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
Bishops’ place in Lords must be reviewed, say MPs
Posted: Mon, 19 Nov 2018 17:08
A committee of MPs has said proposals to cut the size of the House of Lords should prompt a reduction in the number of bishops who sit there by right.
A report by the public administration and constitutional affairs committee (PACAC), published on Monday, has echoed concerns about proposed Lords reform which the National Secular Society raised in 2017.
The report said a reduction in the size of the Lords would only be a "temporary expedient" if the numbers of bishops and hereditary peers were not also reduced.
The report was a response to a report published last year by the lord speaker's committee on the size of the house (also known as the Burns committee). The Burns committee's report recommended a series of steps to reduce the size of the Lords without using legislation.
At the time the NSS pointed out that this would increase the voting power of the Lords spiritual, whose position can only be changed through primary legislation. The Lords spiritual are 26 Church of England bishops who assume their places in the house automatically.
PACAC's report welcomed the idea of reducing the size of the Lords but said doing so would "not remove the pressure" for legislative reform.
"While we recommend the non-legislative proposals set out in the Burns report as an achievable next step for addressing the problem of the size of the house, the task of reforming the second chamber of the UK parliament must not be put on hold until the issue of the size of the House of Lords is 'solved'.
"This small incremental reform should not halt the pursuit of more radical reform to the second chamber."
The Burns recommendations would reduce the number of appointed and hereditary members of the Lords to 574, meaning there would be 600 peers in total. PACAC said this would mean almost 20% of the Lords would be bishops or hereditary peers. It warned that such a situation would "not be representative of the diversity of the modern United Kingdom".
PACAC said Lord Burns, who chaired the committee bearing his own name, had told its hearings it was "quite important not to get involved" with the issue of the bishops. He said the issues were "extremely difficult and would simply lead to the postponement of any plans".
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans welcomed PACAC's report and said any proposals for Lords reform "must consider the fact Church of England bishops sit in the UK legislature as of right".
"Reducing the size of the Lords without legislation would be a cop-out. It's heartening to see this committee echoing our concerns that it would increase the bishops' unjustifiable voting power.
"The bishops' automatic right to sit in the Lords privileges Anglicanism and helps to reinforce the harmful myth that the C of E provides the UK's moral leadership.
"It is a privilege which sits uneasily in the 21st century and is contrary to the aspiration for a more representative and equitable parliament, which makes laws to benefit all of the UK's citizens. It is a privilege that should be revoked sooner rather than later."
The NSS campaigns for the removal of bishops' automatic right to sit in the Lords.
After the NSS criticised his committee's recommendations last year Lord Burns said the committee favoured a reduction but the issue should be tackled "at a later point". He said mentioning it in his report would have been "a distraction".
In response the NSS said he had failed to explain his reasoning, adding that a debate on the bishops' place in the Lords was "long overdue".
In September the government's faith minister called for representatives of other religions to be given seats as of right in the House of Lords. The NSS criticised the proposal.
In response to the latest report Mr Evans reiterated the NSS's view that the practice of giving clerics automatic seats in the legislature should be abolished entirely.
"The state should treat all citizens equally as individuals rather than as members of faith communities to be spoken for, often by unrepresentative 'community leaders'."
Greece takes major step towards disestablishment of Orthodox Church
Posted: Fri, 9 Nov 2018 10:47
Clerics in Greece's Orthodox Church will stop being civil servants after the country's government announced a significant reduction in religion's role in its public sector.
The government announced a deal to ensure the state's "religious neutrality" and "free up" 10,000 civil service posts after talks between prime minister Alexis Tsipras and Orthodox Church leaders.
Greek government spokesperson Dimitris Tzannakopoulos said: "Religious neutrality [means] that the Greek state will not be able to recognise certain religions with more or less rights."
The deal will see the government and the church manage earnings from properties whose ownership they have long disputed by creating a joint fund. The revenues from the properties will be split evenly and the fund will contribute to priests' pay.
But the state will continue to pay clerical salaries through an annual subsidy of around €200m (£175m).
The change is the latest sign that the Greek government is willing to take on the power of the Orthodox Church. Last year it passed legislation enabling citizens to change their gender on official documents without sterilisation. The church's governing body claimed that the law would "destroy human beings".
But the Greek Orthodox Church will retain a significant place in public life. Pupils in Greek schools still start their day with a prayer and are taught religion throughout their 12 years of mandatory education.
Tsipras's two governments have continued the tradition of inviting Greece's top clergy to sanctify them during the cabinet's swearing-in ceremony. And the preamble to the Greek constitution will continue to contain a reference to Greece's status as a Christian Orthodox country.
A National Secular Society spokesperson described the deal as "an encouraging step towards secularisation in Greece" and encouraged the UK government to "take note".
"Taking on a powerful established church and moving the state towards religious neutrality is both feasible and desirable."
After this week's announcement Greece's spiritual leader, Archbishop Ieronymos, said the agreement with the government was not finalised after an angry response from some bishops.
"Agreement is one thing. The intention to agree is another.
"An agreement has been announced [that outlines] the intention, the goodwill of both the church and the state to find a solution to problems that have lasted for almost a century."
