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
Legislation introduced to abolish chancel repair liability
Posted: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 11:44
A parliamentary bill has been introduced to abolish chancel repair liability – an ancient law that can force homeowners to pay for some ancient Anglican parish church repairs.
The Chancel Repairs Bill, which received its first reading this week, seeks to remove the liability.
Thousands of homeowners have received notifications in the last ten years that their properties have been registered by the Church of England as being liable for contributions towards church repair costs.
Precise figures are not available but it is thought that around 10,000 titles have been registered in several hundred parishes. It is thought that for every property that has been registered another twenty are theoretically liable.
The Private Members' Bill has been tabled by Lord Avebury following discussions with the National Secular Society, which has been campaigning for abolition of the ancient law.
Chancel repair liability was, at least originally, an ecclesiastical liability under the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts. Jurisdiction was transferred to the civil courts by the Chancel Repairs Act 1932.
Concerns have been raised that owners of affected properties are likely to find the values of their homes diminished and find them significantly more difficult to sell.
Registrations have already caused significant distress but some have been withdrawn by the Church following a backlash from homeowners angered by being registered, despite not being aware of the liability when they purchased their properties.
Abolition was recommended by the Law Commission in 1985 following extensive consultation with the Church of England whose Synod had, three years earlier, approved a report presented by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, recommending the phasing out of chancel repair liability. If the recommendations had been acted upon then, chancel repair liability would already have been phased out. Phasing out was also recommended by the Law Society in 2006.
Lord Avebury said: "Thousands of landowners' titles are still today blighted by chancel repair liability, a relic of mediaeval ecclesiastical law. Titles that have been registered by the Church with the Land Registry are those most likely to be adversely affected. This generally leads to a distressing reduction in value and even an impairment of saleability, despite the Church rarely enforcing the liability.
"The Law Commission and Law Society have recommended abolition, the latter by phasing out. The Church's Synod supported abolition, albeit in 1982, and has not reversed its decision. Accordingly, I have invited the Church to support this Bill."
A date for the second reading, where the Bill will be debated, is yet to be scheduled. Explanatory Notes for the Bill have been published on Parliament's website are available here.
PM reaffirms Britain is a “Christian country” – British Social Attitudes figures suggest otherwise
Posted: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 15:19
Prime Minister David Cameron has again stood by his assertion that Britain is a "Christian country", saying he believes "very deeply that we should be confident in that status as a nation".
His assertion came as the latest British Social Attitudes survey revealed that 50.6% of the population now claim to have no religion (up from 47.7% last year). The proportion of the British population who identify themselves as Anglican has more than halved in the past ten years, with just 41.7% now regarding themselves as Christian. 4.6% self identify as Muslim, 1.5% as Sikh, 1.5% as Hindu and 0.5% as Jewish.
The survey found just 24% of people think being Christian is an important element of 'Britishness' – down from 32% in 1995.
The Prime Minister's latest remarks were included in the foreword to the programme for a National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast held on Tuesday, organised by the all-party parliamentary group Christians in Parliament.
The Prayer Breakfast provides Christian organisations with an opportunity to meet with and lobby parliamentarians – around 80 MPs and 20 peers attended the breakfast and associated seminars, along with almost 600 churchgoers, campaigners and lobbyists.
David Cameron became the first prime minister since Margaret Thatcher to attend. Mr Cameron repeated his claim that the UK is a "Christian country". He said it was "absolutely right that our Parliament should express this confidence through this annual prayer breakfast."
Mr Cameron also said he believed Christianity could inspire politicians to "get out there and make a difference to people's lives".
Justin Welby became the first Archbishop of Canterbury to speak at the event and shared a table with the Prime Minister. Mr Welby delivered the key note speech on "Global Christianity in the 21st Century" raising issues such as the persecution of Christians through blasphemy laws in Sudan and Pakistan. Mr Welby also used the opportunity to defend state funded "church schools" following recent criticism of the role of religion in schools following the so called 'Trojan Horse' plot.
Ed Miliband also attended, making it the first time the leader of the opposition and prime minister have both done so – something reflected on in the speech of Stephen Timms MP, the Labour Party's 'faith envoy' and Chair of Christians on the Left.
The event is modelled on the American National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast, held annually in Washington DC, which has been attended by every president since Dwight Eisenhower and is and is organised by The Fellowship Foundation, a conservative Christian organisation
Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, said: "Politicians are as entitled to their personal faith, or not to have a faith, as everyone else, but when a PM agrees to attend a religious event of this kind, other political leaders, even if not religious, will feel beholden to go too, which seems an imposition on them.
"No doubt the churches will consider the prayer breakfast a coup, but the PM may yet regret attending it. The British public have never liked politicians wearing their religion on their sleeve or seeming to imply that they or their religion are better than others.
"Three out of five of the population are not Christian - and that proportion is growing fast. The Prime Minister's message should therefore be to stress cohesion rather than to trumpet baseless Christian triumphalism. The non-religious becoming the majority should be a signal to the PM to treat them with more respect, but instead he seems intent on marginalising them."
