If we are part of a church or a group and part of this church or group offends another group, can we say that the "group" is guilty, and just what does that mean?
For instance, does the average Japanese person in WWII share some of the guilt for their blatant aggression during WWII. Or Germans?
I think last month the Australian gov't might have apologized as a nation to the aborigines for classifying them as flora and fauna up till the 70's.
If the President of the US apologized to blacks for slavery, would this be valid?
How does corporate identity work and also group guilt and how about apologies by designated leaders on behalf of whole groups (i.e. President or head of a mission org apologizing to one subset or tribe for perceived past wrongs).
Can Biblical proof be given? Israel suffered as a whole for corporate guilt, was there ever a corporate apology given in Scripture.
NOTE: This is not about blacks in the US, though this is one example of a larger dynamic, let's please address the larger picture and not get sucked into a US race discussion...
Related question: When the Greek widows felt left out of the doll, I noticed that all Greeks were selected to insure the fair distribution. Does this give us a model of how to treat groups that are offended?
Real life scenario: My mission has done good work in some places. In one river valley, the work has suffered. It is the perception by some national evangelists that possible bad decisions by my mission contributed to the present poor state of the church in one section of the province in which I work. Would it be appropriate for my org to apologize on behalf of all of us for this past mistake?
For instance, does the average Japanese person in WWII share some of the guilt for their blatant aggression during WWII. Or Germans?
I think last month the Australian gov't might have apologized as a nation to the aborigines for classifying them as flora and fauna up till the 70's.
If the President of the US apologized to blacks for slavery, would this be valid?
How does corporate identity work and also group guilt and how about apologies by designated leaders on behalf of whole groups (i.e. President or head of a mission org apologizing to one subset or tribe for perceived past wrongs).
Can Biblical proof be given? Israel suffered as a whole for corporate guilt, was there ever a corporate apology given in Scripture.
NOTE: This is not about blacks in the US, though this is one example of a larger dynamic, let's please address the larger picture and not get sucked into a US race discussion...
Related question: When the Greek widows felt left out of the doll, I noticed that all Greeks were selected to insure the fair distribution. Does this give us a model of how to treat groups that are offended?
Real life scenario: My mission has done good work in some places. In one river valley, the work has suffered. It is the perception by some national evangelists that possible bad decisions by my mission contributed to the present poor state of the church in one section of the province in which I work. Would it be appropriate for my org to apologize on behalf of all of us for this past mistake?
