Diocese of Liverpool

Thought for the Day, 13 August 2003

The Rt Rev. James Jones

Good Morning

Day three of the Hutton enquiry in the Royal Courts of Justice – Civil Servants on the first day; journalists on the second. All eyes are now turning on this enquiry.

The great virtue of an open court is that we all get to hear the witnesses.

The great weakness is that we can all rush to judgement long before we've heard all the evidence!

The media and the Government are both under scrutiny. And people are already beginning to pass judgement.

Yet reticence to judge until all have been heard is the principle of good justice. To form a judgement at this stage of the enquiry would be like sending the jury out after listening to only a few (all-be-they) riveting witnesses.

Only the most prejudiced minds are not changed as they listen to new evidence. There will, of course, be on-going analysis of this enquiry.

But, even now, people are being invited by the media to draw conclusions which clearly some are doing along the lines of their own prejudices – for or against the BBC, for or against the Government.

That's why we need trials not by the media but before judges.

They may have an image problem but good judges and just procedures ensure that people are treated fairly, and that truth will out.

Judges know that you can hear one person's testimony and jump passionately to a conclusion which, the moment you hear another witness, you can abandon with equal conviction!

I remember listening to a wife complaining in bitter detail about her husband's behaviour and thinking to myself ‘what a so and so he was'. Then I listened to him describe the same episodes and modified my hasty judgement.

Only fools rush in to judge.

That's why in the Bible it says that God is slow. Slow to get angry, slow to judge. Even though he sees every word, deed and thought the picture is one of Him pressing his foot on the brake before coming to a final judgement.

There's a long, even tedious, slowness to the judgement of God. Too slow for many of us, who complain impatiently that if there is a God why doesn't he do something NOW about the state of the world.

But, as the New Testament says, ‘The Lord is NOT slow as some think of slowness, but is patient with you.'

You see, the path to all justice, human and divine, is a slow one. The lack of quickness calls for patience. There's a time for judgement. And to do it justice – takes time.