Both the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and the Church of England’s Second Past Cases Review (PCR2) report uncovered hundreds of cases of church-based abuse.
Behind each case is a victim and survivor of abuse who has bravely come forward to share their experience of betrayal, abuse of trust, and suffering. Their lives have been devastated and pierced with inexcusable pain. We need to lean in, listen, and learn.
Of course, abuse isn’t unique to any one denomination, organisation or worldview. Perpetrators of abuse have been found across a range of institutions of all faiths and none. Anyone who wants to paint religion as the problem need only look at cases in the police, social care, health, and education sectors to see that abuse is not confined to one single church denomination or group.
