In depth | Evangelicals Now

Assisted suicide? Justin Welby? It’s all about God

Matthew Roberts

There have been two questions I’ve been asked more than any others in the last few weeks. First, what do you think about assisted suicide? And second, what do you think about Justin Welby? There’s plenty that could be said in answer to both. But at heart, the answer I want to give is the same: It’s all about God.

Of course we want to talk about the ethics of medicine, the sanctity of life, the devaluing of the weak, the protection of the vulnerable, the application of justice to the wicked, the goodness of marriage, the sinfulness of sexual immorality, and many more things beside. But they are, in a sense, derivative; for all of God’s laws flow from God Himself. When terrible ethical failures happen, it is because there is first a failure to know and love the one true God.

Smyth scandal: Makin fallout continues

Nicola Laver

A slow but steady fallout following the publication of the Makin Review into John Smyth’s decades-long abuse is under way.

The review criticises ‘powerful’ conservative evangelical leaders – many are explicitly named. Few have been sanctioned so far.

editorial

Lament and repentance

Editorial

What needs to change in evangelical culture after the publication of the Makin Report? The harrowing details of its contents have been covered in some detail on the en website.

That such things should happen among those professing the soundest of doctrine is repugnant, vile and wicked. Many leaders knew – and yet Smyth was able to continue abusing for decades.

After Smyth, after Makin – how does evangelical culture need to change?

Nicola Laver

The Makin Review into the horrific abuse carried out by John Smyth was always going to send shockwaves through the Church of England – and the evangelical world both within that denomination and beyond it. Smyth – QC, church reader and sadist – abused at least 115 children and young men over a period spanning some 50 years. Some later attempted suicide.

The report does not hold back. The victims’ accounts are harrowing; the failures of successive CofE leaders – including many evangelicals – from the top down are exposed. Makin could not be clearer: conservative evangelical culture facilitated Smyth’s abuse. His brutal proclivities were an open secret among a faction within the church who could have acted – but didn’t. The institution, its beliefs and reputation, were more important than the individuals being abused.

After Makin: what might evangelicals learn?

Shaun and Anne Atkins

It’s not often we get asked to write something together, so this is newish territory for us. 'You write it,' said one of us, 'and I’ll correct it afterwards.' To which the other could easily have said, 'You write it… and I’ll make it readable afterwards.' But as one is in the pub watching the Rugby and the other is at home writing, I’ll leave you to guess which is which.

So, the commission was for joint authorship; the topic, what evangelicals need to learn post-Makin. Immediately, we encounter our second challenge. One of us has always (since conversion aged 13, anyway) been an evangelical: more precisely a 'Prayer Book Evangelical.' The other never has.

Makin Report: Smyth victims speak out

Victims of serial abuser John Smyth are speaking out in the wake of the publication of the Makin Report.

Smyth abused dozens of children and young men who he met at summer camps funded by the conservative evangelical Iwerne Trust in Dorset during the 1970s and 1980s. Readers should be aware that some of the details below are deeply distressing.

Makin Report: Analysis by Rebecca Chapman

Rebecca Chapman

The Makin review has finally been published - over six years since it was promised and 11 years since the Archbishop of Canterbury was told about the abuse.

What Keith Makin and his review team found during their investigations was truly horrific and readers should be aware that some of the details are deeply distressing. The eminent QC John Smyth, described by one victim as ‘a charismatic personality… the blue-eyed boy, he was Mary Whitehouse’s lawyer, he was in the public domain, everybody knew about him’ was arguably the most prolific serial abuser with links to the church, and accused of abusing as many as 130 boys across five decades in the UK and Africa. The review describes him as ‘a skilled and determined narcissist, who derived pleasure from the sufferings of others’ with abuse of some boys starting when they were as young as 13 years old.

Makin Report: Key findings and conclusions

en staff

Key findings of the Makin Report

The 'key findings' of the Makin Report (see news item here) are as follows and readers should be aware that some of the details are deeply distressing:

'John Smyth was an appalling abuser of children and young men. His abuse was prolific, brutal and horrific. His victims were subjected to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks. The impact of that abuse is impossible to overstate and has permanently marked the lives of his victims. John Smyth’s own family are victims of his abuse.

Makin Report brands John Smyth as CofE’s ‘most prolific serial abuser’

Milla Ling-Davies

An official report has described John Smyth, a barrister and close associate of Archbishop Justin Welby, as the Church of England’s ‘most prolific serial abuser.’

According to Channel 4 journalist Cathy Newman on X, the report accuses top church officials, including Welby, one of his predecessors and multiple Bishops, of failing to stop Smyth’s abuse of as many as 130 boys and young men across the UK, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

In Depth: Makin Report