When I heard of Carl Sargeant’s suicide, I immediately thought of Kafka’s unnerving novel The Trial. I find the similarities uncanny. For on his 30th birthday, the hero Josef K is unexpectedly arrested by unknown agents for an unspecified crime, and after two years of perpetual worry he ends up dead. Now Josef K didn’t kill himself but that was clearly the expectation, and in any case the outcome was the same for both men. Tragically for one it was a real life tragedy.

I am not privy to what the former Cabinet Member said or did and it would be wrong to say anything about his guilt or his innocence. In the same way I will not rush to judgement about the First Minister’s behaviour either. I will leave it to those more suitably qualified to decide. But I can’t help thinking that it is very unfair, not to say very uncaring, to publicly accuse someone of misconduct while remaining reticent about the nature of their supposed misdemeanours. We rejected the practice of imprisoning people without trial a long, long ago and it seems to me that to name someone without specifying the nature of their alleged offence smacks of the same kind of injustice. We all know how tempting it is to say: “There’s no smoke without a fire.”

I would think Carl Sargeant’s final days must have been nothing short of torture, and I can’t even begin to imagine what his family are going through at the moment. We simply have to find a way of dealing with these sorts of accusations in a way that shows care for those who feel bullied as well as those who have to face the brunt of public scrutiny. I’m sure that’s what Jesus would have us do.

Now very few of us will face the kind of public scrutiny that Carl Sergeant had to endure but it’s also worth remembering that people can say bad things about us yet be completely unaware of what is being said. It’s called gossip. And in some ways it’s worse because we can’t defend ourselves.

Gossip is cowardly, ungodly and sadly all too common. And Carl Sargeant was not the only one to experience this kind of behaviour according to one former insider who has since talked of a ‘toxic environment’ existing in Welsh government circles. Ministers, he says, were the subject of rumours and smear campaigns. ‘Fear and loathing’ is pretty strong language but that’s how the First Minister’s former special adviser has described the atmosphere in which they worked.

But before we start throwing stones, let’s make sure we are not living in a glass houses ourselves. Many a family, indeed many a church has been rent asunder by gossip and malicious talk. Sticks and stones can certainly break our bones, but words can equally wreck a reputation and destroy a relationship. The apostle Paul has some wise advice here. Make the most of every opportunity ‘to be gracious’ he wrote. In other words, we should do all we can to encourage people rather than put them down. Grace, as well as truth, should determine what we say. We must deal with problems and bad behaviour of course, but we should never ever resort to gossip. At the very least because it’s a sign of weakness rather than strength!

Rob James is a Baptist Pastor broadcaster and writer who currently operates as a church and media consultant for the Evangelical Alliance Wales. He is available for preaching and teaching throughout Wales and can be contacted at [email protected]