Forgiveness: Stories from the Front Line

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Forgiveness: Stories from the Frontline

Gripping stories from people who've had to struggle with forgiveness in order to be free.

How do you survive and restore your life when something truly appalling is done to you? Journalist Marina Cantacuzino hears five gripping stories.

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Forgiveness: Stories from the Front Line: Ivan

Ivan

BBC Radio 4 - Forgiveness: Stories from the Front Line, Ivan

Ivan Humble looks back on his past as an organiser for the racist English Defence League.

Marina Cantacuzino talks to Ivan  about his past as an organiser for the racist English Defence League.

Ivan Humble is a single father from East Anglia and a former organiser for the English Defence League who once recruited people to the far-right cause. He’s now working to prevent radicalisation. He wrestles with forgiving himself. 

“I hated Muslims. I thought they were all terrorists. I know now that hate is just fear of the unknown.” In a surprising about-turn, he’s now friends with many Muslims, including Manwar Ali, a former jihadist from Ipswich who supported Ivan when his father died. We hear from both men about their friendship and how they are making amends for the past. 

Marina Cantacuzino is an award-winning journalist who became interested in forgiveness at the time of the Iraq War. It’s a subject she’s explored now for many years, in books and through founding a charity, ‘The Forgiveness Project’. A common theme running through these stories is that forgiveness is difficult, messy, and complex, but it brings with it the power to transform lives. 

Producer: Kim Normanton
Executive Producer: Elizabeth Burke
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Forgiveness: Stories from the Front Line

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