Pause for thought: Roger Green August 2006 (rejected script)

As Home Secretary John Reed and his new team embark on their review of the criminal justice system and despite the growing evidence that the public at large are dissatisfied with the sytem – feeble sentences by the Courts, weakness in the probation service, inadequate responses by the police – the introduction of a punishment that was exquisitely painful and designed to go on without end would probably not find favour even among those with a strong instinct in favour of severe punishment.

Today we retain the notion that punishment should in some way have value, be redemptive or reformative or have a deterrent effect. But the religious influences in our multicultural society, for all those whose faith historically derives from the Middle East – Judaism, Christianity, Islam – has been quite habituated to the idea of an endless punishment. It's called Hell.

The notion of hell, as conventionally understood, has been called possibly the most wicked idea to find acceptance with humankind.

These days the idea of Hell has been psychologised by faith leaders. It's often regarded as a state of mind rather than a state of being.

But my GI father did not have access to these modern spins on the traditional teachings. He was the 11th son a working class Catholic family, brought up on firm Roman Catholic teaching.

To him Hell was real. He also believed he had led a wicked life. The threat of Hell was so real and frightening to him that the only way to avoid it was to kill himself. I know that this is not a theologically correct understanding. In fact the act of suicide would have only added to his record of sin. But psychologically that's how it was. During his retirement years he made a number of attempts on his own life (para-suicides – perhaps not commitedly serious in intent, but nevertheless a heart-rending cry for help). So he was incarcerated in his last years in a secure psychiatric hospital, treated by ECT and strong behaviour control drugs – a kind of Hell I suppose.

As a humanist I can only hope that other time-worn religious ideas, like "sin" and "faith" will also eventually be consigned to the dustbin of history.