to give you some idea of what this is about, one focus was the jehovah s witnesses, which is quite a big religious organisation from the christian tradition across the uk. they have a rule, a biblical rule, which says that they can only consider allegations when there are two witnesses. now, of course, in the case of child sexual abuse, there is usually only the person involved in the abuse who is present. now, thejehovah s witnesses do have a policy of reporting everything to the police, but the enquiry says that this two witness rule has to stop because it is creating the wrong environment for these allegations to be properly considered. let s speak now to richard scorer, who s a lawyer that s been representing many of the victims and survivors. thank you very much forjoining us. you have represented a great many people affected by this. what are they telling you in response to the report? they telling you in response to the re ort? .,, they telling you in response to the re ort? , ,
a public inquiry has found shocking failings and blatant hypocrisy in the way major religious groups have handled allegations of child abuse. the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse says a number of religions, including thejehovah s witnesses, orthodoxjudaism and islam, are morally failing children; it found that in some cases religious leaders discouraged the reporting of abuse, in order to protect the reputation of their organisations. the report has been produced at the end of weeks of public hearings in which survivors of abuse gave evidence. richard galpin reports. idid not i did not fully recognise what was going on at the time is wrong or had a label for it. and these were my patients. a label for it. and these were my atients. ., ., ., ., patients. cera, not her real name, was very young patients. cera, not her real name, was very young when patients. cera, not her real name, was very young when she - patients. cera, not her real name, was very young when she says
the catholic church, has looked at the anglican church. this is about 38 other religious organisations, a whole wide range of organisations, ranging from thejehovah s witnesses in some cases to an organisation representing 100 synagogues in the orthodox jewish tradition, and also a number of major mosques. and the enquiry found problems across the board, really. just to sum them up: victims being blamed for reporting child sexual abuse; matters of sexuality not being discussed for religious reasons, making it harder for children to disclose; the abuse of power by religious leaders, many of whom were men; mistrust of organisations outside the religious orders, for example, the police; and also misusing the concept of forgiveness, as the enquiry says. what they are saying is that religious believers, this is a quote, can find it difficult to accept that members of their congregation or religious leaders could perpetrate abuse. as a result, some consider it not necessary to have specific