'Souffle' made a fascinating comment following my blog post about the Indian Cricket team. Do have a look at it, but in essence s/he points out that it's entirely possible that the Indian Cricket board are doing a great and laudable thing in supporting their player without automatically jumping to the worst conclusion about his behaviour. Souffle also raises the question of whether my take on the issue is too hasty a judgement, and whether this is unappealing characteristic of modern Christianity.

This has made me ponder. Am I being judgemental? The scriptures clearly say "Do not judge or you too will be judged" (Matthew 7.1-3). If Mr Singh were with me in person I know I would do my utmost to with-hold judgement and listen and care. I do it with many people; this matters to me, and I genuinely apologise if I have spoken too quickly.

However, there is more going on here. It is my task to comment on stories from the news, and it is all of our tasks  to interpret what is going on, particularly if we are Christian so we can pray. To assume Mr Singh is innocent is also to assume that Mr Bucknor has acted inappropriately as a professional umpire. He, a black umpire, made a serious allegation of racism against an Asian player. To make any comment here makes a judgement of some kind, and that judgement pertains to a man not just an issue.

Souffle is absolutely right that we should be slow to judge, but that does not mean we cannot make judgements about situations. It is a tricky line that we have to tread, deciding about our view on an issue without condemning others. It demands humility and patience, but it must be done if we are to be responsible citizens. We won't always agree, but how else can we engage?

I could well be wrong about Mr SIngh, and as I said before I hope I am. The claim that he was speaking in an Indian language and said a word that sounded like 'Monkey' is plausible. After reflection, though, I do stand by my comment about cricket. A serious allegation was made by a top-level professional, and that allegation was postponed to the point of near-meaninglessness after the strenuous complaints of a politically and financially powerful national body. I don't know whose fault it was, and I too am glad that a national body supports their players, but in my judgement the result is not healthy but it is something that is replicated elsewhere.

Why spend so much time on this? Because this is exactly the kind of uncomfortable wrestling we should do when we read or listen to the news. Our interaction with it is part of our spiritual life and growth, and we won't get it right all of the time.