Forgiveness and Child Abuse Would You Forgive?

NOTE: ALL ROYALTIES FROM THE SALE OF THIS BOOK WILL BE DONATED TO WORLD PEACE.
In this intimate and brave book, Forgiveness and Child Abuse: Would YOU Forgive? author Professor Einhorn shares her horrific story of ritualistic child abuse and asks a variety of people what they would do if they had her background. Fifty-three people responded, including Ellen Lacter, Jeanne Adams, Frederick Arensberg, Patch Adams, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Suzanne Daughton, Bernie Siegel, Ed Asner, Laura Davis, Albert Ellis, Daniel Quinn, Lynne Finney, Russel Friedman, Aba Gayle, Jack Gilroy, Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton, Anne Herman, Linda Hogan, Rabbi Steven L. Jacobs, Derrick Jensen, Scott Kalechstein, Mary Elizabeth King, Eric Loeb, Sammy Lee, Dale McCulley, Robert Muller, Bill Pelke, Robert Plath, Daniel Quinn, Billy Ray Riggs, Robert Scaer, Pete Seger, Mike Thaler, Susan Thornton, Kurt Waldheim, Ken Wapnick, Gloria Wendroff, Everett L. Worthington, Jr.
This book is destined to evoke discussion and debate, and it is a must-have book for anyone with issues of forgiveness. This book should be required reading at all seminaries, colleges, and universities.
"Lois Einhorn deals with one of the most despicable aspects of crime that plagues modern society." — Arun Gandhi
"Full of wisdom, insight and truth from a powerful assembly of scholars, writers and visionaries. Profound reading." — Dr. Bernie Siegel
"An indispensable healing companion for anyone who has suffered any kind of abuse." —Tamarack Song
The terror set in on Fridays. Would this be a weekend of lengthy ritualistic abuse? Employing techniques similar to those used in Nazi concentration camps, author Lois Einhorn's father and mother physically and sexually abused her and her sister. They forced the girls to torture each other and to torture and destroy live and stuffed animals. Dying would have been a relief. For years, Lois suffered agonizing anguish and guilt because she acquiesced, complied, and succumbed to her parents' power. Could she ever forgive?
During her healing process, Dr. Einhorn shared her story with influential people from a variety of fields, including clergy, politicians, authors, entertainers, doctors, professors, psychologists, and even death-row prisioners. She asked them: “What would YOU do? You are a child in a family that sadistically abuses. You are forced to torture and destroy. What should you do now as an adult? Do you forgive your parents? HOW do you forgive yourself?”
Readers cannot agree with all 53 responses: they are inherently contradictory. This is a unique and powerful book destined to encourage discussion, dialogue, and debate. The responses to Lois' questions exemplify a wide variety of viewpoints, some prone to stir controversy and many to stimulate changes in personal, community, national, and international consciousness. For example, Arun Gandhi's response essentially says that the problems in the Middle East result from the Jewish people's inability to forgive Hitler.
Terrorism won't end, Lois argues, until we end violence in all its forms—racism, hate crimes, domestic violence, child abuse, abuse of the Earth, wars—the list goes on. We need more than ever to deal with forgiveness and rise above the desire for revenge.
About 1 out of 3 girls and 1 out of 7 boys are sexually abused by the age of eighteen, and revelations of abuse in the Catholic Church are widespread. Child prostitution and child pornography are multibillion-dollar-a-year businesses. In addition to the many personal crimes against children, we are living through a war that many citizens oppose, and we deal daily with fears of terrorist attacks. Forgiveness and Child Abuse: Would YOU Forgive? challenges readers to move from a paradigm of revenge and fear to one of love and forgiveness—regardless of the severity of the atrocities.