{"id":4305,"date":"2015-05-28T16:22:54","date_gmt":"2015-05-28T15:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=4305"},"modified":"2015-05-28T16:22:54","modified_gmt":"2015-05-28T15:22:54","slug":"racism-and-bullying-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=4305","title":{"rendered":"Racism and bullying revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Allegations of sexual abuse in the Methodist Church \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and now racism and bullying could also be rife, Unite revealed today (May 28).<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite, which includes the 2,500-strong faith workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 branch, said that it is \u00e2\u20ac\u0098dealing with a number of very serious cases of racism in the Methodist Church\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and that there is \u00e2\u20ac\u0098an epidemic of bullying within the church\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s concern comes in the wake of the UK’s Methodist Church\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s commissioned review which uncovered nearly 2,000 reported cases of abuse <\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u201c including 914 allegations involving sexual abuse \u00e2\u20ac\u201c dating back to the 1950s.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhile it is to be welcomed that the Methodists are apologising for historic abuse \u00e2\u20ac\u201c there is still much they need to do to eliminate racism and bullying,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Unite national officer Sally Kosky.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite operates a Faith Workers hotline for our members we have been alarmed at the high proportion of calls which relate to bullying \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it is an issue across all churches and faiths.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bToday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s horrific revelations add an extra sense of urgency to deal with the whole range of abuse issues,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kosky noted. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are dealing with a number of very serious cases of racism and an epidemic of bullying within the church.<\/p>\n

 
\nShe went on to say that Unite would not elaborate on individual cases, but, she added, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwe would like to have in-depth discussions with the Methodist Church to create structures that would eliminate racism, bullying and all kinds of abuse within the church.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nThe Methodist Church commissioned the review – which took three years to complete – because it said it wanted to be open about the past and have stronger safeguarding procedures in the future.<\/p>\n

 
\nIn total, it identified 1,885 cases – including alleged sexual, physical, emotional and domestic abuse, as well as cases of neglect. Allegations of sexual abuse formed the largest number of cases.<\/p>\n

 
\nIn a recent letter to the Methodist Recorder, Unite noted the devastating impact bullying can have on anyone involved in the church.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBullying can affect ministers, lay employees and members, and it can be inflicted from all areas of church life, congregations, stewards, ministers, superintendents, chairs and connexional figures,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the letter read.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt can be very difficult to deal with and ministers in particular are not protected by employment law and so have no independent body, such as tribunals, to turn to.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe effects of bullying can be badly underestimated \u00e2\u20ac\u201c especially by those who have never suffered. Often by the time a minister rings the helpline they are already off work with stress and at their wits end.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt leads to a loss of confidence, inefficiency, isolation and depression,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the letter noted. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is not unusual for a caller to be in tears as they describe what has been happening to them. Apart from being unchristian, this makes the church less effective and damages our mission.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere is an epidemic of bullying within the church and by its very nature, bullying happens behind closed doors. It must not be swept under the carpet.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nThe Methodist Church\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s full report on the commissioned review published today can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Allegations of sexual abuse in the Methodist Church \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and now racism and bullying could also be rife, Unite revealed today (May 28).   Unite, which includes the 2,500-strong faith workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 branch, said that it is \u00e2\u20ac\u0098dealing with a number of very serious cases of racism in the Methodist Church\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and that there is \u00e2\u20ac\u0098an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[309,181,308],"wps_subtitle":"Unite condemns church bullying \u00e2\u20ac\u0098epidemic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4305"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4305"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4307,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4305\/revisions\/4307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}