Following our April review of the most-viewed “named posts” in the first four months of 2025[1], we have conducted a longer term analysis of the most-viewed posts in the period 1 August 2024 to 4 July 2025; summaries of those listed below are at the end of this post, here.

Most-read posts, 1 August 2024 to 4 July 2025

* Guest post

Comment

The above posts are listed in descending order of number of page-views, although the actual numbers associated with each are not given since this might give undue weight to those which posted at the beginning of the time period 1 August 2024 to 4 July 2025. However, the following general observations may be made:

• safeguarding issues feature in four of the top ten posts, reflecting the continuing interest in the involvement of the Church of England in this area;
• three of the above are guest posts – possibly an encouragement for those wishing a quick turn-around/ wide dissemination of their views and analyses on aspects of law and religion;
• the “top ten” posts featured in this analysis represent only ~12% of the total posts during this time period[2]; the remaining 499 individual posts had an average readership of 335 page views.
• at the time of posting, Law and Religion UK had been viewed 98,712 times during 2025 and we currently expect the 3 million page-read milestone to be reached by early-autumn.

Summaries

Makin Review: Summary of Recommendations, The independent review led by Keith Makin into the Church of England’s handling of allegations of serious abuse by the late John Smyth was published on 7 November 2024. The 253-page Review includes eight Key Recommendations [Review paragraph numbers in black] and twenty seven Specific Recommendations directed at particular concerns [numbered in blue], (13 November 2024).

Makin review of the Smyth case published. The independent review led by Keith Makin into the Church of England’s handling of allegations of serious abuse by the late John Smyth has been published, here. (7 November 2024).

Alternative Anglican Ordinations: seven South African deacons Seven lay ministers from dioceses across the Church of England were ordained in May 2025 by a visiting Anglican bishop from South Africa. In this guest post, Andrew Atherstone provides the first report of this event, based on interviews with several of the leading participants, (25 June 2025).

Statement on BBC File on 4 on abuse by David Tudor, The Church of England has issued a Statement on the case of the former Church of England rector David Tudor whose case was highlighted in  the BBC File on Four documentary. (26 December 2024).

Soul Survivor: Independent Review Report, the Outcome of the independent review into the culture and practices of Soul Survivor was published at 12pm on 26 September 2024, advance notice and contact details having been given for those who might have needed support, (26 September 2024).

Wheat bread and fermented wine at Holy Communion? The origins of Canon B17, In a guest post, the Revd Professor Andrew Atherstone, a member of the General Synod’s House of Clergy, reviews the origins of Canon B17 and summarises the Convocation debates of the 1940s and 1950s which led to its current framing; he concludes by proposing that Synod should look again at this question for the changed world of the 2020s, (17 February 2025).

Churches, Minsters and Cathedrals: Legal distinctions between the designation of Church of England churches: during his visit to Hull on 7 November 2016, the then Archbishop of York announced that Holy Trinity church would be re-dedicated as a Minster “in recognition of its inspiring regeneration, physically and spiritually”. To many Anglicans as well as non-Anglicans, the “Minster” designation is confusing, since it is applied to a range of buildings from some of smallest places of worship, such as St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, N Yorks, to York Minster, the largest gothic cathedral in northern Europe, (17 November 2016).

Parochial Fees – 2025 and 2026, On 26 February 2024, the General Synod of the Church of England approved the Draft Parochial Fees Order 2024; subsequently, The Parochial Fees Order 2024 (“the Order”) was made, 21 March 2024; laid before Parliament, 26 March 2024; and came into force on 1 January 2025, (1 August 2024).

A heckler’s veto on Christian street preaching in the UK, a guest post by Kelly-Ann Cannon, Senior Lecturer in Law at Northampton University, looks at some recent cases on street preaching, (29 February 2025).

Anti-Zionism as a protected belief: final judgment in Miller v University of Bristol, In February, we posted Anti-Zionism as a protected belief: Miller, which commented on the case of Dr David Miller v University of Bristol [2024] ET 1400780/2022. An updated judgment has now been published: see Dr David Miller v University of Bristol [2024] ET 1400780/2022 – which, inevitably (and confusingly), has the same citation as the earlier one, (16 October 2024).

[1] i.e. those other than the “Home Page”, “Archives”, and “Index”. However, for the present analysis, these categories did not fall within the “top 10”.

[2] Note: the time period for the April post was the first four months of 2025.