Finding Each Other with John Radford
Something has been torn apart. People have been divided from one another. Division is present all around us and it is present in our own lives. We are so easily divided from one another. How might we come together, even with people who hold different views, and goals than our own?
Cynical leadership consistently finds the way to use our fears against other people. Hopeful leadership finds ways to call for the recognition of the humanity of each and all for the common good.
In this episode we speak with John Radford of Transpectives Mediation. John is a corporate and familial mediator and vocational counselor. He gained his experience working with Desmund Tutu in South Africa during and after Apartheid.
For far too long, Christian faith has been distorted and weaponized to keep people apart. John Radford speaks with us about the hope and limits of reconciliation. What does conflict resolution look like? How can absence of conflict at times imply less hope that if conflict were present?
John speaks about his experience in South Africa, about the divisions in contemporary society, about Black Lives Matter and about how we can each better recognize the humanity of the other.
Here are things that matter in the most pressing geo-political matters and in each of our particular lives.
Books and articles discussed in this episode
New Yorker Article on the history of Christianity and white supremacy. A consideration of how Christians have sometimes been the first to stand for division rather than reconciliation. Of course there are also many examples of Christians who have demonstrated the call to bring people together. We include this article out of a desire to come to terms with the reality that our history of faith has so often terribly failed to live up to its highest call of love. This is a consideration of Christianity in the United States. There are similar considerations in Canada in terms of race relations.
Belching and jackhammering 'bad neighbour' earns rebuke from B.C. judge, CBC, August 2020
CNN Cornel West Clip - Be sure to listen to Cornel West speaking with Anderson Cooper on the day of the funeral of George Floyd. West offers a beautiful, hopeful (and realistic) depiction of Christian faith.
Episode Terminology
Apartheid – State sponsored segregation in South Africa from the early 1900’s through he early 1990’s. The word means “apartness” in Afrikaans. Apartheid was a political system that maintained the division of white and black. It meant that that the small minority of white people controlled the levers of government and the economy and property rights. Desmund Tutu is an Anglican Bishop who led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as Apartheid was dismantled. Nelson Mandela was jailed during Apartheid and later became President of South Africa.
Ngiyakubona – “I see you” in Zulu
Tasting Notes
This episode we enjoyed two bourbons from Okanagan Spirits: BRBN Bourbon-Style Corn Whiskey and BLK BRBN Cask Strength Bourbon-Style Whiskey.