BBC Radio 4's Sunday programme examines the George Bell case

About five minutes and 40 seconds into this programme

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06psb50#play

is a fair and cautious discussion on the allegations against the late Bishop of Chichestrer, George Bell. I have a brief walk-on part.

It is a credit to Radio 4 that they have examined this, giving both sides of the matter, which several important newspapers have rather failed to do since the allegations were first revealed. They treated the Bishop as if he were a convicted criminal, when he is not. I doubt whether any regulatory body can rule on this, as it lies outside the law. But it would surely be morally right to revisity the matter, and point out in some way that the allegations are just that.

 

I do wonder what is to happen to the memorial to Bishop Bell in Chichester Cathedral, now labelled with a sort of warning. I very much hope there will be no attempt to remove it (in line with the renaming of Bishop Bell House and the removal of his name from a house at a nearby school) , but in these times I suppose such things are possible. And I would point out that the member of the Chichester public who assumed that George Bell was a pacifist was mistaken. He took the normal Christian position that wars can on occasion be just, but that the deliberate bombing of civilians was not just. People often make similatr claims about Jeremy Corbyn who (though as far as Iknow not a Christian) is not an absolute pacifist but has reasoned objections to war and is reluctant to support it except in very strict circumstances. This tends to be the position of most people who have seen war, too. .