Apostasy Conference 2024 – The Systemic Nature of Religious Abuse | Faith to Faithless

October 9th, 2024 10:00 -- 16:00

An online conference for academics and practitioners who care about the needs of apostates. The theme of the Apostasy Conference 2024 is 'The Systemic Nature of Religious Abuse.'

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The theme for the Apostasy Conference 2024 will be 'The Systemic Nature of Religious Abuse'. Abuse happens in all areas of society, not just within religious contexts. However, the use of religious texts and doctrines, enforced by religious leaders and followers, and the religious patriarchy, means some religious systems create a culture for abuse to happen, they create the abuse itself, they promote the abuse as morally right, and they cover up abuse where they want to avoid blame, shame, or accountability.

The conference will have two halves. The first half will have the theme of how some religions create rape culture and how this impacts apostates. And the second half will talk about how some UK state policies facilitate or obscure religious abuses (all forms of religious abuse, not just sexual) and how this impacts apostates.

Keynote speaker
Pragna Patel, Co-founder and co-director of Project Resist
Religious abuse in South Asian contexts

Dr Kristin Aune, Professor of Sociology of Religion at Coventry University
Christianity and Domestic Abuse

Dr James Murphy, The Open University
Leaving a High-Control Religion: Legacies of Trauma

Alexander Barnes-Ross
From Apostate to Activist: How Scientology gets away with abuse in the UK

Rachael Reign
Abuses within the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG)

Zara Kay
Addressing Religious Trauma and Apostasy Laws Impacting ex-Muslims

Yehudis Fletcher
Replicating and Reiterating Harm: how UK state policies enable abuse within high-control religions.

We will be announcing more names very shortly.