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

Nicola Laver  |  UK & Ireland
Date posted:  21 Nov 2024
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After Smyth, after Makin – how does  evangelical culture need to change?

Top L: Susie Leafe, R: Kay Morgan-Gur. Bottom L: Jon Barrett, R: Darren Moore

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.

Accountability is crucial

So what’s next? Can Smyth’s victims meaningfully begin a new chapter? It could be more challenging than it needs to be given the time it’s taken for the first (and only, at the time of writing) resignation to happen.

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