the thread about the bullying at trumpington attracted one comment. so far, this thread has attracted none. i find that strange. i was the victim of bullying by a senior cleric, so serious that i lost my health, my job and my home. i know of very many others who are also the victims of bullying by clerics (especially by bishops), and not a few who have been bullied by their congregations. but no posts on this thread. bullying is the single most serious problem in the institution of the c of e. more widespread than homophobia, yet it seems to be the sin that dare not speak its name. most victims of bullying are so hurt by it and so frightened that they dare not speak up, even when they have removed themselves from the situation. is that what is happening here?

Poppy Tupper's comment is one of the most disturbing I have read on TA. I have no personal experience from which to comment on this, beyond observing that part of the Church of England seems to operate along the same lines as some of US academia, but perhaps more so. A "human nature"/self-righteousness thing, I suppose. No one who checks this site can imagine that the Church is immune to bullying, but this is a new one. Other readers must have first-hand experiences to contribute.

Thank you Poppy and Lapinbizarre for your comments. I am in total agreement with you, Poppy. I am an academic social psychologist doing research on bullying in the church. I care passionately about the good news of Jesus Christ who came to give us freedom. Unfortunately our churches are frequently not vehicles of that freedom. I wrote an article about Bullying in the Church in the Church Times of June 22 2007 and received a very large number of responses to it from people like you, Poppy. The good news is that churches in the UK, and especially the C of E, are taking the issue seriously and trying to do something about it.

I'm not sure how it works with TA, but if Simon would like to pass on my email address to Poppy, I would be very, very interested to hear her story.

Anne Lee's article can be found here:
http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=40909

And there is a postscript to it here
http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=46147

I was witness to problems in a north-central Ohio (once cardinal) Episcopal church in a county seat that had most of the disaffected parishioners using the town newspaper to smear and castigate the incumbent rector (our system is slightly different, in TEC the rector is priest-in-charge and rarely delegates this to a vicar). They held meetings off of the parish grounds and postured themselves to take over after the man had been driven out. Because of all the fracus, nobody would attend and growth was impossible.

The priest was one of many who had forced change during the turbulent times of the new prayer book. Although I call myself a traditionalist (and not necessary a conservative) the conduct of the (self) disaffected parishioners was absolutely shameful. The gentleman changed his career and now sells securities in a town the other end of the state. The church is now an aided mission, once clustered, but the feisty hateful faithful took care of that too. It was ugly and was probably the darkest hour of my faith journey.

I'm sorry this happened to you, poppy tupper.

Simon: You get a pope on a rope if you use the first link.

This is the correct one:

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=40909

Sorry, error now fixed.

There are clerical and lay bullies in the Church. One of the problems is that bullying rarely gets dealt with at all - and when it does, usually only after people and communities have been destroyed.