Dear Editor,
Your coverage of the Fletcher and Smyth scandals in May’s en seemed at first sight to be overdone, but is understandable given the content of the Thirtyone:eight Lessons Learned Review (see their website). Behaviour that has been anything but Christian has flourished without scrutiny and accountability.
I would, however, suggest that evangelical leaders take careful note of the way the wind is blowing. The report notes (Recommendation 51) that ‘where adults do not meet the criteria of being at risk of harm, they can experience damaging behaviours that do not cross into a statutory category of harm and in this context can render them vulnerable.’ The recommendation made is: ‘The issue of consent should be subject to further legislative scrutiny in contexts where there is a large imbalance of power and/or status, including in a religious context.’
So, they are asking that such ministerial behaviour be within safeguarding – and, potentially, criminal sanction. Unfortunately, the reviewers fail to caution that law can be a blunt instrument. Many unbelieving MPs already believe that any and every pastoral ministry to people whose sexual mores and identity preferences differ from Biblical Christianity is coercive. Dealing with Fletcher-type behaviour would provide all the scope they need for a very wide statutory definition of coercive.
Yours sincerely,
David Wells Nottingham
