Yesterday Justin Welby resigned as Archbishop of Canterbury after a damning report found that there had been and is a “conspiracy of silence” by the Church in relation to child sexual abuse. It is grim to even write those words, the idea that someone who claimed to be a man of peace and integrity would ignore the evidence of child abuse is just disgusting. As someone who was let down by those in positions of power as a child, I find Welby’s unwillingness to hold a child abuser accountable even more disturbing and unforgivable.
Welby has created an image of a man who cares about the most vulnerable while, as the Makin report says, showing “a distinct lack of curiosity” about abuse and heading up an institution that has done and keeps doing so much harm in the world. I am someone of faith, I am a Muslim woman who was educated in a Church of England school. I believe in god and I think theology is an important part of society and something we should actually be teaching it more in schools. But I have always had an issue with the organisation of religion and the way leaders, especially the men, have behaved.
