�鶹��

Available for over a year

Good Morning Gary Lineker and I may have little else in common, but we have both been challenged for commenting about topical political issues on social media. In my case I didn't need lots of colleagues to show solidarity by boycotting Match of the Day. The liberty for Church of England clergy to talk politics is enshrined in our Discipline Rules. Those rights allow my Church to be a national, as distinct from a state, institution. Elsewhere in the world, there’s no shortage of examples of state churches, beholden to preach the diktat of their secular political masters. That distinction between state and national is not unique to the Church. Throughout the war in Ukraine we have repeatedly witnessed the Russian state broadcaster echoing and amplifying it’s government’s position. By contrast, a national public broadcaster should never succumb to political pressure or fall meekly in line with government thinking. It carries a responsibility to facilitate wide conversation about the political issues of the day, yet without losing impartiality. Such a public broadcaster with operational independence, able to offer airtime for diverse perspectives to interact and challenge each other, will, sometimes, make ruling regimes uncomfortable in the moment, but it forms a vital forum where a society can sift through the merits of differing viewpoints, weeding out the implausible, the self-serving and the extreme. My faith tradition also tells me that hearing diverse voices makes for better decisions. One of my favourite bible stories tells of a foreign woman who challenges Jesus to heal her daughter. He refuses, but she argues back and - as I read it - persuades Jesus to see his mission in a fresh light. His calling will not simply be to renew Israel in its historic faith but to offer a rich relationship with God to people from every nation on Earth. The Christian church spread rapidly across the known world, in part because she was bold enough to argue back. I’ve learned, in my own ministry, to listen to a range of viewpoints, before coming to a decision on any important matter. Often the way forward has only become clear after I have paid attention to a wide diversity of perspectives. Even when I’m not argued away from my original stance, I end up knowing better why I believe what I do. Tim Davie, the �鶹��’s Director General has described himself as “in listening mode”. My hope is that the current debate will clarify the roles and responsibilities of both broadcasting body and presenter, and that Gary Lineker, and the �鶹�� bosses, will be able to agree a way forward, and shake hands, like managers at the end of a game.