JUSTICE FOR BISHOP GEORGE BELL OF CHICHESTER

JUSTICE4GEORGEBELL - TWITTER CAMPAIGN

https://twitter.com/Justice4Bell?lang=en-gb

JUSTICE FOR BISHOP GEORGE BELL - FACEBOOK CAMPAIGN

https://www.facebook.com/Justice-for-Bishop-George-Bell-577597159058935/

"KY" COMMENT 4

http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2016/05/a-good-new-independent-account-of-the-george-bell-controversy.html

Now there are a number of people, in the world, who want to find out the truth about Bishop Bell. It is not unreasonable to challenge asking if the investigation, which the
Church of England has made, has justly, systematically and adequately been done, or not.

...there is no criticism against the accuser in this challenge.

"KY" COMMENT 3

http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2016/05/a-good-new-independent-account-of-the-george-bell-controversy.html

If the Church was not prepared to say this openly, but was happy to have it said openly by others, this contentment surely requires investigation and explanation. the question of why the church hasn't protested, even though the media went much further than ti did, and of how three national newspapers and two local ones reached the same conclusion , even though it was not supported by any on-the-record document or statement, is one of the most fascinating in the whole affair. One might almost be tempted to believe in telepathy or the supernatural . But if the Church believed this to be the case, why did it no say so openly and in terms?

"KY" COMMENT 2

http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2016/05/a-good-new-independent-account-of-the-george-bell-controversy.html

The article says that one newspaper headline “went further than the Church” with a quotation from the Telegraph.

The headline of The Telegraph (22 Oct 2015) actually gives the Church of England as the source, it says the Bishop ‘was a paedophile – Church of England’.

In that sense the Telegraph did not go further than the Church. If it went further than the Church, why the Church has not protested against the headline?

The Church has evidently not protested against the Telegraph on this headline.

Therefore it is reasonable to think that the Church is content with the conclusion made by the Telegraph on 22 Oct 2015 after the statement of the Church on this issue.

"KY" COMMENT 1

http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2016/05/a-good-new-independent-account-of-the-george-bell-controversy.html

Thank you for your comment – it helps me think twice or thrice on this issue.

I, indeed, agree with you rightly saying “the question of why the church hasn't protested, (…) is one of the most fascinating in the whole affair”.

Why hasn’t the Church protested against the Telegraph?

This question reminds me of Agatha Christie’s “Why didn’t they ask Evans?”
(I actually am fond of some of the titles of her books.)

In this story, the hint is hidden in the title.

In the case of Bishop Bell, it may be the subject of the question that gives us a clue.

Why hasn’t ‘the Church’ protested against the Telegraph?

What if ‘the Church’ is not a singular?

I mean what if the conclusion of ‘the Church’ is not a unanimous one?

I do not know why it is not unanimous, but it might be due to the quality of the investigation...

FOR THOSE OUTSIDE THE UK WHO WISH TO SIGN THE PETITION

http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2016/05/for-those-without-uk-postcodes-who-wnat-to-sign-the-george-bell-justice-petition.html#comments

For those without UK postcodes who want to sign the George Bell Justice petition
I have now had this advice from the petition organisers, 38 Degrees:

'Unfortunately, at the moment 38 Degrees petitions can only take signatures from people based in the UK because the software relies in part on the UK postcode database to ensure that each electronic signature comes from an individual.

People outside the UK who feel strongly about this issue could contact Richard Symonds who started the petition and ask him to add their names manually to a printed version.

You can contact him by clicking the black envelope icon by his name on this page:

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/justice-for-bishop-george-bell-of-chichester '

(or Email : [email protected] )

http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2016/05/a-good-new-independent-account-of-the-george-bell-controversy.html

05 May 2016 12:52 PM

BBC HAS "A GOOD NEW INDEPENDENT ACCOUNT OF THE GEORGE BELL CONTROVERSY" - PETER HITCHENS

Here http://bbc.in/1UBjubI is an unexpectedly good and clear account of the George Bell controversy...If some other media had covered the story with such care and responsibility, we might not now be in the mess we are in, with the C of E still doggedly sticking to a version of events which has been shot full of holes by expert analysis and a contemporary witness, and trying to hide behind the alleged victim, falsely accusing George Bell’s defenders of attacking her.

Those of you who have yet to sign the petition for Justice for George Bell may do so here http://bit.ly/1rq31vQ . Almost 1,200 people have signed it already...and urge readers to sign themselves, and encourage friends to do so. This is an excellent cause, the cause of justice and truth.

