Michael Henderson, journalist, broadcaster and author, returned at the end of 2000 to Britain after 22 years in the United States mostly in Portland, Oregon. In the United States he contributed articles to newspapers all over the country, including the Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Times, the Baltimore Sun, the Washington Times and The Oregonian. He did more than 1,000 radio talks and was presenter for commercial, public and cable TV programs. He has written nine books. Website: http://michaelhenderson.org.uk

Ireland and England - 'time to put the hangover of history to bed and embrace the future'.

Many secular-minded Westerners, particularly in Europe, have a real problem with ANY religion being taken seriously. And there's a refusal to believe that Muslims who believe in their faith and try to take it seriously can become part of modern democratic society.

Forgiveness is not just a one-off event but a decision for a way of life. Whatever the deficiencies in our spiritual lives, the forgiveness muscle is not too far gone to benefit from a little strengthening.

Any history of Initiatives of Change might have a chapter dedicated to to three American brothers, the Colwells. Their contribution to this work for reconciliation is unknown to today’s generation but they once played a vital, inspiring and often taken-for-granted role.

The year 2007 will be the 200th anniversary of William Wilberforce leading the battle to end the transatlantic slave trade.

A unique sacred space in the heart of London where people of all faiths, or none, can meet with others from different traditions and explore differences in a spirit of friendship and respect.

Catholic, Jew and Protestant, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist and Confucianist all find they can change where needed and travel along the good road together.

The attempted rescue of a beached whale in the Thames was a testament to the immediacy with which events are transmitted around the world and the hold that animals have over us humans.

It would be hard to conclude that the world is safer than it has been, that there has actually been a decline in the number of wars, genocides and human rights abuses over the past decade - yet two prestigious research organisations, 3,000 miles apart, have independently come to that conclusion.

Mohieddine Chehab, a fighter in a Sunni leftist militia, led his men up a staircase littered with corpses while Assaad Chaftari, an artillery commander of the Christian militia, was on a top floor shooting at anyone who moved.

Though apologies have an important place in healing national and international relations, it is often difficult to know when they are appropriate.

Mayor Shinzo Hamai chose something quite remarkable for the inscription on the memorial to the first atom bomb: ‘Rest in peace. For we shall not make the same mistake again.’

The damage was done when politicians started believing the cases they had made.

For many the war years were enough adventure to last a lifetime.

For five years Bishop Malkhaz Songulashvili and his church had been the focus of attacks led by a defrocked Orthodox priest.

Thousands of American families—and Canadian families too—offered to take in British children for the duration of the war.

A child’s perspective is often unexpected, occasionally amusing, sometimes challenging.

The city of Coventry in the English Midlands has had a long and honourable tradition in peace building, since its 14th century cathedral was destroyed in 1940.

The most productive and radical approach is to address what we can deal with and take responsibility for.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the beginning of Lebanon's civil war, and the tenth anniversary of its end. Until now Beirut has had no public memorial for the victims of that war. The competition is organized by a Lebanese company entrusted with the reconstruction and development of the historic core of the city.

In 1999, as its last formal act of the millennium, Liverpool City Council passed unanimously a resolution apologizing for the city's role in the Atlantic slave trade.

Could you forgive someone who destroyed your life or, even worse, killed your child? In these edited extracts from his new book, Forgiveness: breaking the chain of hate, Michael Henderson finds that the world has reason to be grateful to people who, against all the odds, have found a way to forgive.

There may be some question about how long you are to speak. On such occasions I remember that a certain economics professor had a reputation for long speeches. His wife said, 'After you have heard one of my husband's speeches you may not be any wiser but you're certainly a lot older.'

There seems to be a momentum that drives unsubstantial rumours on the web, through undiscriminating tabloids, all the way to supposedly responsible newspapers. We have not yet learned, any more than those in Congress have, how to build in a pause to consider the likely consequences of actions before they are taken.

This bold grandmother compares her latest move - a call for a UN World Day of At-One-Ment - to a dandelion seed. 'I keep blowing hopefully in different directions and ask God to bless the thought which he put in my head until it finds fertile soil.'

Veteran American journalist Charles Overby encountered more than he bargained for on a recent trip to West Africa. He met - and was challenged by - America's past.

The Pope believes that the Church's 'culture of remembrance' can save the media culture of transitory news from becoming a forgetfulness which corrodes hope.

Many African Americans will tell you that Portland and Oregon are the most racist communities they have ever been in, and most can cite racist hurdles and language they have encountered.

When her husband Medgar was killed, Myrlie Evers-Williams realized, she says, that it's not what happens to you that matters; it's how you deal with it.

Nobody said that healing history or treading the path of forgiveness would be easy.

One doesn't have to tread far into the minefield of race relations to know that acknowledgement of and healing for the past are still appropriate.

I was present on Sorry Day in the Anglican cathedral in Perth when leaders of all the churches read out their denomination's apologies for the 'removals'. The Moderator of the Uniting Church, the Rev John Dunn, added his personal apology for 'my participation in taking the children'.

'Over the coming decades, our country's ethnic and racial diversity will continue to expand dramatically. Will those differences divide us, or will they be our greatest strength? The answer depends on what we are willing to do together.'

Healing is a community effort

See friends before they've had time to get their pictures developed

Our present way of life is not viable

In 1961, after his obligatory service, General Colin Powell could have left the US Army. He didn't, he writes in his autobiography, "My American Journey," because "for a black no other avenue in American society offered so much opportunity."

By the time the amnesty expired only three people had returned money

Gus Envela Jr believes that too many in public life have stayed on too long.

Then, to the Mayor's surprise, Edith marched forward and grabbed the microphone.

I was the white sheep of the family

The media are given privileges and protections because they have a special function in our democracy

Polish journalist Boguslaw Chrabota is a spokesman for the Krakow Industrial Society. He writes:

Walkerswood, Mitchell's village, has become for many Jamaicans synonymous with development as it should be - communitybased and as self-reliant as possible, minimizing government intervention and reducing `internal' migration to the cities.