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
NSS: church repairs scheme inappropriate given C of E’s wealth
Posted: Wed, 4 Apr 2018 09:39
The National Secular Society has criticised the government for failing to give adequate consideration to the Church of England's financial status before launching a scheme to fund church repairs.
This weekend the government announced that a pilot scheme will give listed places of worship in Manchester and Suffolk a share of £1.8m for minor repairs. Projects will begin in the autumn and eligible buildings will be able to access £500,000.
The decision follows the publication of the Taylor review into the sustainability of English churches and cathedrals in December. The review called for more local authority and central government funding for the care, maintenance and repair of England's 16,000 churches.
In January NSS representatives met the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and urged the government to take the Church of England's vast wealth into account before handing out any more grants to assist it with building repairs.
In a letter following the meeting the NSS said it agreed that "the nation's heritage buildings are a valuable asset, and those of architectural, cultural and historical significance should be preserved". But it added that the sustainability review "could lead to a situation whereby the church becomes over-reliant on funding from taxpayers despite having clear means to sustain itself through its own existing assets".
"Most instances of taxpayer support must show financial need, which includes not only income but also savings and investments. Financial support for the Church of England should also be considered on the same basis and should include the church as a whole rather than simply a single legal entity within it.
"Increasing state investment into the church will not ultimately make the church sustainable. Nationalisation makes industries more resistant to change; to be truly sustainable, the church needs to be given the autonomy to change and financially support itself."
The C of E 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.
These figures do not include the church's supporting charities, which also have considerable funds available. The church has received at least £810m of public money since 1999 and recently announced plans to spend £24.4m on evangelism projects.
The NSS's letter said the church's fragmented financial structure "means that the true value of its assets goes overlooked". It also noted that eight of the 12 panel members who put together the sustainability review were actively involved in the church and all but two represented grant-receiving bodies.
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans called the latest decision to fund repairs from public money "disappointing".
"The buildings in question are significant but the Church of England has the ability to pay for these repairs. When the C of E says 'jump', the government is far too quick to respond 'how high?'.
"The government should see the whole picture instead of swallowing the church's scaremongering. Taxpayers expect their money to be spent wisely, especially in relatively austere times."
In a letter to the Guardian this weekend NSS president Keith Porteous Wood said the C of E "should use its own realisable assets to pay for maintenance".
Heritage minister Michael Ellis defended the decision, saying: "Britain has an incredible array of historic buildings important to all faiths which tell the story of our shared history and our communities".
He claimed that "the costs of caring for and protecting many listed places of worship can be prohibitive and lead many to fall into disrepair".
Shortly after the publication of the Taylor review a working group within the Church of England called for "dialogue with the government about state funding for cathedrals".
The NSS also campaigns for the end of the chancel tax, an ancient ecclesiastical law which leaves landowners in England and Wales, including domestic landowners, liable for repairs to their local Anglican church.
Image: David Long / Under repair, via Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 2.0]
NSS names Phil Johnson and Graham Sawyer as Secularists of the Year
Posted: Sat, 24 Mar 2018 16:26
The National Secular Society has named Phil Johnson and Graham Sawyer as its Secularists of the Year for 2018.
Phil and Graham accepted a £5,000 prize from the human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell at an awards ceremony in central London today. Both were honoured for their work campaigning on behalf of survivors of child abuse in the Church of England.
Phil has worked as the chair of Minister And Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors (MACSAS), a support group for those who have been sexually abused by ministers or clergy. Graham, the vicar of St James' Church of Briercliffe in Burnley, has been a crucial voice for change in the C of E.
The award was handed over the day after the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse concluded three weeks of hearings into the cover-up of abuse in the diocese of Chichester. Phil gave evidence to the inquiry earlier this month.
Peter Tatchell called Phil and Graham "two exceptionally courageous, tenacious and determined men who simply refused to give in to the lies and deceit of the church hierarchy" as he handed over the award.
"If Phil hadn't fought and campaigned and battled for so many years, in all likelihood we would never have had an abuse inquiry at all," he said. He said Graham was "a deeply religious and deeply spiritual man and a true secularist".
"You can be religious but challenge religious power and privilege and believe that the church has to play by the same rules as everyone else."
Accepting the prize, Graham said "he who allows oppression shares the crime", quoting from the 18th century English physician Erasmus Darwin.
"The bishops and archbishops who have allowed the brutal sexual abuse of children and vulnerable adults over many decades continue to share in the crime and this must be exposed.
"They must face the full force of the law for their crimes."
Graham also paid tribute to Phil, Peter Tatchell and the NSS. He said the society "has never been more important" and the award showed that "this is truly a society that believes both in freedom of religion as well as freedom from religion".
"The work of the society in lobbying Members of Parliament for a Britain where everyone is, as far as possible, treated equally, is so important. What sort of example are we setting to our young people when we allow one group in one religion a privileged place in our legislature by placing Church of England bishops in the House of Lords?
"What does this say to a young Muslim, Jew, Buddhist or indeed someone who has no faith? It tells them that they are not treated equally and this is plainly wrong."
Phil said it was important to "continue the fight" on behalf of victims who were often too weak to take on strong institutions on their own.
"Most of our time and resources at MACSAS are spent providing support and advocacy to victims of sexual abuse and exploitation in a religious context. Making representations to religious institutions and campaigning for change and accountability is a very important part of what we do and this award will help me to continue this work.
He criticised the Church of England as "elitist, sexist and homophobic" and said it did not "see itself as accountable to the law". He called for legal change to require mandatory reporting of sexual abuse to the statutory authorities, so that "those who fail to report or cover up abuse can be held to account".
Stephen Evans, the NSS's chief executive, praised the winners for their "courageous efforts to break the silence that has allowed an epidemic of abuse to take place in the Church of England".
"Graham Sawyer has made strong, reliable and consistent demands for reform from within the C of E. Phil Johnson has given a voice to many voiceless people who have suffered clerical abuse. Both have faced institutional hostility and worked tirelessly to promote meaningful change which will protect children in the future, often at great personal cost.
"We hope their work will cause those in positions of power to reflect on the damage done by excessive deference to religious authority. The Church of England must be held to account for its cover-up of abuse, including through independent oversight of its safeguarding policies. And ultimately it needs to be disestablished so society can hold clerical authorities to the same standards as everyone else."
The NSS has given out the Secularist of the Year award annually since 2005 to recognise a campaigner or group for an outstanding contribution to the secularist movement.
This year's nominees included Amina Lone, of the Social Action and Research Foundation; My Stealthy Freedom, which encourages Iranian women to discard their hijabs in public; counter-extremist campaigner and radio host Maajid Nawaz; Meena Varma, the director of Dalit Solidarity Network UK; and the Western Isles Secular Society, which has organised to oppose Sabbatarian control of life in the Western Isles.
