The UK is one of the last western democracies with a state religion: the Church of England.
The Church's entanglement with the state is bad for both.
Join our campaign to disestablish the Church.
CAMPAIGN ALERT: Support the disestablishment bill
In November 2023, a private member's bill to disestablish the Church of England was selected in the ballot.
Please write to your MP and urge them to support this bill, to make the UK are more equitable and democratic country for people of all religions and beliefs.
Since our founding in 1866, one of our primary objectives has been disestablishment of the Church of England: its formal separation from the state.
More than 150 years later, census figures show most people in England and Wales are not Christian. Surveys consistently reveal a similar picture in Scotland. The case for disestablishment has never been stronger.
Disestablishment means the Church would no longer have privileged input into government - but also that government could not involve itself in the running of the Church. Both sides would gain autonomy. This is why support for Church-state separation can be found within the CofE itself.
There have been many proponents, religious and non-religious, for church-state separation, and there are a wide variety of motivations for supporting this reform.
The existence of a legally-enshrined national religion privileges one part of the population, one institution and one set of beliefs. Removing all symbolic and institutional ties between government and religion is the only way to ensure equal treatment to citizens of all religions and none.
The Church of England has enjoyed significant privileges relating its established status for many centuries. These privileges have remained largely unchanged despite the massive and continuing reduction in support for the Church in the UK. It is highly likely that this trend will continue for the foreseeable future, making the Church of England's continuation as the established church unsustainable.
- Christians are a minority in Britain. In Wales and Scotland the majority have no religion.
- Just 1% of 18-24 year olds say they belong to the Church of England.
- Less than 1% of the population regularly attend Church of England church services.
The Church of England is also out of step with the UK public on several key issues: it remains opposed to same-sex relationships and allows parishes to reject women as bishops and priests. These discriminatory positions cannot be reconciled with the Church's status as part of the UK state.
And no institution with the shameful historical record of the Church of England safeguarding and abuse should retain its privileged role in the British establishment.
The existence of a legally enshrined national religion privileges one part of the population, one institution and one set of beliefs. Removing all symbolic and institutional ties between government and religion is the only way to ensure equal treatment of citizens of all religions and none.
Take action!
1. Write to your MP
Ask your MP to support the separation of church and state
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 the National Secular Society
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
Minister: Easter holiday can’t be fixed without Church support
Posted: Tue, 5 Apr 2022 09:45
The government will not fix the Easter holiday dates without support from the Church of England despite the benefits to schools, a minister has said.
In a letter to the National Secular Society, Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets Paul Scully MP said businesses and schools "would benefit from the clarity" of implementing an annual fixed date for public holidays around Easter.
But he added the government does not think it would be "suitable" to fix the dates "without input and agreement from the Church or other Christian Bodies".
His letter follows a question from Greg Knight MP in October asking if he would take steps to bring into force the provisions of the Easter Act 1928 to fix the date of the Easter public holidays.
The Act would fix the Easter Sunday public holiday as the Sunday following the second Saturday in April, instead of following the date for Easter as a moveable feast.
This would not affect the freedom of religions to continue to celebrate the festival of Easter as a moveable feast if they wished. The Eastern and Western Christian churches already celebrate Easter on different dates.
But the Act requires that "regard shall be had to any opinion officially expressed by any Church or other Christian Body" before it is implemented.
In response to the question, Scully said: "There is no indication that the Churches are keen to move to a fixed Easter."
The date for the Easter public holiday can vary by more than a month. The earliest Easter can be is 22 March, with the latest possible date being 25 April.
NSS letter
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans wrote to Scully following the statement, saying churches' views on the Easter holidays are not "a legitimate basis for ignoring the needs of businesses, schools and families who are all are all inconvenienced by the fluctuating date."
He said the shifting date of the holiday causes "significant disruption". The Local Government Association and the Family and Childcare Trust have both expressed support for a fixed Easter school holiday to allow parents to arrange childcare more easily, he said.
He said the views of the business, retail and travel sectors "should also be given due consideration in this matter".
He called on the government to take the "necessary steps" to fix a regular date for the Easter holidays "without an elusive consensus from church leaders" if necessary.
He added: "This process should not be delayed indefinitely in anticipation of the longest running disagreement in Christendom being resolved."
Image: Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay
Reducing bishops in House of Lords ‘inevitable’, says CofE paper
Posted: Mon, 14 Feb 2022 15:37
The Church of England is open to reducing the number of bishops in a reformed House of Lords but not scrapping them entirely, a briefing suggests.
The confidential briefing paper, published in Church Times, says there is a consensus among bishops in the House of Lords that reform of the House is "inevitable" and that the CofE "should seek to shape" reforms that will "impinge" on bishops.
This implies "a reduction in the number of Lords Spiritual", the briefing says.
The Lords Spiritual are members of the bishops' bench in the House of Lords. The bishops' bench consists of 26 Church of England bishops who are automatically appointed to the House. The UK is unique among Western democracies in giving representatives of religious groups automatic seats in its legislature.
The Bishopric of Manchester Act (1847) set the number of Bishops entitled to sit in the House of Lords at 26.
The confidential briefing by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and the Bishop of London was presented to the bishops' membership body, the House of Bishops, in September. It draws on interviews with "key stakeholders", including all 42 diocesan bishops.
The briefing outlines proposed changes to the CofE's management to address a number of challenges faced by the church, including funding. Two thirds of dioceses are operating on deficit budgets and the majority of dioceses are not capable of sustaining themselves without "more mutual and central funding".
The briefing says the proposals align with calls for a "simpler, humbler and bolder church" that must be "prepared to accept radical change".
However, the briefing does not recommend the complete abolition of the bishops' bench. It says the Lords Spiritual provide "high value" in being able to bring CofE "values and influence" in the public square. It also says there is a "strong case to put further resource" into the Church of England's parliamentary unit to "provide adequate support" for the bishops.
The briefing also refers to "tension" between bishops managing a "national role" and leading a diocese.
NSS head of policy and research Megan Manson said: "While reducing the number of bishops in the House of Lords would be welcome, it's clear the CofE has no intention of scrapping the bishops' bench entirely and ending its disproportionate influence in our democracy.
"The Church says it wants to be simpler and humbler. But increasing funding for the bishops' bench, as the briefing suggest, is entirely at odds with goal. A humble church is not one that seeks to impose its religion on society by wielding parliamentary power.
"The Church recognises the tensions in trying to serve local Anglican communities and acting as the state religion. It also says it needs to accept radical change.
"An obvious radical change which would eliminate those tensions and help it dedicate its resources to its own parishioners would be to disentangle church from state. And this should start with the complete withdrawal of bishops appointed to our legislature."
Image: Copyright House of Lords 2021 / Photography by Roger Harris
