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 welcomes moves by Church of England to fix the date of Easter
Posted: Tue, 19 Jan 2016 15:25
The National Secular Society has welcomed efforts by the Church of England to fix the date of Easter, something the NSS called for in 2015 in light of the disruption the changeable date causes to schools and business.
The Church of England has announced efforts to fix the date, in consultation with the Catholic, Orthodox and Coptic churches, and the Archbishop of Canterbury has said he would "love to see" the change made before he retires.
However, the Archbishop said that it could take up to ten years and warned that churches have attempted to fix the date for centuries.
NSS executive director Keith Porteous Wood said: "We hope the Archbishop of Canterbury will succeed in achieving consensus in the negotiations to make Easter a fixed date. The date varying by over a month causes unnecessary havoc, particularly for schools and the holiday industry.
"The Easter Act 1928 already allows for a fixed date to be set, but no action has been taken since the legislation was given Royal Assent. The Catholic Church approved a fixed date in 1963."
Currently the date of Easter can vary by over a month – causing disruption to parents, schools and businesses.
In April 2015 the National Secular Society wrote to Prime Minister David Cameron to note that the Easter Act 1928 allowed for a fixed date to be set, but that no action had ever been taken since the legislation was given Royal Assent.
Before the 2015 General Election Jo Swinson MP, then a minister in the Department for Business, said that there was "no indication" churches would agree to a fixed weekend date for Easter. The NSS has welcomed efforts now to reach such a date, in order to minimise the disruption caused.
Writing in the Independent, NSS honorary associate Joan Smith said: "At present, the date of Easter varies by up to 35 days, creating a logistical nightmare for schools, shops and people who work in the leisure industry. They would benefit from having a fixed spring break each year, so why is the government waiting passively for the churches to resolve an arcane theological argument? One of the things I like about the modern world is that employees have an entitlement to holidays, but that has more to do with recognition of workers' rights than religion."
Church of England collapse strengthens the case for a secular UK
Posted: Tue, 12 Jan 2016 16:33
Weekly attendance at Church of England services has fallen below 1 million for the first time – bolstering the argument for a secular state.
New figures released by the Church show that just 1.4% of England's population attend Sunday services with the Church of England. 980,000 people attend church each week, based on figures from a survey carried out in October 2014, and there has been a 12% decrease in church attendance in the past ten years; equivalent to an average decline of little over 1% a year.
Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, commented: "Church of England attendance now appears to have fallen well below 2% of the population, and looks set to fall further given the preponderance of older churchgoers. This seriously calls into question its privileged access to political power and right to remain the established church. Indeed, it is inappropriate for there to be any established religion in a modern pluralistic society, far less one where the majority do not consider themselves to be religious."
Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, said that there was an "anti-Christian culture" but added that while "many talk of the post-Christian society" the Church of England "educates more than a million children in our schools."
The Archbishop claimed that the "Church of England is still a primary source of leadership for communities" but that culture in the UK was "becoming anti-Christian, whether it is on matters of sexual morality, or the care for people at the beginning or the end of life."
Mr Wood said that "Adults continue to turn away from the church in droves, and even many of those who consider themselves Christian reject the Church's policy on ethical matters such as same sex marriage. Sunday schools have all-but disappeared, so the Church is determined to force its influence on the population though faith schools – and is only able to do this because the running costs are paid from public funds."
Addressing the most recent measure of the collapse in Anglican church attendance, the Bishop of Norwich, the Rt. Revd. Graham James, said he did not expect the trend to change soon, but denied that the decline was inevitable. "We lose approximately 1% of our churchgoers to death each year. Given the age profile of the CofE, the next few years will continue to have downward pressure as people die or become housebound and unable to attend church."
Polling by YouGov around Easter of 2015 found that 62% of Britons says they are "not religious".
