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
Anglican archbishops severely criticised at abuse inquiry
Posted: Thu, 4 Jul 2019 14:57
Senior figures in the Church of England including the archbishops of Canterbury and York have faced severe criticism at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
This week the inquiry heard that 24 disciplinary complaints were made against bishops within the C of E and noted in a 2018 report. All but six outstanding cases were dismissed or subject to no action from archbishops Justin Welby and John Sentamu.
Welby and Sentamu are the two most senior figures in the C of E.
One unnamed witness to the inquiry also described sending 17 letters to Welby's office about the response to abuse from the bishop of Durham and the then bishop of Truro. The witness said the complaints were "just ignored, completely".
National Secular Society vice-president Richard Scorer, acting in his capacity as a lawyer representing survivors, criticised Sentamu for emphasising the concept of forgiveness in a speech on safeguarding. He noted that evidence from earlier IICSA hearings, into abuse in the C of E diocese of Chichester, had shown that "notions of forgiveness could be misused to shield and protect abusers".
He also reiterated a call for external mechanisms to protect victims of abuse within the church, including independent oversight of its safeguarding procedures and a law requiring the reporting of suspected institutional child abuse to the statutory authorities.
He highlighted the reported loss of C of E archives relevant to abuse investigations in 2015 and said oversight of safeguarding should not be left to "gentleman amateurs".
David Greenwood, a lawyer representing victims of abuse, called the Anglican Church "a place where paedophiles have good reason to feel safe" and "a thoroughly disreputable organization" that "cannot be trusted".
Greenwood also accused the church of "trying to buy time until IICSA goes away" in its response to criticism of its safeguarding structure.
The bishop of Buckingham, Alan Wilson, was highly critical of current safeguarding practices in the C of E. In particular he criticised the discipline measure for dealing with formal complaints against members of the clergy, saying it effectively requires bishops to be both judges and pastors.
He added that a list which records penalties imposed under the measure, and which is maintained at Lambeth Palace, had not been updated or distributed since August 2017.
Meanwhile on Wednesday the bishop of Chester, Peter Forster, admitted that he allowed a vicar to continue working despite knowing he had been the subject of an abuse allegation.
Forster also admitted that he had blocked a lifetime ban for a paedophile priest, Ian Hughes, who was jailed for harbouring thousands of pictures of child pornography. He defended his actions on the grounds that Hughes was relatively young, had an "excellent previous record" and was "entirely penitent".
The NSS has long campaigned to protect victims of clerical child abuse and to challenge the privileges afforded to religious institutions which create cover for abuse.
Image of John Sentamu (right) via Flickr, © York Minster [CC BY-SA 2.0]
Mandatory reporting laws needed to protect children, say clerical abuse survivors
Posted: Thu, 20 Jun 2019 10:53
The clerical abuse survivors' group MACSAS has warned that children will remain at risk until mandatory reporting laws are introduced.
The warning came as new figures revealed the number of situations where the Church of England dealt with "concerns and allegations" about abuse rose by 50% between 2015 and 2017.
Church of England figures published on Wednesday reveal that 3,287 safeguarding concerns were raised in 2017. Twelve per cent of these "concerns or allegations" related to clergy.
MACSAS (Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors) expressed its concern that two thirds of the concerns were not reported to statutory authorities, being either dismissed or dealt with internally. Only 72 resulted in disciplinary action, and no information was released about the extent of such action.
Responding to the findings, Phil Johnson, Chair of MACSAS, said: "The best way to protect children and the vulnerable is for mandatory reporting laws to be introduced to compel institutions to report all safeguarding concerns to the statutory authorities."
MACSAS was also critical of the Church's guidance that there is no requirement for "suspicion or knowledge of actual or likely significant harm" to be reported to statutory authorities. It only states that it "should" be reported.
MACSAS observed that "Institutions will continue to ʻdeal with things internally', often protecting their reputation, image and financial interests rather than protecting children and the vulnerable."
