36th IARF Congress, Day 1: Keynote Address by Prof. George M. Williams

Description

Historian of religions George M. Williams argues that genuine reconciliation begins with remembrance, especially the willingness to confront failures rather than celebrate only moral successes. He sketches major phases of IARF history and then develops a series of stories from different religious and cultural settings: racial violence in the American South, Hawaiian traditions of hoʻoponopono and aloha, Queen Liliʻuokalani’s non-violence, the defence of sacred Mauna Kea, the Transylvanian Edict of Torda, communist-era betrayal and forgiveness among Unitarians, and post-war religious reconstruction.

A major part of the keynote examines IARF’s own institutional memory. Williams recounts Shin’ichirō Imaoka’s vision of Jiyū Shūkyō, or Free Religion, and criticizes misunderstandings between American Unitarians and Japanese religious liberals, including the loss of Tokyo’s Unity Hall and the failed 1984 attempt to broaden IARF’s identity toward “liberating spirituality.” He also recalls Rissho Kosei-kai and Shinto leader Yukitaka Yamamoto as examples of service and commitment. The address closes by challenging IARF to learn from historical failures and bring multiple traditions of reconciliation to contemporary threats including war, climate change and technological disruption.