WE welcome the resignation of Justin Welby after the Makin report found that Church of England leaders “knew at the highest level” about John Smyth’s abuse of hundreds of children in its care. We expect many more resignations to come. It is the least they can do to acknowledge the suffering of survivors.
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We don’t doubt that there are many soft-voiced vicars who harmlessly celebrate Christian ideas with their small coteries of elderly believers, and so long as this is done privately we have no argument. The problems begin when established status gives the Church of England stewardship of Armistice commemorations, tax funding to run schools according to its own beliefs, unelected seats in government, and the privilege of marking its own homework when horrifying abuses like this are discovered.
With disestablishment, the Church of England will be free to thrive or fade under its own steam and be subject to the full scrutiny of law which applies to all.
Neil Barber
Edinburgh Secular Society
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