Trump made fun of the testimony of Professor Christine Blasey Ford at a cheering rally of his political supporters. Such conduct feels deeply disturbing set alongside the dignity of survivors of abuse. For a model of authentic Christianity, which inspires and challenges me, I look rather to the singing and joy at Panzi Hospital.

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