The more than 3,000 official emojis capture many concepts in tiny pictograms – everything from happiness to rage to ‘meh’ or the one with the kissing cat. But now there’s a push to add one more – this time capturing the concept of forgiveness.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is behind the idea – which arose last year out of national commemorations as Finnish people commemorated a century since the end of its civil war – and is supported by numerous organisations which have joined it in pushing for an emoji symbolising forgiveness.
Proposals for the new emoji on the ForgiveEmoji campaign website. PICTURE: Screenshot.
Tuomo Pesonen, director of communication at the Evangelical Lutheran church of Finland, said in comments published by the World Council of Churches, that there was a need for an “easy, compact way to express our feelings in situations where we are not able to find the right words”.
“Emojis or smileys do not work properly in the context of serious crimes such as genocides or war crimes,” he said. “But in our daily lives, we face often situations when such a small genuine gesture could have a great, refreshing impact. To apologise and to forgive are cornerstones for all kinds of peace with each other.”
He said he believed there was a good chance the emoji idea will be accepted by the Unicode Consortium, the global body which officiates over emojis.
“I believe that those in charge of making the final decision will realise how great a tool a forgiveness emoji is, not only in mobile dialogue between two individuals but also in social media with larger audiences,” he said. “This simple, easy emoji could challenge the depressing atmosphere of hate talk.”
The campaign behind the push is currently searching for proposals for what the emoji will look like and later this year will present a petition to Unicode for the new emoji to be added. More than 4,000 people have already voted on their preferred design for the emoji.
Among others who support the campaign are organisations including CMI Peace Broker, Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission, and FinnChurchAid.
