Nearly half of Britons have an unfavourable view of the Church of England following scandals in recent months, a new survey suggests.
Justin Welby officially quit as the Archbishop of Canterbury in January over failures in handling a church abuse case.
There have also been calls for his temporary stand-in, Stephen Cottrell, to quit over his handling of a separate abuse case.
Polling carried out by YouGov in November found that 32 per cent of respondents in England, Scotland and Wales had a favourable view of the church.
However, that had dropped to just a quarter in February.
The number of respondents who had an unfavourable view of the church had risen — from 39 per cent in November to 49 per cent in February.
The November survey was carried out the week before Welby announced he was resigning over a damning report on failings to stop and hold to account serial abuser John Smyth.
The Makin Review found that Christian camp leader Smyth might have been brought to justice had Mr Welby formally reported him to police five years before the barrister’s death.
Since then, there have also been calls from some quarters for Cottrell, the Archbishop of York, who has assumed most of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s responsibilities until that role is filled, to stand down over separate alleged safeguarding failures.
Last week the Bishop of Liverpool, Dr John Perumbalath, quit following media coverage of allegations of sexual assault and harassment, which he denies.
Polling carried out earlier this week showed that, while more than half of Anglicans still hold a positive view of the Church of England (54 per cent), this has fallen from 66 per cent in November.
Almost a third (32 per cent) of Anglicans have an unfavourable view of the institution, up from 21 per cent in November.
On Tuesday, Philip North, the Bishop of Blackburn, said the church has suffered “huge reputational damage” at a national level in recent times.
He described the church at a local level as remaining “credible” and “still vibrant”, but said bishops have “some work to do to recover trust”.
– YouGov polled 2,223 adults in Great Britain on 2 and 3 February.
