Many religious charities do fantastic work.
But many others fail to provide a public benefit and some cause harm.
It's time to end religious privilege in charity law.
Charity work carried out by people of all faiths and none should be recognised and celebrated. Much of the work of religious charities, such as helping the poor, is secular in nature and beneficial to society.
But there are religious organisations which exploit the privileged status of religion in charity law to conduct activities that do not fulfil a genuine public benefit, and only serve to further religious ideology.
In the worst cases, religious charities may harm society and individuals.
Registered charities must serve a purpose recognised as "charitable". Charity laws specify a list of "charitable purposes," one of which is "the advancement of religion".
Charities must also demonstrate that they provide a genuine public benefit. But guidelines are vague on what constitutes a public benefit, particular in relation to religious activities. There is still an assumption in the charity system that religion is inherently beneficial. This view is not supported by evidence and implies those without a religion are somehow less moral or charitable.
The inclusion of the advancement of religion within charitable purposes gives religion a privileged position in the charity sector. It enables religious organisations to acquire all the benefits of charitable status, including tax relief, gift aid and public respectability, simply by "advancing religion".
It also includes religious organisations that cause harm to society. This includes charities which facilitate religious genital cutting, support the non-stun slaughter industry, and promote extremism, hatred and intolerance of other people.
The NSS believes all charities, religious or not, should be held to equally high standards. That's why we campaign for "the advancement of religion" to be removed from the list of charitable purposes, and for religious charities to be held to the same equality laws as all other charities.
Take action!
1. Write to your MP
Tell your MP it's time for "the advancement of religion" to be removed as a charitable purpose. Enter your postcode below to find your MP and send a letter to them.
2. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
3. Join us
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
Catholic adoption agency ruling ‘kicks a hole through Equality Act’, warns NSS
Posted: Mon, 3 Feb 2014 14:53
The National Secular Society has warned that a decision by the Scottish Charities Appeal Panel (SCAP) about a Catholic adoption agency that discriminates against gay couples "kicks a hole right through the middle of the Equality Act".
The decision concerns Glasgow-based St Margaret's Children and Family Care Society, which operates a selection system that gives preference to heterosexual couples who have been married for at least two years and are Catholic. Well down the list of qualifying preference are couples in civil partnerships. St Margaret's claims to "allow a same sex couple in a civil partnership to adopt on the same basis as any other married couple", yet the Church gave evidence that "adoption of children by homosexuals is not consistent with Catholic Teaching".
The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) reviewed the practices of the charity in January last year, after a complaint from the National Secular Society and, in a report, found it was breaking the Equality Act 2010 and charities legislation by not acting in children's best interests.
The OSCR ruled that marriage was not available to same-sex couples and that the charity's policy constituted direct discrimination. The OSCR then reviewed its decision at St Margaret's request, but reached the same conclusion.
St Margaret's then went to the Scottish Charity Appeals Panel which has come to the conclusion that although the charity does indirectly discriminate against gay people, it is a justifiable and "proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim." It said that St Margaret's Catholic connections meant it was a religious charity, although it had been argued at the hearing that it was an adoption agency, not a church.
The panel argued that St Margaret's was bound, through its articles, by the teaching of the Catholic Church and although it received the bulk of its funding from local authorities, without its financial support from the Catholic Church it would be forced to close. If the charity had carried out the demands of the charity regulator and removed its discrimination against gay people it would have been in contravention of canon law and the Church would no longer be able to support it, so it was proportionate for the Charity to be allowed to discriminate.
The Panel also decided that St Margaret's qualified for protection under Article 9 of the Human Rights Act. Arguments that a corporate body is not an individual and therefore cannot qualify for a human right were not accepted.
The appeals panel decision relating to St Margaret's is in contrast to unsuccessful English appeal cases brought by Roman Catholic adoption agencies, principally by Catholic Care (Diocese of Leeds). The appeals panel pointed out that they were not bound by these precedents, but in any case St Margaret's was not, as Catholic Care had done, banning homosexuals altogether as adoptive parents.
Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said: "This ruling makes some highly dubious claims that need to be tested. Unfortunately it kicks a hole right through the Equality Act. It appears to widen the grounds of which religious groups can discriminate against gay people and make it possible to argue that because an organisation has a religious affiliation — even if the primary purposes of the organisation itself are not religious — it can still qualify for charitable status even if it doesn't comply with the Equality Act."
Mr Sanderson said the implications of this ruling are wider than this particular case and could permit religious charities to increase their discrimination against gay people without risking the tax advantages that come with charitable status.
"In effect," said Mr Sanderson, "charities will be able to use taxpayers' money to discriminate against gay people and perhaps others they don't approve of. This ruling potentially gives religious charities significantly greater exemptions from the law that other charities are bound by, so needs to be challenged."
The full ruling of the Scottish Charity Appeals Panel is available here.
As the country struggles with its finances, new tax perks for churches are brought in
Posted: Thu, 16 May 2013 11:34
A new deal between the Government and the Catholic Church will see millions more of taxpayers' money flowing into the church's coffers.
Recent changes to the Gift Aid scheme mean that charities can now claim Gift Aid on smaller donations.
Catholic parish churches will be able to claim from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) an extra 20% for each donation of up to £20 without requiring the giver to complete a form. It is estimated that every church could benefit by up to £1,250 a year. If all 2,400 Catholic churches in England and Wales claim, around £3 million could be claimed each year. The money could help dioceses cope with the loss of thousands of pounds following the cut that could be claimed in Gift Aid in 2011 from 23p to 20p in the pound.
Under the scheme, which came into effect last month, parish churches are for the first time being treated as individual charities. Previously the Church's 22 dioceses were each treated as registered charities rather than the parish churches within them. The Church of England already benefits from this scheme as all its churches are registered as individual charities.
Under the new scheme, each church can claim from HMRC for every £1 of a "small" donation.
HMRC said that it hoped the new scheme, which was agreed in consultation with representatives of the Catholic Church, would make it easier for small charities to claim top-up payments. It said that in the past, churches found it difficult to claim gift aid, because collection donations might be too small to warrant a Gift Aid declaration.
Large dioceses such as Westminster and Birmingham, which each have more than 200 churches, could benefit to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds. Jim Whiston, the finance director in the Diocese of Middlesbrough, said that they hope to raise £80,000 under the new scheme. "It's going to make a difference," he said.
Robert Meakin, a trustee for the Diocese of East Anglia and partner at charity lawyers Stone King, told The Tablet magazine that the change was good news for the Catholic Church. "The scheme took into account the peculiar structure of the Catholic Church which has 22 diocesan charities administering parish churches which are not constituted as a separate charities," he said. "If the scheme only allowed charities to claim then the Catholic Church would have been prejudiced (only having 22 diocesan charities) so it allowed each charity to make a claim in respect of each and every 'community building' which it owns which in the Catholic Church opens the scheme up to approximately 2,500 parish churches."
Meanwhile, the Church of England announced some of its best financial results in recent years this week, with a 9.7% return on investments for 2012. The Church commissioners manage £5.5 billion in assets for the Church of England.
Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, said: "The Archbishop of Canterbury – a former banker – lectures large financial institutions about the morality of their practices. But he doesn't seem to think that the vastly wealthy organisation he heads should pay taxes like the rest of us have to. Similarly with the Catholic Church – one of the wealthiest organisations in the world – why are they getting even more tax breaks when the country is on its financial uppers and front line services are being destroyed?"
