Anybody following UK news at the moment will know that the Church of England's Archbishop of Canterbury is under pressure to resign following a report describing church inaction over John Smyth's years of sadistic child abuse.
This scandal, however, should not be considered as
solely of concern to the Church of England. As this article makes clear, Smyth was a major figure in the 1970s crusade by British social conservatives against "the permissive society", a crusade which helped prepare the way for the triumph of Margaret Thatcher and her melding of "Victorian values" with militant neoliberalism.
Smyth's story is more than the history of one depraved individual. It calls for further investigation into his shielding and consideration of the ideological roots of rightwingers' readiness to close their eyes to such horrors.
John Smyth: the go-to barrister for Mary Whitehouse | Christianity | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/02/the-go-to-barrister-for-morality-campaigner-mary-whitehouse
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