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
Lords committee proposals would hand bishops more power
Posted: Wed, 1 Nov 2017 15:26
Newly-published proposals to reform the House of Lords would see Church of England bishops given more power.
On Tuesday the Lord Speaker's committee on the size of the House of Lords recommended the House be reduced to 600 members, and its size capped at that number. A 'two-out, one-in' programme of departures would reduce the House's size until it reached the target of 600.
The committee, which was chaired by Lord Burns and had members from all parties and the crossbenches, only recommended changes which would not require legislation. It did not consider recommending reducing the number of Bishops in the Lords, as the measure was outside its remit.
The UK is unique among Western democracies in giving representatives of religious groups automatic seats in its legislature: 26 Church of England bishops sit in the Lords as of right. The National Secular Society has long called for the removal of this right.
If the bishops retain their role while the number of other Lords is reduced, their votes will carry more weight. Over 800 Lords currently sit in the House.
In a written submission to the Lord Speaker's committee earlier this year, the NSS recommended the removal of the Bishops' Bench, calling it an "anomaly" in a modern, liberal democracy.
NSS campaigns director Stephen Evans said he was "alarmed" by the implications of the proposed changes.
"There may be perfectly reasonable arguments for a general reduction in the size of the Lords. But any proposals for Lords reform must consider the full impact of the measures being suggested. That means the justification – or lack of it – behind everyone's place in the House must be examined.
"Inertia and a refusal to legislate are not good enough reasons to give the bishops even more political power than they currently have.
"Ultimately the bishops' place in the UK parliament should be ended, not extended. Challenging the Church of England's unjust and unjustifiable religious privilege cannot stay in the 'too difficult' department forever."
The NSS has also criticised the bishops' regressive stance on issues such as the ordination of female Bishops, same-sex marriage and the decriminalisation of assisted suicide. Last year the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said longer-standing members considered the Bishops' Bench "the most orthodox since WWII".
Lord Fowler, the Lord Speaker who set up the committee, welcomed the proposals. "This is the House of Lords reforming itself," he said. "It is being done without the benefit of legislation and relies on the agreement of members of the House."
Lord Burns said the committee had "proposed a radical yet achievable solution to the excessive size of the House of Lords".
The proposals could be delivered with the agreement of the House of Lords and the Prime Minister, provided major parties are willing to cooperate to reduce their members.
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C of E school services grow as congregations decline
Posted: Thu, 19 Oct 2017 14:36
The number of children attending Church of England services during school time has risen for at least the third consecutive year, as the long-term decline of Church congregations has continued.
According to the Church's latest Statistics for Mission, 179,300 children attended weekly school services in 2016 – up from 168,900 in 2015. The figure has risen every year since 2013, when the Church first recorded it and it stood at 125,700.
Meanwhile the long-term drop in regular church attendance continued. On average 927,000 people attended church services or 'fresh expressions' – less conventional church services designed to attract young adults – each week in October 2016. This was down from 961,100 in 2015. The figure fell below one million in 2013.
Most of the Church's key measures of attendance fell between 10% and 15% between 2006 and 2016. Average Sunday attendance reached a new low of 779,800 last year – a fall from 813,000 in 2015.
Chris Sloggett, the National Secular Society's communications officer, said the rise in school service attendance was "a cause for concern".
"Just as the country is becoming less religious, more children are being taken to Church services – ostensibly as part of their education.
"Children should be able to grow up and make their own decisions about religion. They should not be used as props in the Church's attempts to arrest its long-term slide into irrelevance."
The falling church attendance figures appeared to fit broader trends in British society. Last month figures from the British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey showed that more than half of British people now say they have 'no religion'. Just 15% of respondents called themselves Anglican – half the number that did so in 2000.
Shortly afterwards a ComRes survey for the Church of England found that just 6% of British adults met the Church's definition of 'practising Christians'.
The rise in school service attendance contrasts sharply with the attitude of the young to Anglicanism: just 3% of those aged 18-24 described themselves as Anglican in the BSA survey. Mr Sloggett said this was "clear evidence that the Church's level of interest in the young is not reciprocated".
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