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 cannot escape blame for the failure to uncover truth about sex abuse
Posted: Thu, 29 Oct 2015 16:24
The National Secular Society has said that the Church of England cannot escape blame following the jailing of a retired Anglican priest for sexual offences committed against boys as young as 14.
Vickery House, from West Sussex, was jailed for six and half years at the Old Bailey today after being found guilty of five charges of indecent assault. House had denied eight counts of indecent assault against six males aged 14 to 34 dating back to the 1970s and 1980s.
The former Church of England priest was the "Right-hand man" of disgraced bishop Peter Ball who was jailed earlier this month for a string of offences against teenagers and young men.
Three of House's victims were also abused by Ball around the time they took part in a Church of England scheme called Give A Year For Christ which was run by the clergymen.
Speaking after the sentencing, National Secular Society executive director, Keith Porteous Wood, said:
"House and Bishop Ball misused their Anglican religious order to attract and systematically abuse young men. Instead of exercising their duty of care, they ruthlessly exploited their religious and institutional power over the victims.
"Such clerical abuse has been rife in the Anglican diocese of Chichester for many decades. Some of the diocese's former bishops have misled enquiries or have even been abusers. The current bishop maintained, when one of his predecessors was exposed recently, that 'it [fell] far short of a cover-up' - even though a complaint had been made to the diocese in the 1990's. The Bishop of Chichester, Dr Martin Warner, needs to be much less defensive and more open.
"The Church cannot escape blame for the failure of numerous inquiries to uncover the truth only now starting to become apparent. That failure has allowed perpetrators to continue abusing and evade justice, compounding the abuse of victims.
"Given the appalling record in Chichester, I have no confidence in any country-wide enquiry conducted by the Church, however notionally independent, and I am calling for the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, led by Hon. Lowell Goddard, to pay particular attention to Chichester."
Ex-Bishop of Durham calls for Christian “theocracy”
Posted: Wed, 21 Oct 2015 15:52
Dr Tom Wright, the former Anglican bishop of Durham, has called for "cruciform theocracy" at an event held at St Paul's Cathedral.
Wright said that there should be no separation between religion and politics, and that Jesus "came to institute God's rule on earth, theocracy."
He said that "To hear the call of Jesus right now [is] to be part of [a] kingdom project."
"The whole meaning of God's kingdom is about the one true God calling time on the world's wicked empires and setting up a radically different empire instead."
The former bishop rejected the view of some secularist Christians that the New Testament acknowledges a separation between church and state and went on, "When Jesus talks of [the] Kingdom of God, he really did mean that this was the time for God to become King and reign in a way that not only challenges Caesar's kingdom but challenges Caesar's type of kingdom."
"When you put it in context, it is anything but a mandate for church/state split," he argued.
In an apparent reference to the refugee and migration crisis, he said: "The problem is that the West has bought so deeply into the narrative of the Enlightenment and then can't understand what has gone wrong when the tragedies of this world literally wash up on our shores."
National Secular Society campaigns manager, Stephen Evans, said: "I'm sure most Christians in the UK would join us in dismissing these bizarre comments. Theocracy and the imposition of religious belief through coercion is the direct cause of many conflicts in the world today; to say nothing of the immense human rights abuses that theocracies perpetuate.
"The former bishop's comments might be laughable in a British context – because nobody will take them seriously – but in other parts of the world defending theocracy means defending blasphemy laws, the death and imprisonment of apostates, and a whole catalogue of abuses.
"Secularists are serious about defending religious freedom and freedom from religion; Bishop Wright's worldview threatens both."
Bishop Wright has made many controversial comments in the past. In 2008 he said that "secular utopianism" is based on a belief that "we have the right to kill unborn children and surplus old people, and to play games with the humanity of those in between."
Dr Tom Wright is currently serving as Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Studies at The University of St Andrews.
Source: Christian Today
