William P. Young
ON THE RECORD · 14 verbatim quotes · every quote source-verified
“They're human beings and that raises a question is why should that be the deepest places of movement towards a wholeness of what it means to be human by saying, ‘I want to do the work, what it takes to not be addicted. To be a truth-teller, to be someone who is kind and caring.’”
William P. Young · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-12
Young continued reflecting on the human desire toward wholeness and kindness.
“Forgiveness is for the sake of the one who's been harmed, so that you can continue to live your life without the specter of what's on your shoulders. And I mean, you can forgive someone and never trust them again. Reconciliation is the slow, arduous, painful process of learning how to trust. Or taking the risk that you might become trustworthy if you've done the harm. So, reconciliation is for the sake of the perpetrator, much more than forgiveness is.”
William P. Young · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-12
Young explained to Fox News Digital the distinction between forgiveness and reconciliation.
“And we live in a world where it seems like violence is really the power,”
William P. Young · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-12
Young noted that not everyone takes the route of forgiveness that Erika Kirk took.
“A lot of abuse was done to us by people who no longer are alive. And if we can't let them go, which is the idea of forgiveness, is that we move our hands from around their throat so that we may hold something other than their throat, like life. And it becomes essential. Otherwise, we're poisoning all the relationships around us.”
William P. Young · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-12
Young elaborated on the necessity of forgiveness even toward those who are no longer alive.
“I think we need to make a distinction between forgiveness and reconciliation,”
William P. Young · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-12
Young spoke to Fox News Digital about forgiveness and reconciliation in the context of his new book.
“It only adds to the violence that already exists. And, you know, my dad was an abusive man when I was growing up. And if I thought that treating him with violence was going to be a resolution, I would have been absolutely blind and ignorant.”
William P. Young · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-12
Young described his father as an abusive man and explained why violence would not have been a resolution.
“It's care. It's love. It's listening. It's that people shouldn't take a timeout, and the state offers one if you don't adhere to the rules. But even then, I think that love, God, meets us where we're at and begins to move us in a direction toward our wholeness so that we can learn to love others, and we can learn to love ourselves, and that produces incredible outcomes that would not be available otherwise.”
William P. Young · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-12
Young added that love, care, and listening can move people toward wholeness and produce incredible outcomes.
“And so, in terms of the human journey, we have this — same with every guy on death row — they don't have, in the deepest places of their heart, a desire to be harmful or to be non-truth tellers or to be unkind,”
William P. Young · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-12
Young discussed the human journey and the humanity of even those on death row.
“And I think that's what Erika was doing, saying, ‘I'm not going to let what you have done to own me,'”
William P. Young · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-12
Young reflected on Erika Kirk's public forgiveness as a powerful example of his message.
“Violence doesn't change any things,”
William P. Young · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-12
Young reflected on his own journey to forgive his abusive father.
“In word, thought, or deed, whether we're using it in words online, or we're perpetrating it to the person in front of us, or we're gossiping about someone in order to give ourselves a boost and them a detraction. Love is more powerful, and that's my statement. You know, that's, I'm solidly convinced that it is, because it actually changes things.”
William P. Young · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-12
Young continued arguing that love is more powerful than violence in all its forms.
“And part of that is the underlying belief that love is actually more powerful than violence, or love is more powerful than harm,”
William P. Young · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-12
Young added that love is more powerful than violence or harm as an underlying belief.
“Otherwise, you're going to live with a corpse of an event or a situation or some human being who may be dead,”
William P. Young · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-12
Young continued explaining why making peace is essential after being harmed.
“I'm not going to enter the same prison that you are now in,’ metaphorically, of course.”
William P. Young · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-12
Young continued describing what he believed Erika Kirk was expressing through her act of forgiveness.