The first thing to do is exit the denial phase as the brave caller did and then take it as a national imperative for us to create a shared sense of history, to acknowledge the sins of our past that still structure economic policy … enroll people of all races in this project out of a sense of patriotism that America's greatness comes from our diversity.
I've acknowledged the sin.
One day a Turkish leader will be statesman enough to see that national dignity is better served by acknowledging the sins committed on Anatolian soil than by suppressing debate and punishing truth-tellers.
He can look through the enormous damage that has been done to American cities and countryside since World War II and fix upon the good that has survived; he acknowledges the sins of the past, which continue even now, but he does not dwell on them.
Only by openly acknowledging the sins of our collective past, is it possible to proceed toward a future that all Americans can feel thankful for.
This may help to account for Russian reluctance to acknowledge the Soviet Union's sins before, during and after the war, such as the Katyn massacre of Polish officers in 1940, the atrocities committed as the Red Army marched on Berlin or the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact of 1939 that carved up Europe.
It acknowledges the original sin of Israel — the displacement and the suffering of the Palestinians — but, at the same time, defends Zionism against some on the European left and among the Israeli New Historians who challenge the state's claim to legitimacy even now, almost six decades after its founding.
At my church during Advent, we have a Worship on the Longest Night service: a Christmas service that acknowledges the suffering, sin, and brokenness in the world.
Sins so terrible, so unimaginable that if, or when, we finally acknowledge the depth of our complicity, we will be changed forever.
Biblical sacrifices do not represent human attempts to purchase forgiveness; instead, they offer a ritual means of acknowledging the costliness of sin and alienation from God.
