Scandal-hit church sees seven point drop in favourability from November
The last few months have seen the Church of England hit by multiple abuse scandals.
In November, Justin Welby was forced to announce his resignation as Archbishop of Canterbury, after it was revealed at an inquiry that he had failed to tell police about serial abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps as soon as he became aware of it.
That same review has reportedly resulted in investigations of a further 30 officials.
Separately, in December, Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell faced calls to resign over his handling of a separate abuse scandal, for not having dismissed a priest who, according to the BBC, he knew to have barred by the Church from being alone with children and had paid compensation to a sexual abuse victim. Cottrell says that between 2010 and 2019, when the priest was dismissed, he had no legal grounds on which to suspend them.
More recently, following allegations of sexual assault and harassment, Rt Rev Dr John Perumbalath – the bishop of Liverpool – resigned at the end of January, although he denies the allegations.
A YouGov survey in early November – just days before the Welby scandal broke – found that only 32% of Britons had a favourable opinion of the Church of England, and now a new poll finds that figure has fallen even further, to just 25%.
Half of Britons (49%) now hold a negative view of the church, up ten points from November.
While a majority of Anglicans still hold a positive view of the Church of England (54%), this is a 12 point decline in the last few months. Fully a third (32%) now have an unfavourable view of the institution, up 11 points.
Our poll also shows that half of Britons (50%) want to see the Church of England disestablished, compared to only 23% who think the connection between church and state should be maintained. This, however, represents no change from our previous survey.
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