BBC video of General Butt Naked preaching

The BBC has a great short video and article about Pastor Joshua Milton Blahyi, aka General Butt Naked. Blahyi appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in January where he claimed responsibility for the deaths of 20,000 people. Blahyi fought with Roosevelt Johnson during the first part of the war. He left for Ghana in 1997, and only recently has returned to Liberia. (I’m unclear as to whether he is back permanently.)

[Blahyi] was preparing for battle on a bridge in Monrovia, he says, when he was converted: “When I met Christ I saw an image of a man – this guy was bright, very bright [so] that I could not look at him twice.” Liberia is peaceful now but prosperity is a long way off.

Prosecuting the pastor would presumably not help the 50 young men in his congregation who he says he is now trying to rehabilitate.

But aren’t some crimes so terrible they can never be forgiven?

This is a dilemma Joshua Milton Blahyi himself recognises.

I like this comment posted in response to the BBC article:

The Liberian Civil War created a paradox: forgiving the perpetrators and or punishing them. There can be no peace without justice. While we stand to forgive the perpetrators, we must be mindful not to send the wrong signals – that people can commit crimes and expect to be forgiven. We have forgiven the perpetrators, but justice must be done or seem to be done to victims or their survivors.
-Roland Farley Smith Sr, Monrovia, Liberia