Religious organisations and communities are frequent targets of abusers.
Religious institutions are often well-placed and strongly motivated to cover up incidents of sexual and physical abuse.
We work to hold these organisations to account and get justice for abuse victims and survivors.
Many religious organisations enjoy a close relationship with the establishment and tend to see themselves as above the law. This can increase the risk of abuse, prevent perpetrators from facing justice, and impede efforts to support and compensate victims and survivors of abuse.
Those intent on abuse are often attracted to religious institutions. Such organisations give access to, and sometimes extreme control over, numerous children and vulnerable adults.
When abuse does occur, religious organisations often act to protect the reputation of the institution above the rights of the victim. They may pressure the victim to stay silent and move the perpetrator to somewhere unaware of their reputation.
Many religious institutions also have influence and connections that enable them to evade justice and scrutiny, often for decades.
All forms of abuse, be they sexual, physical or psychological, can cause serious harm. Victims of abuse in religious settings have suffered physical and mental health problems, including addiction, self-harm and suicide.
Abuse can take place in any religious setting. That's why we work at the national and international level to hold religious organisations to account for safeguarding failings, and to ensure victims and survivors can get justice.
Take action!
1. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
2. Write to your MP
Ask your MP to support our work to end abuse in religion settings
3. Join the National Secular Society
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
Carey junior’s special pleading “an insult to victims”, says NSS
Posted: Tue, 4 Jul 2017 14:06
The son of the former Archbishop of Canterbury has said "changing attitudes" are behind criticism of his father's handling of a sexual abuse scandal.
Last week an independent report criticised the Church of England's response to abuse carried out by disgraced bishop Peter Ball. It severely censured Lord Carey, who led the Church from 1991 to 2002. In response he resigned from an honorary role in the Church, under pressure from Justin Welby, the current Archbishop of Canterbury.
The National Secular Society has described Andrew Carey's remarks as "an insult to the victims". In 2015 Ball was imprisoned for grooming and abusing 18 young men between 1977 and 1992. He was first accused in 1992 and cautioned for gross indecency in 1993. One of his victims, Neil Todd, committed suicide in 2012 – although his abuse first came to light in 1993.
The review found that Ball had escaped justice for 20 years and Lord Carey, who led the Church from 1991 to 2002 and spoke out in Ball's defence, had "colluded" with him.
In his regular column for The Church of England newspaper yesterday, Andrew Carey wrote that he was "struck by the absence of any public expression of sadness and sympathy for my father from the current crop of archbishops and bishops".
"He has been criticised over handling safeguarding," he added. "To be criticised like this is like the sin against the Holy Spirit, unforgivable in the Church of England.
"It's no matter that the term 'safeguarding' hadn't even been coined when Bishop Peter Ball's crimes were first reported. Twenty-five years later you are held accountable for cultural attitudes and standards that are totally different today."
Keith Porteous Wood, NSS executive director, said Andrew Carey was "trying to place his father beyond judgement".
"Such attitudes held by self-styled princes of both Catholic and Anglican churches are a major contributory cause to the widespread and longstanding clerical abuse of minors.
"Over decades lives were ruined and a man killed himself before Ball was brought to justice. The explanation that Lord Carey's intransigence and collusion were the products of a different time simply does not hold water.
"I am less concerned about him being above criticism, though, than above the law. When are we going to hear from the police that Lord Carey is helping them with their enquiries?"
Church of England 'colluded' with sex abuse bishop and failed victims, says report
Posted: Thu, 22 Jun 2017 15:14
The head of the Church of England, Justin Welby, has admitted that the Church "concealed" evidence of child abuse by a former bishop and failed to help his victims.
The admissions comes following the publication of independent review into the way the Church of England responded to the case of Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Gloucester, who was jailed in 2015 after admitting a string of historical sex offences against 18 teenagers and young men. Ball was released from jail in February after serving 16 months.
In the foreword to her report, Dame Moira Gibb said the serious sexual wrongdoing of Ball "is shocking in itself but is compounded by the failure of the church to respond appropriately to his misconduct, again over a period of many years".
"Ball's priority was to protect and promote himself and he maligned the abused. The church colluded. The church colluded with that rather than seeking to help those he had harmed, or assuring itself of the safety of others."
The Report says the Church's attitude to homosexuality part in the failure to act appropriately.
Responding to the Report, Archbishop Welby said: "Abuse of Faith makes harrowing reading: the Church colluded and concealed rather than seeking to help those who were brave enough to come forward".
The report makes 11 recommendations, including improving support to survivors of clerical abuse and taking steps to "demonstrate the individual and collective accountability of bishops".
Peter Hancock, the C of E's lead safeguarding bishop, said he was "appalled and disturbed" by the report's contents. He said there were "no excuses" and confirmed that the Church would accept all of Dame Moira Gibb' recommendations.
The report is highly critical of the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, who has subsequently been asked to step down from his position as an honorary assistant bishop by Justin Welby.
According to the Report, Lord Carey "set the tone for the Church's response to Ball's crimes and gave the steer which allowed Ball's assertions that he was innocent to gain credence".
The Report states that Lord Carey "was already aware that the Church had received letters raising concern about Ball's abuse of other young men", yet he intervened with the Police and CPS to dissuade them from charging Ball.
The National Secular Society said this raised "serious concerns about misconduct in public office" which it has called to be investigated.
In a statement, Lord Carey said the report made "deeply uncomfortable reading" and apologised to the victims of Peter Ball.
Another former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Rowan Williams, is criticised for making "lamentably slow" progress, despite setting the wheels in motion that ultimately led to the criminal case against Peter Ball being reopened.
The National Secular Society, which submitted evidence to the Review, said the findings were a "damning indictment" on the established Church.
NSS executive director, Keith Porteous Wood, said: "The culture of bishops with selective amnesia closing ranks and the bullying of victims and whistle-blowers played a significant role in a suicide and in Ball escaping justice for decades. That culture persists to this day. We asked Dame Moira specifically to investigate these aspects but there is no reference to them in her report. Until these fatal institutional flaws are recognised and excised no amount of child protection procedures will be effective.
"The Report could not credibly have let Lord Carey off the hook, but it has still been very gentle on him given it states he had known of complaints of Ball's conduct which it seems inexplicable he could not have believed. We hope that this aspect is formally re-examined.
"There seems little doubt that only because it was the established Church were Lord Carey and other senior churchmen able to exert such influence over the administration of justice in a way that has belatedly been admitted to have been so disastrous. Indeed, because it is the established Church, its bishops are classified as public officers and the law rightly requires of them a minimum standard of conduct.
"It seems to us that it will be difficult for them to argue in court – even using material in this report - that misconduct in public office has not taken place. We hope that the question of whether such misconduct has taken place will be robustly investigated."
The report also highlights the role of other arms of "the establishment", most notably Gloucestershire Police, which in its submission to the CPS said that charging Ball would "have a devastating effect on the Church which is already in turmoil".
Richard Scorer, a specialist abuse lawyer at Slater and Gordon, told The Times: "Given what's in the report, there is now a clear case for the police and CPS to consider criminal charges against senior [Church of England] figures, including Lord Carey, for offences of misconduct in public office and perverting the course of justice."
