The Faith Pledge
(In Collaboration with The Daughter Project)
Can’t Buy My Silence understands that NDAs have a legitimate place in business to protect trade secrets and commercially sensitive information and we are not working to completely eradicate any NDA use. However, we also know that NDAs are regularly misused to conceal complaints of misconduct and have become a core part of the system that allows harassment, abuse, discrimination and bullying to go unchecked. NDAs that are misused in this way silence victims and protect sexual predators, bullies, racists and abusers in the workplace, enabling the behaviour to continue and toxic work environments to flourish.
This situation has created a pressure cooker which is now erupting, as is repeatedly being reported in the press, with public reputation fallout for a growing number of individuals and organizations where misconduct issues have not been dealt with correctly and instead hidden behind NDAs.
Governments and organizations around the world are rapidly taking steps to abolish the misuse of NDAs. In the USA President Biden signed into law the Speak Out Act which prohibits the use of pre dispute NDAs and non disparagement agreements in cases of sexual misconduct. In Ireland the Employment Equality (Amendment) Bill 2021, which prohibits the use of NDAs in instances of abuse and harassment in the workplace, became law in October 2024. By committing to the Pledge, you will bring your faith-based organization in line with the legal reform that is already underway across the world. It will make you a leader in Canada, signaling to your shareholders and employees that you take workplace ethics seriously.
"We pledge to never request another party to submit to an NDA to stop them from raising complaints or discussing incidents of sexual harassment, abuse or misconduct, discrimination, retaliation, bullying or other harassment in any instance including pre-hiring and severance agreements. We will not use non-disclosure agreements in settlements to cover up sin, silence victims, or avoid accountability."
Movement Towards Rejecting NDAs by Christian Communities
In the past several years, there has been a lot of movement among Christian churches restricting their use of NDAs to cover up wrongdoing. The earliest move we are aware of was by the Anglican church in the UK whose insurer, Ecclesiastical Insurance Group, adopted guidelines in 2016 (revised in 2023) in settling Julie Macfarlane’s lawsuit, which now restrict the use of NDAs to situations in which the claimant makes a specific request for one.
“Ecclesiastical will not insist or include a confidentiality requirement in a settlement agreement unless specifically requested by the claimant.”
However, there are still ongoing reports of the Anglican church and EIG using NDAs without victims requesting them. There have been other important resolutions made by churches about restricting the use of NDAs to their original purposes (trade secrets and proprietary information such as donor information) including:
* The Sydney Anglican Synod 2024 passed a resolution(49/24) restricting the use of NDAs to cover up “ungodly behaviour” to the settlement amount only and no other details. Synod 2025 will consider a motion to issue an apology to those placed under an NDA in the past, who are now invited to come forward for release.
* The Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Anglican church in England and Wales, has issued a statement calling on the church to stop using NDAs to cover up misconduct, and specifically racism (although there are still reliable reports of them being used)..
* Beginning in 2018, the Christian Reformed Church has been discussing limiting the use of NDAs and having established a committee to consider power abuses have recommended new criteria (“only when it’s clearly in the best interest of the person harmed”) for NDAs to at its 2021
* The Anglican Council of the General Synod Canada considered a resolution banning NDAs for sexual abuse, assault, exploitation, or harassment in 2023. There was insufficient time to debate but it will be brought back to a future General Synod.
* The Atlantic School of Theology (see also above) became the first North American Christian university to take the Can’t Buy My Silence University Pledge not to use NDAs in cases of sexual misconduct, discrimination or harassment
* The 2024 Southern Baptist Convention included a resolution to restrict the use of NDAs but ran out of time to debate - it will be brought back in 2025
#NDAfree is a Christian advocacy group working in the US and the UK to rid churches of NDAs to cover up misconduct or discourage whistleblowing. There is an organization based in the UK and US but working globally called which. #NDAfree has a template letter that can be sent to a church, as well as the wording for a possible NDA Pledge. Their website is an excellent source of news about developments within the Church regarding NDAs.
