Church and Police in a Changing Society
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X6904201206 |
| Author | L. G. Tyler |
| Date | 01 December 1969 |
| Published date | 01 December 1969 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
THE
REVD.
L.
G.
TYLER
William Temple College, Rugby
UDURUD
AND
POLIUE
IN
A
UDANGING SOUIETY
A friend of mine, a veterinary surgeon before his ordination, was
asked to contribute what the editor was pleased to call
"a
Christmas
message" to the profession's journal in December. Maybe shortage
of copy in the darkest month of the year justified the invitation, or
it could have been thought that Christmas was a good time to fan
whatever residual embers of the Christian faith still glowed.
However, in this case I have better reasons than that, for in the
last few years my own professional work as a parson/academic has
involved me in very close association with many police officers
and our two vocations have been brought side by side in study and
discussion of issues vital to the well being of our whole society.
Certainly our modern, affluent technological society is raising all
sorts of bewildering questions and it is apparent that clergy, police-
men and many other groups of teachers and professional social
workers have a good deal more to do together than merely wish each
other
"a
happy Christmas".
If
the traditional greeting can be
interpreted as a common recognition of the source of some of the
best traditions in our social history and if our readiness to exchange
it indicates our willingness to do some serious thinking together as
church leaders and policemen, then it could well be a more significant
thing than much of the short-lived good-will which, with romantic
robins, stage coaches and choir boys on increasingly expensive
Christmas cards, could be consigned to oblivion.
I am grateful to the editor for this invitation for there is clearly a
most creative meeting point between those who represent the still
influential religious traditions of our society and all those who
legislate for its welfare, or who, like the police, bear responsibility
for enforcing that legislation, defending our freedom and protecting
society and the individuals of which it is composed against their own
wickedness and folly. In an age of such rapid social change the
professional isolation which rests upon long established traditions
of churchmen or policemen should have no place.
Nor
can we take
for granted social attitudes or conventions which were once un-
questioned. Those who seek to persuade by influence or authority
can no longer do so as of unquestioned right. As far as I can see the
task of clergy and of policemen will become more exciting
and
demanding. Perhaps what they have in common which enables them
to get on so well together is not
just
that they both occupy con-
spicuous social roles
but
that, because of their exposure to the raw
material of human existence, they are, like mercury in a thermometer,
sensitive to what is going on in the sub-culture of our society.
Retrospection to a golden age of the past is the besetting weakness
December1969 554
To continue reading
Request your trial