ENGLAND
The East Bourne Herald
March 26, 2018
By Phil Johnson and Peter Tatchell
An Eastbourne man who has campaigned on behalf of survivors of child abuse within the Church of England has been given a top award.
The National Secular Society has named Phil Johnson as one of its Secularists of the Year for 2018.
Phil, abused as a child by paedophile priests in Eastbourne, accepted a £5,000 prize from the human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell at an awards ceremony in central London at the weekend.
He was honoured for his work campaigning on behalf of survivors of child abuse in the Church of England.
Phil has worked as the chair of Minister And Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors (MACSAS), a support group for those who have been sexually abused by ministers or clergy and also runs Eastbourne Survivors.
The award was handed over the day after the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse concluded three weeks of hearings into the cover-up of abuse in the diocese of Chichester. Phil gave evidence to the inquiry earlier this month.
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