BBC - "GEORGE BELL: THE BATTLE FOR A BISHOP'S REPUTATION" BY JUSTIN PARKINSON

By Justin Parkinson

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35971308

Andrew Chandler emphasises: "The controversy that has attended all of this has never been directed against the complainant ['carol'], for whom everyone feels a genuine sympathy. It is really about the process that has been brought to bear on the complaint itself."

Following the allegation against Bell, who was married but had no descendants, the Church asked potential victims to contact the NSPCC. No-one has yet done so.
But John Cameron, the NSPCC's head of help lines, says it's important that organisations show complainants are "being listened to" and that allegations are taken seriously.

If George Bell's supporters win their battle, it's likely to have a wider impact on the controversies of investigating historical abuse.

CHARLES MOORE - SPECTATOR
http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/05/we-didnt-have-a-real-choice-in-the-1975-referendum-we-do-now/

"First moves have now begun to restore the reputation of George Bell...who was alleged by his own diocese...to have abused a young girl from 1949 until 1953. Bell’s supporters have worked hard to show that the process by which the diocese arrived at this conclusion nearly 60 years after he died has been inadequate & unjust. It is good news that Chichester Council, having originally removed the portrait of Bell which hung on its Council House staircase, last week decided to re-hang it. Bell has not been found guilty. He has been judged by the Church ‘on the balance of probabilities’ in an out-of-court settlement which no one has been allowed to see. Why should anyone feel compelled to accept the Church’s decision? We should re-hang his portraits unless & until actual evidence is publicly heard & the case for Bell is properly put."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/gerard-henderson/unsubstantiated-sex-claims-ruin-the-lifes-work-of-good-men/news-story/55eafe450eb287aaf0ec25e473b88509

"UNSUBSTANTIATED SEX CLAIMS RUIN THE LIFE'S WORK OF GOOD MEN"

THE AUSTRALIAN
April 9 2016
Gerard Henderson
Columnist

I write in defence of the memory of the Australian Jesuit priest Patrick Stephenson and in support of my friend Charles Moore’s campaign to honour the life of the British Anglican bishop George Bell. Both men have been accused, decades after their deaths, of sexual impropriety with unnamed ­minors....

"NO SMOKE WITHOUT FIRE?"

"No doubt there will be people who are going to think there is no smoke without fire. I can do nothing about that except to say such an attitude would be wrong"

~ Judge David Clarke - dismissing the 'child abuse' case brought about by the Crown Prosecution Service against Southampton football manager Dave Jones.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Smoke-Fire-Autobiography-Jones/dp/1908051191

"GROUP CHALLENGES NAMING OF BISHOP GEORGE BELL AS A PAEDOPHILE"

'THINKING ANGLICANS'

Sunday, 20 March 2016

http://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/archives/007229.html

The George Bell Group has sent a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and also issued a press statement: George Bell’s naming as a paedophile is challenged today by a group of lawyers, academics, politicians and senior Church figures. The statement is copied in full below...

TS ELIOT - BISHOP BELL - CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL SPIRE - ARUNDEL-BELL SCREEN

https://cemjoad.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/ts-eliot-and-chichester-cathedral/

TS Eliot was commissioned by Bishop George Bell of Chichester to write a play “Murder in the Cathedral”. The Bishop was a great Patron of the Arts.

The Arundel-Bell Screen was built as a tribute to Bishop George Bell in 1961. It replaced the Screen which was dismantled in 1859, resulting in the final collapse of the Cathedral Spire in 1861.

In April 2016, Bishop Bell’s name was deleted from the “Welcome to Chichester Cathedral” brochure, returning to its pre-1961 title “The Arundel Screen”.

This recent decision, and others relating to Bishop George Bell, has caused a magnitude of disquiet similar to that of the Spire's collapse in 1861.

http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2016/04/reposted-murder-in-the-cathedral-explains-why-you-should-sign-the-george-bell-petition-.html

RWS COMMENT

"Certain Church representatives, oh so nicely, threw Bishop Bell under the bus"

Richard W. Symonds
The Bell Society

'CAROL' APOLOGISES TO FORMER ARCHBISHOP OVER ABUSE CLAIM

"A woman, who the Church of England has accepted was abused by a bishop, has apologised to the family of a former Archbishop of Canterbury [George Carey]." 'Carol'..."claimed she had written to Lord Carey, telling him that she had been abused as a child by Bishop George Bell. In a statement issued by her solicitor [Tracey Emmott], she accepted that was an error...She first made complaints in 1995 to Bishop Kemp of Chichester. She was prompted to complain again to Lambeth Palace at the time of the Jimmy Savile revelations, but it was only in 2013 when she wrote again - this time to Archbishop Justin Welby - that the matter was referred to the police"'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35797388