St Peter’s Church News

IT’S AN ASHES summer, and as usual controversy has erupted between the two sides.

In a sense it’s irrelevant what the particular cause was – over the years we’ve had punch-ups in nightclubs, run-outs by substitute fielders, unsavoury on-field comments about mental health. This time it was a rather sharp stumping (one of the many ways of getting a batter out) which has offended one side’s supporters while being seen as no big deal by the other.

As you may have picked up over the years, I am a big cricket fan – I’d argue that on my father’s side cricket was as much the family religion as Methodism was. Even if you’re not a fan, some of the disputes and controversies which surround cricket, and particularly the way they’re conducted, throw into relief some of the ways in which we as a society are shaping ourselves.

A cricket match is necessarily a polarised situation – there are two teams, competing directly with each other, only one of which can win (though of course until Bazball came along, a draw was always an option too). This now seems to be increasingly true of all situations –the other big story of the week has been about the now-named BBC newsreader who has been accused of exploitative behaviour and here too battle-lines have been drawn up between those who defend him – ‘it’s not criminal, therefore none of our business’ – and those who believe consequences – presumably firing – should follow.

I am not alone in wondering if the same behaviour had revealed of a government minister by a left-leaning newspaper whether the same people would have taken the opposite opinion. That too is a feature of the polarisation of society – there are always only two sides to every situation and they are competing for victory. We can argue about the causes – did the way the Brexit debate was conducted lead to this? Is it driven by social media? – but the outcome deeply impoverishes us as a culture. Even within the Church, we seem to have forgotten the wise, if deeply difficult, words of Jesus: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who ill-treat you… Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 6)