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 warns thousands of homes could become worthless as a result of an ancient church tax
Posted: Thu, 18 Oct 2012 16:42
The Government has announced that it has no intention of changing the law on chancel repair liability – leaving tens of thousands of home-owners with houses that are potentially unsaleable.
The announcement was made during an adjournment debate last night called by Mid-Worcestershire MP Peter Luff. Mr Luff has many constituents affected by chancel repair liabilities – an ancient church tax law dating back to the dissolution of the monasteries. During the debate Labour MP and NSS honorary associate Nia Griffith joined calls for the Government to consider phasing out the chancel repair liability.
Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society (NSS), who was present at the debate, said: "It is quite clear that the Government is reluctant to remove this liability from homeowners – many of whom were unaware of it when they purchased their property - because it would then be liable to compensate the church out of its own resources."
The NSS has written to Justice Minister Helen Grant asking the government "to implement the recommendations of the Law Commission in 1985 which said that 'Chancel repair liability arising from the ownership of land should be abolished after ten years'."
"This church tax could potentially result in the financial ruin of tens of thousands of householders, and we call on the Church of England to reaffirm publicly that it will stand by its 1982 decision and not oppose the phasing out of chancel repair liability."
The registration of homes caused a revolt earlier this year in the chocolate box Cotswold village of Broadway where furious residents forced the Church to withdraw registration.
Mr Porteous Wood added that the "In 1982 the General Synod of the Church of England overwhelmingly supported a motion accepting that chancel repair liability should be phased out. However it is not clear whether they would still take this principled stance as they have more recently financed a court case right up to the House of Lords which concluded that such demands were lawful. The Court of Appeal had earlier described this quasi church tax as 'taxation' as well as being 'arbitrary' and 'disproportionate' – and ruled it was unlawful as breaching the landowners' human rights".
He explained that "compulsory registration of these liabilities is now making clear which properties are affected, and because of the open-ended nature of the liability, the majority will be unsellable. Even though purchasers should have been aware of the liability, most will have reasonably assumed that after several centuries such claims would not be resurrected.
After the dissolution of the monasteries landowners took over the liabilities to repair Anglican churches, but the Church did not seek to recover costs for many centuries, until 1994. Then the Parish of Aston Cantlow in Warwickshire sought to claim the cost of repairs from a local farm. The case was fought to the House of Lords but ultimately ruined the landowner as the costs escalated to half a million pounds.
This case created a precedent and has resulted in house sellers having to buy insurance policies to indemnify purchasers from future liabilities. Until now the premiums have normally cost £100 to £200.
Because of the paucity of information going back to the 16th century, parishes seeking to recover these liabilities have been given 10 years to register their claims against each property at the Land Registry. The 10 year period expires in October 2013. Already 8,000 properties have been registered, and it is expected that by the deadline the total will be nearer 30,000.
For those whose properties are registered by the Church, the consequences are potentially catastrophic as the properties, mainly domestic houses, may become unsellable as the amount the church can recover for repairs is unlimited. The Church is able to recover the whole cost of the repairs from anyone liable (as happened in Aston Cantlow) and has no duty to spread the cost equitably.
Read the full Hansard transcript of yesterday's chancel repair liability debate
Fiji to separate church and state
Posted: Wed, 17 Oct 2012 16:59
The separation of church and state proposed in Fiji's new constitution will not be challenged by the Diocese of Polynesia.
A Constitution Commission led by Prof Yash Ghai has initiated a public review for the proposed constitution, soliciting comments from civic society leaders, and has also sought to explain to the predominantly Christian nation what separation means. "This doesn't mean that the State is anti-religion but just a feeling that the function and responsibility of religion of beliefs within societies should be separated from the functions and policies of the institution of the State," he told the Fiji Times.
The Vicar General of the Diocese of Polynesia, the Rt Rev Apimeleki Qiliho told The Church of England Newspaper the diocese had not made a formal submission to the commission. In 2006 Commodore Frank Bainimarama led a military counter coup that toppled a civilian coup. The country's Court of
Appeal in 2009 ruled the coup illegal, prompting President Josefa Iloilo to dismiss the court and abrogate the constitution.
Commodore Bainimarama announced that a new constitution would be presented to the country in 2013 that would guarantee the separation of church and state remove the ethnic-based seats in parliament, lower the age of voting to 18, and create an upper house, or senate, for parliament.
