Quaker and Anglican nominated as ’secularist of the year’
A member of Clitheroe Meeting has been nominated for the 2018 Secularist of the Year Award
A Quaker, Anglican clergyman and leading advocate on sexual abuse in the church has been nominated for the 2018 Secularist of the Year Award.
The reverend Graham Sawyer from Burnley, and member of Clitheroe Meeting, told the Friend: ‘I always describe myself as a Quaker who happens to be an Anglican clergyman. For years, I’ve had a longstanding connection with Quakerism, and have attended many Meetings in York, Ashburton, Wellington in New Zealand and Perth in Australia.’
Graham Sawyer, who has been a Quaker member for ten years, said he has been nominated for the annual £5,000 award for ‘holding the Church of England to account for its appalling treatment of people who have come forward about sexual abuse.’
Graham Sawyer was sexually abused by a bishop when he was a teenager in the 1970s. He has since been a high profile advocate for survivors of abuse perpetrated by the clergy.
The 2018 award from the National Secular Society will be held on 24 March in central London. Peter Tatchell, the human rights campaigner, will also in attendance.
