I THINK I've read every word that's been written about the unfortunate Ron Atkinson over the last few days and I don't mind admitting the story depresses me.

What I can't come to terms with is the savagery of the punishment that has befallen Ron. He no longer has his job with ITV, nor his column in The Guardian, nor even his sponsorship deal with Britvic. Of course, he should not have uttered those unkind, derogatory and hateful words, but that a man's career can apparently be ended because of a single offence is a distasteful indication of the vindictive society we have become.

In a sane and rational world what would have happened to Ron? He would have apologised, perhaps incurred a steep fine and a written warning and that would have been that: incident closed. Anyone who saw Ron on TV after the event could have been left in no doubt that he was truly sorry for what he had said. Moreover he has a reputation for racial tolerance and for playing black footballers in his teams. But we do not live in a sane society. We have constructed this snarling, totalitarian climate in which "racism" is just about the only sin. We do not need all these anti-racism campaigns which are in fact wholesale attempts at brainwashing and moral blackmail. No one should be verbally abused by anyone else. We don't need to have a special word for this prohibition on name-calling. By inventing the special hate word "racism" we all become racists. What is required instead is simply the restoration of good old-fashioned politeness and etiquette - what I was brought up to regard as manners.

Another problem with "racism" is that it only ever works one way. I heard John Humphrys last week on The Today Programme. He was interviewing someone about the South African election and he said, "Have ten years of rule by the ANC been good for black people?" Imagine if the political party in power had not been the ANC but, say, the National Party, and Humphrys had asked, "Have the last ten years of National Party rule been good for white people?" There would have been uproar of course.

The same Guardian newspaper that Ron used to write for carries every week scores of advertisements explicitly for black workers. What if they were to advertise for whites only? Last year I read about a conference on "black literature." Any proposed "white literature conference" would have been broken up by the anti-racist police. The disturbing conclusion we draw from these and many more examples is that anti-discrimination rules do not seem to apply in the case of white people. The trouble is that the anti-racism movement has become an international industry and its work does not help race-relations but massively hinders them - not least by stirring up resentment among millions who have been browbeaten into admitting to the ridiculous charge of "institutional racism."

But back to Ron and the whole question of apology and forgiveness. I was talking to an economist here in the City last week and he told me that he thought a great deal of the prosperity of the western world is owing to the long influence of Christianity. As he said, "Christianity is the faith which says that when you go wrong you can apologise and have a fresh start. That's good for the individual, and it's also good for a business. No one is perfect". Nobody's perfect. Ron's persecutors should remember that before they start throwing any more stones at him.

*Peter Mullen is Rector of St Michael's, Cornhill, in the City of London, and Chaplain to the Stock Exchange