Faintly embarrassing flag waving Anglican preacher.
Who: Rt Rev Dr David Walker
What: Christian (Church of England)
Where: Bishop of Manchester
LISTEN TO PODCAST
AI transcript of the Radio 4 broadcast
The SecondThought Report (podcast script)
Welcome to the SecondThought for the day podcast. In this episode we dissect a Radio 4 Thought For The Day (TftD) to expose all in it that is not factful or reasonable. Please visit secondthoughtfortheday.com for more on what we do and why. You can also find there a transcript of the broadcast we’re about to review and a link to the original BBC audio. As well as all the other podcasts we’ve done, show notes, etc, etc.This SecondThought podcast is in response to the TftD that was broadcast by the Right Reverend Doctor David Walker on 15 April 2025. Walker is the Bishop of Manchester.
Walker’s inspiration was the bombing two days previously, Palm Sunday, that disabled the last functional hospital in Gaza. The subject of his reflection was the ethics of warfare.
Of note, the Al-Ahli Arab is the only Christian run hospital in Gaza. It is run by a branch of the Anglican church.
WALKER: The Anglican Al Ahli hospital suffered a devastating attack two days ago. The 20 minute warning provided by the Israeli forces allowed staff and patients, along with refugees living on the site, to evacuate. But what was the only functioning hospital left in Gaza has been put out of action. Whether or not there was a Hamas Command Centre hidden within its buildings, as the military alleged, I’ve heard from my own conversations with Palestinians that terrorists have in the past forced them to accept military assets being placed in schools and medical facilities, precisely to make them harder to destroy. I can understand why some argue that the number of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza should include much of the civilian population.
There is much here that is good but any listener taking Walker’s broadcast at face value could reasonably infer that Christians were largely responsible for International law as it pertains to conflict, that the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem is a leading provider of humanitarian aid in Gaza, and that the Church of England is also a relevant contributor to peace negotiation efforts between Hamas and the government of Israel. Walker is careful not to claim these things but his off-hand references appear deliberately pitched to encourage this understanding in the listener.
Our bishop uses the conflict in Gaza to introduce the ethics of war. He does a good job of this. He is measured and provides appropriately guarded illustration that both Hamas and the Israeli leadership appear to be failing to wage war justly, especially with respect to the appropriate treatment of non-combatants.
You might, though, be forgiven for thinking that the Christian church is almost singularly responsible for what we understand today as the ethics of war. At least you would if all you’d heard was Walker’s approach to the subject. Our bishop explains:
WALKER: Augustine of Hippo, writing 1,500 years ago, seeks to find that balance by laying down rules that any justifiable conflict would have to satisfy. What’s become known as the Just War Theory, adopted far beyond the Christian tradition, has at its heart the protection of non-combatants.
While there is no false claim made in those words, it is a clear case of deceit. It’s also enthusiastic Anglican flag waving.
Their man in Hippo did make the first recorded Christian effort of documenting principles of warfare. But he was far from alone, or even a pioneer in the field. There are more ancient Arabic, Chinese and Roman examples.
He might have mentioned the Sanskrit Mah-ab-har-ata (which predates St Augustine by 700 years and is the first known written exploration of just war. He was silent on Cicero who advocated principles for just war within the Roman republic, also some time before Augustine the saint. There are several other examples from ancient Egypt, from Zhou-dynasty Chinese philosophy, and others, all of which predate St Augustine.
It’s worth noting that St Augustine regarded physical death as something of little consequence. Not dissimilar from suicide bombers looking forward to their virgins. But given Walker’s focus on non-combatants, on whom St Augustine was somewhat ambivalent, it was rather important that his was not a lone voice.
St Thomas Aquinas did considerably more heavy lifting within the church on the matter than his predecessor but it the Dutch humanist Hugo Grotius, with notable contributions from a handful of others, who in the sixteenth century wrote the conditions for a just war that are accepted today.
I’m not suggesting that Walker should have provided that level of detail but a couple of very simple tweaks would have removed the deception, make this broadcast honest and credible. Here’s the 39 words Walker used:
Augustine, writing 1,500 years ago, sought to define that balance by laying down rules that any justifiable conflict would have to satisfy. These principles became known as Just War Theory, which has been adopted far beyond the Christian tradition.
Here’s what the 41 words he easily could have used:
Augustine, writing 1,500 years ago, made the first Christian attempt to define that balance by laying down rules that any justifiable conflict would have to satisfy. These principles contributed to Just War Theory, which is the foundation of international law today.
Mild, perhaps, but deceit by omission, nonetheless. Seemingly motivated by Christian bias. It’s somewhat quaint to see bias manifest itself through Anglican zeal. There can’t be many instances when the two words appear together.
In any event, Walker’s telling of this history is untroubled by balance.
He then closes with two paragraphs on the Anglican church in the context of the Gaza crisis. First Walker cites a statement from the Church of England’s House of Bishops.
WALKER: the Church of England House of Bishops yesterday reiterated what I and many feel are the minimum first steps towards ending the present suffering and restoring moral values.
While the statement urges good things in Gaza, it’s hard to set aside just how irrelevant this pronouncement was to the efforts to achieve a lasting peace. It might as well be a provincial English hiking club calling for the preservation bridleway access in war-torn Sudan.
Finally, David notes the importance of the resumption of humanitarian work provided the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem
WALKER: Meanwhile, a clear commitment to the rapid repair and restoration of healthcare services, so that the Diocese of Jerusalem and others can resume their humanitarian work, would send a powerful signal that peace still has a chance.
“And others.”
But those ‘others’ dwarf the contribution made by the Church of England to humanitarian aid to Gaza. Walker once again need only have made minor changes to prevent the misleading of his audience. Given this repeat offending, it seems likely to me that all this deception is deliberate.
With church flag in hand, Walker cannot but help its waving.
Second Thought podcast with Dan Beach 
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