Faith to Faithless, Humanists UK’s support network for those leaving high-control religious communities, has provided the first ever training to a UK police service on the problems faced by apostates. Humanists UK hopes to roll out this training across all police services nationally.

This training, which was with the Metropolitan Police Service’s Hate Crime Team in London, focused on providing a specialist insight into the negative experiences apostates face when leaving a highly controlled religious group, and how the lack of support from social services and the police has led to apostates becoming vulnerable to abuse, attacks, and life-threatening situations.

The training course consisted of a three hour session which covered the journey apostates go through, the reaction from friends and families, the specific needs highlighted by apostates when contacting Faith to Faithless, and the ways in which officers might spot potential risks, and how to mitigate them.

Humanists UK Director of Community Services Teddy Prout commented, ‘The feedback from this course has been overwhelmingly positive. The Metropolitan Police Service officers attending stated that the training was of exceptional quality, and many officers commented that until the training, they had been wary of the topic as they lacked confidence to tackle the issues that were raised. We would like to build on the success of this course and train all police services across the country. We are also piloting training with social services and child helplines.’

Notes

For further comment or information, please contact Humanists UK’s Director of Community Services, Teddy Prout at teddy@humanism.org.uk or 02073243060

Read more about Faith to Faithless: https://www.faithtofaithless.com/

At Humanists UK, we advance free thinking and promote humanism to create a tolerant society where rational thinking and kindness prevail. Our work brings non-religious people together to develop their own views, helping people be happier and more fulfilled in the one life we have. Through our ceremonies, education services, and community and campaigning work, we strive to create a fair and equal society for all.