To say that the sickening cover-up by the hierarchy of the Church of England over the appalling physical, sexual and spiritual abuse by barrister and leader of evangelical summer camps for boys, John Smyth, is an abomination, is frankly an understatement.
A report, just published, revealed that the Church of England covered up Smyth’s abuses for decades.
Smyth QC, who died, aged 77, in Cape Town, in 2018, before he could be brought back to the UK for trial, was accused of attacking boys at his Winchester home who he had met at a Christian summer camp in Dorset during the 1970s and 1980s.
An investigation found Smyth identified pupils from leading public schools including Winchester College and took them to his home where he carried out lashings with a garden cane in his shed.
It said eight of the boys received a total of 14,000 lashes, while two more received 8,000 strokes between them over three years.
Smyth is said to have subjected more than 130 boys and young men over more than 30 years to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks, permanently affecting their lives. The abuses have been described as “horrific” but the claims were not reported to police until 2013 – more than 30 years later.
And now the Church hierarchy are accused of covering up the abuses so that the church would not be stained and lose followers.
I applaud the fact that finally the Archbishop of Canterbury has resigned. It is apparent he knew of the complaints and did nothing to actively report and stop it at a time when he should.
I think that not only he but all other church leaders who knew what was going on and did nothing, should be excommunicated and never allowed to preach from the pulpit again.
The damage that so called religious people can do to vulnerable people is enormous and anyone suspected of doing such things should be immediately investigated. And anyone responsible for any cover-up should be prosecuted.
We have heard for decades about abuses Roman Catholic priests carried out on children and teenagers, and also about abuses by nuns.
It would be unfair to suggest that the majority seeking work in a religious setting are doing it for selfish, sexual or sadistic reasons, but it is obvious that someone with that bent would look on such a career as a golden opportunity to find people easy to manipulate and control.
It is down to the government to now introduce legislation to make illegal, with substantial sentences, any attempt to cover up wrongdoing, whether it be within the police, armed services, councils, government, hospitals, or anywhere else, and especially within religious settings, where there are so many young, and vulnerable people.
People who regularly read my articles will know I have fallen out with religion. It happened after I heard a pastor say from the pulpit that if a baby is born with a medical or physical condition it is God’s wrath because of the baby’s parents’ wrong-doing.
These kinds of comments coming from the pulpit causes such anguish and people holding such ridiculous views should be condemned. There should be far more control over such comments.
Here’s some thoughts for you.
* There are 4,000+ religions in the world and all think they are right and every other is wrong. Some are even prepared to kill for their religion – and does a god stop it? No. Look what’s going in the Middle East, with thousands of deaths – all because of religion. Think about it!
* Every living thing on this planet has to live off another living thing. Some species inflict intense pain and suffering on another, eating their prey alive. Does a god stop this abomination? No. Or if you were god, and created the universe, couldn’t you come up with something far better than that? Think about it!
A million Jews were sent to the gas chambers in WW2. Did any god stop it? No. Think about it!
So, my advice to all who go to any church to ‘praise and worship’ this, in my view, non-existent god – have a long, hard think about what you are doing!
Perhaps some of you who have read this may be upset, but there are a growing number of people who question religion and think as I do.
Hopefully there will come a time when the emphasis in every church, mosque or synagogue will be on caring for people – as the Salvation Army does – and not on dogma and all the nonsense associated by the multitude of religions.
Is it not time that people questioned everything that every church leader, from whatever denomination, says and no longer accepts it without question? Because if people started questioning thoroughly, we might get a better world.
DENTAL CRISIS
Britain’s dental services are in total disarray and have been for several years. People have been left unable to get dental treatment unless they can pay privately for it.
But there is anger from people to hear that prisoners, including murderers and rapists in high-security jails, can access dental care as quickly as the same day, and are also exempt from paying.
Quite rightly there are questions why inmates are receiving better access to treatment than law-abiding citizens. It is clearly totally unacceptable.
RACKING UP THE POINTS
And this is going to anger many law abiding and careful drivers.
A 26-year-old man with 176 penalty points on his driving licence is allowed to get behind the wheel of his car in the UK, official data has revealed.
More than 50 people in Britain hold valid driving licences despite racking up at least 30 penalty points, prompting calls for repeat offenders to undertake mandatory retraining.
Three male licence holders have more than 100 points, while a 50-year-old woman continues driving despite having 96.
Some 53 people in the country have at least 30 penalty points each while a total of 10,056 motorists hold a valid licence despite having at least 12 points on their records, official figures revealed.
It seems that too many magistrates have not disqualified offenders because they have pleaded “exceptional hardship”.
Exceptional hardship means a driver’s loss of licence would not only affect them but others who depend on them, for example by being driven to and from work or medical appointments.
I have written before about magistrates and judges in the UK are far too soft. Perhaps soon they will get into the real world, and put the safely of other road users first.
