Opinion poll suggests Welby has the right to resign

A FLASH YouGov poll carried out last week shows two-thirds of the public believe Justin Welby was right to step down as Archbishop of Canterbury following the publication of the Mackin report.

An independent review by Keith Mackin concluded that the “numerous, cruel and appalling” abuses committed by John Smith, a Church of England reader, were covered up by a “powerful evangelical clergy” and the archbishop was included among those who failed to act. enough in 2013 (News, November 8). Five days later, Archbishop Welby resigned (The News, November 15).

In a poll of 4,541 British adults conducted on Thursday and published the next day, 62 percent said that, based on what they saw and heard, the archbishop did the right thing by resigning. A third (34 percent) did not know; four percent thought he was wrong to resign.

With the exception of the Bishop of Newcastle, Dr Helen-Ann Hartley (The News, 11 November), this view was only expressed by the bishops after the resignations were announced (The News, 12 November). In an interview with Sunday TelegraphThe Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Revd Philip Mountstephen, said: “He did a noble thing.”

Archbishop Welby’s son Tim Welby in an interview with a newspaper Mirroragreed, saying his father had the “right to resign.” His position, he said, “became untenable simply because so many people demanded his resignation.”

Also on Thursday, another YouGov poll asked 5,856 British adults whether they had a “positive or negative opinion” of the archbishop: 42 percent said they had not heard of him; 31 percent said they had a “very” or “somewhat” unfavorable opinion of him; 21 percent were neutral; and six percent expressed a very or somewhat favorable opinion.

A wider YouGov poll was carried out a week earlier, on November 6 and 7 – the day the Mackin Report was published – on the place and influence of both the archbishop and the Church of England as a whole. The results were also published on Friday.

Of a weighted sample of 2,177 British adults, 78 percent did not know who the current Archbishop of Canterbury was. Half of respondents said that “religious leaders such as the Archbishop of Canterbury” should “stay away from political issues.” A third (33 percent) said these leaders should “speak their mind.”

Overall, 57 percent said the Church of England had “little or no influence” on government, and 73 percent said the church had little or no influence on “the way most people in Britain they live their own lives.” life.”

Most of them supported the idea that the government no longer has influence over the appointment of senior posts in countries C and E: 58 percent, compared with 11 percent who were against and 31 percent who did not know.

Last week MPs rejected an amendment to the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill proposed by Conservative MP Gavin Williamson that would have abolished parliamentary seats for Lords Spiritual (News, 14 November). In a YouGov poll, 61 per cent said bishops should no longer be given seats in the House of Lords.

In response to other questions regarding the consequences of dissolution, 55 percent said the Church should no longer receive “government funding”; 39 per cent supported transferring management of C of E schools to local councils; and 49 percent opposed C or E marriages being considered religious marriages only (and therefore requiring a further civil marriage to be legally married, as is the case with the RC Church in France).