Richard Littledale's
Views on the News: February 2004

... talking about the news ...		... or taking a view on it.
Then again, if we take a view on that news and publish it are we taking an unwise and unacceptable risk?		If the news can't be trusted, what good is a view on it?
Scrutiny of the sources and providers of news is surely the sign of a healthy society,		but paranoia is the sign of a society whose post-modern flu has got the better of it!

The problem for Christianity is that its whole basis rests on the idea of news - in particular the good news, or gospel. Ever since the death and resurrection of Christ, the Christian church has been a news agency - reporting this good news to anyone who will listen. Along the way its biblical sources have been scrutinised, and its reporting techniques have often been censured, especially when they placed more emphasis on persuading than informing the listener. Ironically, the word which came to describe this process, "evangelism", takes its origins from the earliest form of war correspondent. An evangelist was a runner sent back from the battlefield to report on the progress of the battle at home.

In a post-Hutton world where distrust of those in authority is equalled only by distrust of those who tell us about them, should the church shut-up shop and give up on this business of telling the good news? Not at all! Scepticism and faith are sparring partners rather than enemies. If the church is afraid of people questioning its good news, it doesn't deserve to share it in the first place. Let people ask their questions, let them express their doubts, let them scrutinise the source of this good news with every rigour they can muster. The outcome can only be to the benefit of both parties.