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
Head of Russian Orthodox Church says secularization in Europe has reached “apocalyptic dimensions,” calls for “Christian values”
Posted: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 14:20
Patriarch Kirill, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, has told an audience in Serbia that Europe has abandoned its "Christian identity" and that the "process of secularization" has reached "apocalyptic" levels.
The Patriarch blamed homosexual unions, assisted dying and abortion for starting a "locomotive of destructive processes" across Europe. Kirill lambasted the "de-Christianization of European society" which he said had given up the "fundamental Christian values in its life and activities."
Kirill criticised the "denial of absolute truth" and the "elimination of the concept of sin from the public consciousness." The Patriarch, who was speaking at the University of Belgrade, "called on the people of Serbia to help bring Europe back to Christian values." He also quoted the Bishop of Ohrid, who wrote that "Christ is leaving Europe."
Patriarch Kirill said that he regretted that "many European countries have given up their Christian identity."
The Church has very close ties with the Putin regime, and a long history of supporting authoritarian Russian leaders. After supporting the Tsarist regime as a "pillar" of the imperial state, the Orthodox Church fell under brutal attack during the first two decades of Bolshevik rule, when the League of the Militant Godless ransacked churches and killed clergymen. The Church found favour from the state once again and was reinstated, by secular authorities, during the Great Patriotic War (WW2) by Stalin; who was himself a former pupil of an Orthodox seminary and who hoped the church would improve Russian morale.
After the Cold War, the church became increasingly close to Putin, a former KGB agent. The leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church, and Patriarch Kirill himself, are widely thought by critics to have had close ties with the KGB during the last years of the Cold War, and in more recent years Kirill has been effusive in his praise of the Putin regime.
Back in 2009, when Kirill I was first elected to lead the Russian Orthodox Church, Forbes predicted that the church was "likely to emerge as an even stronger supporter of dictatorship and anti-Western ideology" because of the Patriarch's leadership, and that Putin ran both the Russian state and the Orthodox Church. The Patriarch has previously described Putin's regime as a "miracle of God", and said that the Pussy Riot protestors were doing the work of Satan.
Kirill has praised the Byzantine concept of "symphonia", where Church and State remain closely dependent on one another, and in 2006 he accused the West of behaving "dictatorially" by promoting human rights for gay people.
Ofsted reveals “serious risk” to students’ physical and educational welfare in faith schools
Posted: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 11:15
A series of Ofsted investigations have exposed serious failings in six Islamic schools. The head of Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw has warned the Education Secretary that pupils "may be vulnerable to extremist influences and radicalisation."
According to Sir Michael Wilshaw: "All schools focused intensively on developing Islamic knowledge and understanding at the expense of other important areas of the curriculum." Ofsted found that "pupils' physical and educational welfare is at serious risk."
At Mazahirul Uloom School inspectors found pupils were unable to tell the difference between sharia law and English law.
The six independent Muslim Schools, all in Tower Hamlets, are failing to provide pupils with "an appropriately broad and balanced curriculum." In one school the curriculum was focused "entirely on Islamic themes."
Commenting on the findings, Stephen Evans, National Secular Society campaigns manager, said: "For too long the rights of young people have been neglected by the willingness to allow religious communities to use schools to impose their own values and traditions on children.
"These findings demonstrate that there is an urgent need to apply a rights based approach across all educational settings, with every school recognising each individual pupil's right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and their right to a broad, objective and balanced education."
The National Secular Society has previously urged the government to do more to tackle "extremism in areas where it has control, such as in independent and religious schools."
Inspectors were concerned that the schools' narrow curriculum and intense focus on Islamic studies were not preparing pupils for life in modern Britain. The schools "failed" to develop pupils' understanding of faiths and cultures other than Islam and creative subjects were "rarely taught" in some schools and entirely absent in others. In one school pupils told inspectors they believed it would be wrong to learn about other religions.
In the same series of visits, carried out between 8 and 17 October, Ofsted also inspected a state-funded voluntary-aided Church of England secondary school, following concerns about the activities of social media sites related to an Islamic sixth form society at the school.
Four of the six independent schools were found not to be completing statutory background checks on staff and other welfare concerns were raised in all six, including their child protection policies and physical condition. Three of the schools were found to have insecure access as they were based in mosques open to the public, another school shared access with a public café. Facilities, including for proper first aid, were lacking in all six schools and one of the schools had moved premises without approval from the Department for Education (DfE).
Inspectors noticed a marked difference between the "quality" of Islamic teaching and that of other areas, such as English and Maths, in all six schools. Inspectors noted that "pupils were making good progress" in memorising the Quran but that, "errors of spelling, punctuation and grammar were left uncorrected by teachers."
At the Al-Mizan school, teachers accepted "that their information about pupils' progress in English, mathematics and science is inaccurate", but in contrast, Ofsted found that "a rigorous system is in place to track pupils' progress, homework and fluency in memorising the Qur'an."
At the East London Islamic School, "A pupil in Year 1 explained to inspectors that he would 'go to hell' if he participated in music or dance." The inspection also found that "male teachers and boys make a daily visit to The East London Mosque. The girls are required to wait for their return before lessons can resume. Girls do not have equal opportunities and some learning time is lost."
The Ebrahim Academy was said to have a "relative strength" in "the progress made by students in learning to read, recite and memorise the Qur'an."
Ofsted's inspection of Sir John Cass's Foundation and Red Coat Church of England Secondary School found the school to be inadequate and requiring special measures. The "behaviour and safety, leadership and management" and the sixth form were all judged inadequate. Many pupils from the six independent schools inspected attend sixth form at Sir John Cass's Foundation and Red Coat.
According to the inspection report: "Leaders have organised separate boys' and girls' entrances and exits to the school. Although there are mixed dining and study areas, segregated boys' and girls' outdoor and indoor spaces are provided at breaktimes and lunchtimes. As a consequence, boys and girls do not have equal access to the school's facilities."
Inspectors were particularly concerned about the school leadership's "failure to respond appropriately to serious concerns raised about social media sites relating to the sixth form Islamic Society."
Sir Michael's advice note to the Secretary of State, Nicky Morgan MP, can be read here.
