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
Labour peer raises case for disestablishment in Lords
Posted: Wed, 28 Nov 2018 16:41
The National Secular Society has reiterated its call for the disestablishment of the Church of England after a peer raised the subject in the House of Lords.
Labour lord Tony Berkeley asked government peer George Young what case there was for disestablishment. Young replied: "None."
Berkeley highlighted NSS reporting from earlier this year which showed the proportion of British people affiliating to the Church of England had halved since 2002.
Crossbench peer Alex Carlile asked Young to reflect on the fact there had been no established church in Wales since the Welsh Church Act 1914.
The church was also accused of being "the Tory party at prayer".
But Young defended the automatic right of the Church of England's 26 bishops to sit in the Lords, saying they "speak with a moral authority that escapes most of us".
Meanwhile the bishop of Worcester, John Inge, and peers from the Labour and Conservative parties defended the church's establishment.
Inge claimed the Church of England's "established status" was "greatly valued by those of other faiths" and said the established church was "a significant force for good".
He was given priority as he stood up to speak, in line with Lords protocol which effectively requires members to sit down when a bishop asks to contribute to the debate. NSS honorary associates Dick Taverne and Michael Cashman were among those who tried to speak during the debate but were unable to do so.
Conservative peers Alistair Cooke (Baron Lexden) and James Mackay were among those to defend establishment. Labour's Robert Winston said the church made him "proud to be British".
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said the Lords debate suggested "the prevailing attitude among lords is out of touch with that of the public".
"In the House of Lords today Lord Young handled the subject of disestablishment with contempt.
"The UK is long overdue the formal separation of church and state. A secular country would value all citizens equally regardless of their religious orientation or lack of it. The status quo privileges one part of the population, one institution and one set of beliefs.
"It also promotes, without democratic mandate, the contentious view that the Church of England is a force for good. This view has allowed the church – and religious institutions more generally – a free pass in instances where they have caused harm."
Over the last year a series of surveys have suggested substantial public support for separating church and state. A YouGov poll for The Times found that 62% of British people thought religious clerics should have no right to seats in the legislature. In the same poll 65% said political figures should separate their religious beliefs from their decision making.
Fifty-two per cent of people told this year's British Social Attitudes Survey they have no religion. Just 14% belong to the Church of England, including only two per cent of young adults.
The NSS has campaigned for the disestablishment of the church since its founding in 1866. In December 2017 the society outlined the case for change in a major report, Separating Church And State: The Case for Disestablishment. The report noted that the accession of Prince Charles to the throne would be a "particularly opportune moment" to press the benefits of separating church and state.
CoE spent £40m of public money without proper scrutiny, NSS reveals
Posted: Thu, 22 Nov 2018 13:03
The government allowed the Church of England to spend £40m of taxpayers' money on cathedral repairs without subjecting it to proper scrutiny, research by the National Secular Society has revealed.
NSS freedom of information (FoI) requests have highlighted the failure to hold the church accountable for its handling of money given out under the first world war cathedral repairs fund.
The research also reveals that the government put inaccurate, unverified figures on the parliamentary record as a result.
The fund was created by chancellor George Osborne in the 2014 Budget. It was initially worth £20m. The government doubled its funding in 2016.
NSS treasurer Ed Moore and communications officer Chris Sloggett outlined their findings in detail in a blog on Medium.
Their research shows that the church was not required to make a business case before it was given the money, as bidders for public funds usually are.
The government also allowed the church's archbishops' council to administer the fund to save £500,000 in administration costs. Putting a CoE body in charge of the project created a conflict of interests and undermined any prospect of the scheme being subject to independent oversight.
The Treasury made this decision despite objections from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), which wanted English Heritage to run the scheme.
Once the money had been granted the government failed to press the church to justify its expenditure or provide independent verification that it was being reported accurately. The church did not issue yearly reports detailing its expenditure, signed off by an external auditor, or accurate quotes in advance of work to be done. It was required to do so in its grant contract with the government.
DCMS and the National Audit Office (NAO) failed to follow up on these requirements. This allowed the archbishops' council to reallocate money which was not needed for the repairs it was earmarked for, rather than returning it to the public purse.
The NSS obtained much of its information from FoI requests to DCMS, the NAO and the Treasury.
Mr Moore and Mr Sloggett said the "shoddy episode" had shown "what the Church of England's established status allows it to do".
"The church was unwilling to be held to account, and the government was unwilling to hold it to account.
"The political power and prestige the Church of England gains from its established status makes this possible. It benefits from the cosy relationship between church and state – and is easily able to abuse its position at the public's expense."
They said there was little evidence of the scheme's relevance to the first world war's centenary and suggested the government had "used the war commemorations as a convenient pretext to give the church money".
The NSS previously wrote to the NAO to highlight concerns about the fund. The NAO then investigated the fund's handling and identified "a number of areas for improvement" in its "governance, operation and oversight".
Earlier this year the NSS also raised concerns with the government that the church could easily afford to fund its own repairs.
The C of E's fragmented financial structure makes calculating its total wealth difficult, but it is thought to hold assets in excess of £15bn. Its church commissioners have an £8bn investment portfolio. It also has £4.7bn in dioceses, £1bn in cathedrals and an estimated £1-10bn in parish church councils.
Despite this at least £810m of public money has been channelled into the church via government and lottery sources since 1999.
The NSS has also previously shown that the first world war cathedral repairs fund acted as an opportunity for Anglican archbishops to engage in a power grab.
