1 89% of Britons identify as non-religious or notionally Christian,1 yet by law schools must join in Collective Worship.2 About half of all primary schools do so.3 Up to 1.2 million infants in faith schools are ritually taught to confess misdeeds and repent, often by a cleric.4,5 Teachers do not set out to sexualise pupils, but the NSPCC cites guilt and shame, used by a figure of authority as a method of child sexual grooming.6
2 Thanks to St Augustine’s hair-shirt teaching on penance, the Church of England service admits sin and begs forgiveness or mercy twenty-four times. Grace and love are said twice. Any suffering that has been caused by wrongdoing is disregarded.7 Faith schools often recite a shorter prayer, but pupils are still taught to say sorry and expect forgiveness without facing justice or their victim.
3 Most adults born in Britain have had a Christian education. 75% of us reject religion later in life,8 but the billions of neural connections made in our infant brains are not set free.9 Guilt leaves its sting on sensitive children, while moral confusion and bad casuistry can mark others. Christianity is embedded in our culture so that unhealthy thinking patterns are normalised.
In the pages of his new book, Michael Moloney reviews research papers endorsing religious belief and finds critical weaknesses. Here, psychologists explain why this field of study is neglected by academia.
4 Eastern Orthodox Christians believe Adam and Eve alone are guilty of concupiscence (sexual lust).10 In the Western Church, Christians learn St Augustine’s doctrine. He wrote about the ‘filth’ and ‘lust’ he saw in infants. He claimed every child shares guilt from Adam and Eve’s original sin of lust, which persists even after christening.12 Today, faith schools disgrace young minds with the mentally and spiritually harmful stain of original sin.13
Little wonder a new study laid out in St Augustine’s Sin shows children are more liable be sexually abused by clerics than by others. In November 2020 the UK independent inquiry reported that Child sexual abuse is “far from a solely historical issue.” More than 100 new allegations are recorded every year.19
Recounting his childhood indoctrination and abuse, the author suggests Christian rites and rituals might play a more influential role in clerical child sexual abuse and adult mental well-being than has generally been recognised in mainstream social science. This well-researched book will dismay those who suppose Christianity is a benign influence. It might make open-minded readers think again.
