Spiritual Abuse in our Headlines: Why We Should All Care

It has taken us some time to decide what we want to say in response to the Makin Report and subsequent resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury last week. It has had a huge impact on us, and on the other survivors we have been so proud to work with and meet through our project on spiritual abuse, I, Lord.

The most positive reflection we have, is that the achievement of changing the Archbishop of Canterbury’s mind - from determination not to resign, to deciding to do so - can be taken as an example of what happens when allies in positions of higher influence than survivors put their necks on the line to stand up for what is right. Without the efforts of a few bishops and clergy putting together a petition and making public statements, we would not have been able to exert enough pressure for this outcome.

(It is of course astounding that it required this much pressure for any gesture of accountability to be made at all - but this is pressure that survivors are used to having to create on our own, at far greater emotional expense and to far lesser effect. Not just within a faith context, but everywhere and anywhere abuse occurs.)

We urge you, however, not to buy into any narrative suggesting that the work is now done - or is even getting done. The Archbishop of Canterbury is one of many. John Smyth was one of many. The culture that allows horrific stories like this to proliferate is still rock solid - in the Church of England, in many other faith bodies, and in many other institutions and collectives in which people are allowed to exert exceptional control over others.

We urge you also to pay attention to the smaller stories as well as the ones that make the headlines. Spiritual abuse does not always look as scandalous as this, and is not always as easy fodder for news outlets. Listen to the people around you. Watch the cultures playing out around you. Know that microcosms can have the same reverberations on individuals and systems over time as macrocosms. Know that spiritual abuse occurs not just in religious institutions, but wherever people are forced to live by values that are not their own.

This is one small achievement that took far too much effort from far too few people to achieve. Within the survivor movement, we too are burning ourselves out and expected to be grateful for the tiny steps forward we are conceded by doing so, even while we can see enormous steps backwards being taken in the same breath.

If you think there is nothing you can do, think again. Reach. Listen. Search. It will mean something different to all of you and activism takes far too many forms for us meaningfully to list examples here, but know that depending on your role within our ecosystem it can range all the way from self-sacrifice to self-care. Think about the power you hold: are you using it well, have you used it well, and if not, should you still hold it? If you have suffered at the hands of misplaced power: what would it look like for you to inhabit a world that prioritises your wellness and doesn't tolerate abuse? We are all implicated in the problem - and we all play a part in the solution.