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 calls for end of Anglican judges’ services
Posted: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 17:00
The National Secular Society has written to the Justice Secretary to ask him to scrap annual Anglican services that mark the start of the legal year.
In a letter to David Lidington, the NSS said the services raised "serious questions about the perception of neutrality and independence of the judiciary". The contents of the letter have been reported in the Guardian.
This year's main service in Westminster Abbey will take place on Monday. As Lord Chancellor Mr Lidington will be among those in attendance, along with the Lord Chief Justice, Justices of the Supreme Court, other judges and members of the legal profession.
The service is conducted according to the rites of the Church of England and the attendees pray for guidance. The judges attend it fully robed, in their official capacity and during working hours.
A similar service at York Minster features a procession involving high court judges, circuit judges, tribunal judges, district judges, Queen's counsel and other members of the Bar attending in robes. The NSS has lodged a Freedom of Information request asking the Ministry of Justice how many judges' services were held in the different parts of the UK in 2016 and how much the department has spent on them over the last five years. The Society is also working on challenging a comparable event in Scotland.
"Judges' services add nothing to judicial competence and serve only to privilege Christianity," the NSS wrote. "They are also a burden on the taxpayer. It cannot be in the interests of justice that these services continue and we ask that you initiate their ending."
The letter said the services compromised judges' ability to keep their religious views private and showed "disregard for their duty to avoid acting in a way that is seen to compromise their impartiality". It said they conflicted with the spirit of the judicial oath, which requires justice to be administered 'without fear or favour, affection or ill-will'. It added that the services may create "a reasonable apprehension of bias" and compromise "the old adage: justice must be done and be seen to be done".
The NSS also called for stronger guidance on the need for judges to retain religious impartiality. It said its point was "not merely theoretical" – citing the recent case of the disgraced bishop Peter Ball, who was allowed to evade justice for more than 20 years after reporting restrictions were placed on his case.
Judges' services date back to the Middle Ages, when the High Court was held in Westminster Hall and judges prayed for guidance at the beginning of the legal term.
The NSS's position has previously gained support from legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg. In 2013 Rozenberg wrote: "It is not very edifying to see independent judges taking part in religious rites which are, at best, meaningless to them and, at worst, offensive to their actual beliefs".
The Westminster Abbey service will be followed by a breakfast hosted by the Lord Chancellor, which the NSS did not object to.
Stephen Evans, NSS campaigns director, said the NSS sent the letter because "an independent judiciary shouldn't align itself with the established Church".
"Judicial neutrality, and the perception of neutrality, are crucial elements of a democratic society. Judges regularly make decisions on issues involving religious groups and individuals. They are entitled to hold religious views privately but they should not play any part when they are performing their public duties.
"And the public will only have confidence in them if they consistently make their neutrality clear. Praying for guidance on official time undermines that. The legal system is supposed to be secular."
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Just 6% of British adults are practising Christians, survey finds
Posted: Fri, 15 Sep 2017 11:06
Only 6% of adults in Britain are practising Christians and very few of them decided to become Christians during adulthood, according to a new survey.
ComRes carried out the study in an attempt to map churchgoing and religious practice on behalf of the Church of England. It published its figures on Tuesday. It defined 'practising Christians' as people who read or listen to the Bible at least once a week, pray at least once a week and attend a church service at least once a month.
The responses suggested that most people who call themselves Christian are 'cultural Christians'. Only 42% of Christians who took part said they ever read the Bible; 26% went to Church more than once or twice a year; and 28% called themselves 'an active Christian who follows Jesus'.
The survey also revealed how young many Christians are when they first adopt the term. A total of 85% said they became Christians during childhood, and 64% said it happened between the age of zero and four. Just 24 of the 8,150 respondents said they decided to become Christian after the age of 44.
Stephen Evans, the NSS's campaigns director, said those figures "make clear why the Church of England is desperate to expand its role in schools".
The survey suggested that 51% of British adults call themselves Christian, 56% of whom were Anglican. The proportion of people with no religion was 42%. Last week data from the highly-respected British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey suggested the level of non-belief was even higher: 53% of British people said they had 'no religion'. Just 15% of people – and only 3% of those aged 18-24 – called themselves Anglican in that study.
The discrepancies between the two surveys are likely to be the result of different methodology. The ComRes survey asked 'To which of the following religious groups do you consider yourself to be a member?' and listed religions. The BSA survey asked respondents: 'Do you regard yourself as belonging to any particular religion?' If they then said yes, they were asked which one, without being given a list of religions.
Mr Evans said the new figures provided "another reminder that Britain is not a Christian country".
"Politicians who continue to support the establishment of the Church of England and giving the Church a role in state education look out of touch.
"But it is also worth stressing that the case for secularism would remain overwhelming whatever surveys such as this said. Even in highly religious countries, it is in everyone's interests to resist the imposition of fundamentalism and prevent religion from gaining political power."
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