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
As Cameron says UK “still a Christian country”, 62% tell YouGov they are “not religious”
Posted: Wed, 8 Apr 2015 15:25
Polling conducted in the run-up to Easter has found that almost two-thirds of Britons describe themselves as "not religious."
In his Easter message, Prime Minister David Cameron claimed the UK was "still a Christian country," but YouGov found overwhelming lack of religion in the UK in its latest poll on religion and belief.
62% said they were not religious, compared to just 36% who said they were, while 68% said that religion was "not important" to their own life. Despite over a third of Britons claiming they were religious, only 29% said that religion was "important" to them.
As found in other polling and research, younger Britons were more likely to say that they were not religious compared with over 60s. 68% of 18 to 24 year olds said they were not a practising member of a religion, compared with 59% of the over 60s. Likewise, only 31% of 18 to 24s said they were practising members of a faith group, eight points lower than the 39% of over 60s who said the same.
72% of 18 to 24 year olds said religion was "not important" to their life.
Since 2013, when identical questions were asked, the total number of people saying religion was not important to them rose by two points, whilst the corresponding figure of people saying religion was important dropped from 31% in 2013 to only 29% today.
Clive Field, writing on the British Religion In Numbers blog, commented that when comparing this polling from identical questions asked in 2013, "it is noticeable that, for all the indicators, the movement is in the direction of the least religious position."
35% said they believed in God, with 20% saying they believed in a "spiritual higher power." 34% of the general public said they believed in neither.
As with the figures of those who identify with a religion, belief in God has declined since 2013, from 38% believing in God two years ago, to just 35% now. Belief in a "spiritual power" has fallen by one point, and the number saying they believed in neither had gone up by 4%.
Belief in God showed another sharp difference between younger and older demographic groups. Under-24s are far more likely to believe in neither a god, nor a "higher spiritual power." 47% of 18 to 24s do not believe in either, compared with 27% of over 60s. The NSS has previously welcomed similar polling as bolstering the case for a secular UK, as young people are far less likely to be religious than older generations.
The YouGov figures showed that Easter was devoid of religious meaning for most Britons, with only 13% saying that religion was the "most important part of Easter." Among under-24s this figure was just 8%.
Church attendance over Easter has declined as well, with 83% saying they were not intending to attend church over the Easter weekend. This is four points higher than when that same question was asked in 2013. Belief in the key tenet of Easter — the resurrection of Jesus — has also fallen, with 50% saying Christ did "not come back to life after crucifixion." Under 24s, again, were far more likely to not believe than over 60s. 63% of 18 to 24 year olds said the resurrection did not happen.
Despite this, David Cameron in his Easter message said that "we should feel proud to say, 'this is a Christian country.'" The Prime Minister repeated that whilst the UK "welcomes and accepts all faiths and none", Britain was "still a Christian country."
The Prime Minister praised Christians for living out their religious beliefs in faith schools, and took credit for investing "tens of millions to repair churches" and for the passage of the Local Government (Religious Etc. Observances) Act, which enables councils to hold prayers in their official meetings.
NSS campaigns manager Stephen Evans commented: "For a long time polling and research has shown that the UK is not a practising Christian country. Politicians sound hopelessly out-of-touch when they claim otherwise.
"Britain's rapidly changing religious makeup demonstrates how inappropriate and foolhardy is it to increasingly look to religious groups to provide public services, including publicly funded education, around a third of which is now under church control."
The Pew Research Centre recently published research which forecasted that by 2050 just 45% of the UK population will be Christian. However, by other measures, including the YouGov poll, the percentage of Christians in the UK has already fallen far below 45%.
The full YouGov poll, with analysis, can be found at the British Religion In Numbers blog.
Church of England voting guidance says religion cannot be separated from politics
Posted: Tue, 17 Feb 2015 13:51
The Church of England has published a letter advising Church members on the upcoming election, in a move which has drawn significant criticism.
The letter urges a "new kind of politics" and calls on Christians to use their votes "prayerfully".
The letter says that the claim "religion and politics cannot mix" is a "view largely confined to the modern-day European context", and asks how "Christian men and women [should] approach the General Election". The Church argues that "the claim that religion and political life must be kept separate" is "frequently disingenuous".
The NSS has raised concerns that, whilst the Church and religious figures certainly have a right to speak out on political issues, Church of England bishops speak from a privileged position, not least because the Church has 26 seats in the House of Lords, and because the Government defers to religious leaders, despite church attendance and religious belief both consistently dropping.
NSS president Terry Sanderson commented, "The Church of England has as much right as any other organisation to speak out in the run up to the general election" but he added that the Church was out-of-touch with public opinion. He said, "The Church of England has recently opposed marriage equality and research into mitochondrial disease, two things that the population at large did not agree with it over. Society can operate morally without church input. Sometimes it is more moral when it disregards the Church's input."
Dr Alan Wilson, the Bishop of Buckingham, told the BBC that the Church was "not telling people how to vote but why to vote." He added that it would be an "abdication of responsibility" if the Church did not discuss politics.
However, the letter drew criticism from Conservative MPs and Nadine Dorries accused the Church of diving in to a political debate, stating that it no right to lecture politicians as it had only recently "accepted women as equals".
The Telegraph reports that the Church's letter "raises the prospect of the Church actively campaigning for the EU in the build-up to the in-out referendum promised by David Cameron."
Whilst Nadine Dorries accused the letter of having a "very definite left-wing leaning to their message", most Anglican voters are likely to support the Conservative Party.
Terry Sanderson argued before the 2010 General Election that "religious people have voted and intend to vote in almost exactly the same way as the population at large" and pointed out that speaking of, or cultivating, a 'religious vote' was nonsensical. Research released by the think-tank Theos in 2014 also made this point. Theos research director Nick Spencer said that religious block votes do not exist, but there are "alignments between various religious and political camps".
The letter can be read here.
