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
Former ‘pope in waiting’ jailed for child sexual abuse
Posted: Fri, 15 Mar 2019 10:36
The Vatican's former treasurer George Pell has been sentenced to a total of 11 years and nine months in prison for sexual activity with children in his native Australia.
Cardinal Pell, who was until recently regarded as the Vatican's number three and had been known as the 'pope in waiting', was convicted on five charges. He is the most senior Catholic figure ever to be found guilty of sexual offences against children.
The combined total of his sentences was reduced to six years as the judge allowed some of the terms to be served concurrently. This was partly because of Pell's age and the unlikelihood of further offending.
Pell will not be eligible for parole until serving three years and eight months. The judge acknowledged, given Pell's poor health, the "real possibility that you may not live to be released from prison".
The judge also rejected Pell's defence argument that the crimes were committed by Pell the man, not the archbishop.
"Your obvious status as archbishop cast a powerful shadow over this offending… There was breach of trust and you abused your position to facilitate the offending."
Pell continues to maintain his innocence. The judge observed that he had showed no "remorse or contrition" which would have reduced his sentence.
Pell has been kept in isolation for 23 hours each day, because he has been designated an "at-risk" prisoner due to his age, high profile, and the nature of his crime.
After the verdict was announced, Pell's top-flight lawyer dismissed one of the charges as "no more than a plain vanilla sexual penetration case where the child is not actively participating".
This provoked such international outrage that he took the unprecedented step of publicly withdrawing the claim. Pell sacked the lawyer, but it is not known whether it was for this, losing the case or to make way for someone else to run an appeal.
National Secular Society president Keith Porteous Wood said: "Practically the entire hierarchy of the Catholic Church brazenly continues to resist punishing offenders and those that shield them, and giving appropriate reparations to those abused.
"Adherents are voting with their feet, for example in Australia and the US. And belatedly, the law is now stepping up to the task by convicting the hitherto unconvictable and paving the way for massive compensation."
Dr Kezelman, a representative of a victims' group, said: "For too long, hermetically sealed systems of power, such as within the Catholic Church, have called the shots, protecting the church, its hierarchy and themselves.
"Hopefully this sentence can herald fundamental change to the church and other institutions, starting with accountable, responsible and transparent leadership, hierarchy and culture."
A leading Catholic and the author of a major report on abuse in the Catholic Church, Professor Des Cahill, described the sentencing as "a momentous event".
Update - April 2020: Pell's conviction has been overturned by Australia's highest court. See Cardinal Pell's conviction has been overturned – but there are uncomfortable moments to come, by Keith Porteous Wood.
Image: Cardinal George Pell in 2012, via Wikimedia Commons / Flickr, © Kerry Myers [CC BY 2.0]
Senior French Catholic cardinal convicted of covering up abuse
Posted: Fri, 8 Mar 2019 12:25
The most senior Catholic official in France, the archbishop of Lyon Philippe Barbarin, has been convicted of covering up sexual abuse and given a six month suspended prison sentence.
Barbarin was convicted of failing to report a priest's repeated sexual abuse of 70 minors on Thursday.
The National Secular Society has said the conviction is a reminder of the need for a law requiring the mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse in the UK.
In 2016, charges were dropped by the public prosecutor against Barbarin after Pope Francis publicly intervened. Victims then mounted a private prosecution.
The success of the resultant trial is a huge triumph for victims. Their effort was low budget and widely predicted to fail, and the public prosecutor had advised against a conviction.
The NSS took an interest in the handling of Barbarin's case during a protracted process. Through international affiliates, the NSS raised the prosecutor's dropping of charges and a later abandoned trial with the French minister of justice.
Barbarin had known of the abuse, which was first complained of in 1991, since at least 2010. In court he admitted his reaction to abuse accusations was "belated" and blamed bad legal advice.
A top Vatican official also advised him to "avoid public scandal" but – amid widespread criticism – avoided being cross-examined by citing immunity from prosecution.
The defence resorted to expressing surprise that the victims blamed the church for not having broken the silence, rather than their parents or other adults caring for them. This was despite its acknowledgement that few parents knew about the abuse.
One victim described the verdict as a "major victory for child protection" and "a strong message… to the French church, to the world and to Pope Francis", adding that it would "hugely encourage people to speak out".
Barbarin will appeal but has offered his resignation to the pope.
Victims of George Pell, who as Vatican treasurer was the third most senior Catholic in the world and was recently convicted of abuse in Australia, have now launched a civil action too.
Barbarin's victims' fight has been depicted in a film that has been screened in France despite the alleged perpetrator not yet having faced trial. The title By The Grace Of God comes from a Barbarin quote: "Most of the facts, by the grace of God, fell outside the statute of limitations."
NSS president Keith Porteous Wood said: "The conviction of Barbarin, and last week fellow arch-conservative Cardinal Pell in Australia on 5 counts of sexual abuse of minors, marks a turning of the tide and the pope would cause further outrage if he refused to accept Barbarin's resignation.
"I hope questions will be asked in constitutionally secular France as to why public prosecutors were so keen to spare Barbarin from both prosecution and conviction in the face of such damning evidence.
"It is also sobering that the Barbarin trial could not take place in Britain as we do not have mandatory reporting - despite over 80% of nations having some form of it. It is essential that we urgently legislate to introduce mandatory reporting of known or suspected institutional child abuse, without exceptions for admissions in the confessional."
Image: Philippe Barbarin, via Flickr / Wikimedia Commons, © MEDEF [CC BY-SA 2.0]
