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 raises alarm over major flaws in Church’s sex abuse inquiry
Posted: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 11:54
The National Secular Society has warned that the Church's inquiry into their handling of the Bishop Peter Ball sex abuse case could leave significant questions unanswered.
Bishop Ball was jailed last year for sexual offences, after escaping justice twenty years previously. A letter-writing campaign at the time saw support for the bishop come from senior establishment figures, including a member of the royal family.
The Church of England has now announced that an inquiry will look at the case to establish how much senior figures in the Church of England knew about Ball's crimes.
However, the NSS has criticised the terms of reference of the Church of England's review and warned that they do not go to the heart of the failures which contributed to Ball escaping justice for twenty years. In this period one victim committed suicide.
The review will establish "what information was available to the Church of England ... concerning Peter Ball's abuse of individuals; who had this information and when. To provide a detailed timeline and transparent account of the response within the Church of England. To consider whether the response was in accordance with recognised good practice, and compliant with Church of England policy and legislation as well as statutory policy and legislation."
But the review into the case will be carried out behind closed doors. Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, warned that "while this may encourage greater frankness of those giving evidence, it will be regarded as lacking openness and transparency, qualities already shown to be sorely lacking in the Church over such matters even today."
The NSS, which has significant history and expertise researching clerical sex abuse and campaigning for justice for the survivors, has warned that the terms of reference need to specifically include the questionable role played by the Church in bringing undue influence to bear on the administration of justice concerning Ball's abuse, and about the bullying of victims and whistle-blowers into silence. The Society has written to the Church of England requesting these changes, which were reported almost in their entirety by the Telegraph.
Mr Wood wrote to the Church of England:
"Could I respectfully request that, in order to make the Inquiry credible, the terms of reference need to make specific reference to establishing the extent of historic and current bullying by senior figures in the Church of alleged victims and whistle-blowers. As is well known, this bullying has led to a suicide and considerable psychological harm beyond the abuse itself.
"The terms of reference need also specifically establish the extent to which Church officials sought – and/or encouraged others - to intervene with the CPS, the police and dissuading complainants from reporting to the police. It is vital that it establishes whether such interventions were made genuinely believing Ball to be innocent, having made a reasonable assessment of all available complaints and evidence. The information already in the public domain raises very uncomfortable questions.
Speaking in the House of Lords in January this year the Bishop of Durham insisted that at the time the Church believed Ball to be innocent, despite the allegations.
Welby says separation of church and state “would not be a disaster”, admits establishment has been abused
Posted: Tue, 23 Feb 2016 13:08
The Archbishop of Canterbury has said that while he is opposed to the disestablishment of the Church of England, the separation of church and state would not be a disaster for the Anglican Church.
Speaking to members of the judiciary, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said that separating church and state by disestablishing the Church of England "would not be a disaster or a great advantage" to the Church.
While the Archbishop was very clear that he would oppose the separation of church and state, he said that such a development would "just be another event in a very long history".
Archbishop Welby claimed that "I think we have learned in the last half-century that establishment is good for the country, a way of serving the country through the parish system."
But he added that if "if we're going to abuse establishment as we have done in the past, then absolutely [the Church should be disestablished]".
NSS campaigns manager Stephen Evans commented: "While the Archbishop clearly doesn't support disestablishment, there are many other religious advocates of separating church and state for the benefit of both. The Church should be able to make its pitch and proselytise in the public square without retaining anachronistic privileges."
The Archbishop also said that the UK "is not a Christian country in the sense that we are all churchgoing, but actually it never was."
"The height of churchgoing in England was in the 1850s, when about 22% of the population would regularly go to church."
Recent projections from the Church of England found that just 18 in 1000 people attend Anglican services regularly, and that this number is expected to drop to around 10 per 1000 population over the next thirty years.
