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
New evidence that churches are completely out of step with society
Posted: Fri, 5 Jul 2013 11:55
New research for the Westminster Faith Debates shows that the Church of England is not only wildly out of step with the country at large, but also with its own members.
The polling — conducted by Yougov among over 4,000 people — covers issues such as abortion, attitudes to sex and what role women should have in the church.
On the issue of abortion, the views of people with religious affiliations do not differ much from the population as a whole. The research shows that support for abortion rights is growing in both groups.
The poll shows that 43% of people who identify with a religion are in favour of keeping or raising the current 24 week limit (compared with 46% of the general population), 30% would like to see it lowered (compared with 28%), and 9% support a ban (compared with 7%). The remainder of people say they 'don't know'.
Even though the Roman Catholic Church teaches that abortion is always wrong and should be illegal, only 14% of Catholics in this country are in favour of a ban.
Although a significant number of people believe that life begins at conception it doesn't indicate that they oppose abortion. 44% of people believe that human life begins at conception, 30% at some time during pregnancy, 17% when the baby is born and 8% don't know.
Even among those who think life begins at conception, three quarters believe abortion is acceptable up to 12 weeks and half believe it should be allowed up to 20 weeks.
Among the religious people surveyed, Catholics, Muslims and Baptists are the most hostile to abortion, but only about half would like to see the law changed. 14% of Catholics surveyed support a ban and 33% would like to see the 24 week limit lowered. 30% of Muslims surveyed support a ban and 16% would like to see the 24 week limit lowered.
Those who say they rely on external religious sources for guidance, and whose religion offers an anti-abortion message, are, unsurprisingly, the most likely to be hostile to abortion.
The survey finds that most people in Great Britain — including religious people — rely most on their own judgment or feelings or the advice of family and friends for guidance.
Among the population as a whole, anti-abortion sentiment is declining and support for current abortion law is growing. Comparisons with earlier YouGov polls reveal that the percentage of the population who would like to see a ban on abortion has fallen from 12% in 2005 to 7% today.
Of those who expressed a view, support for keeping (or even relaxing) the current 24 week limit has risen by about one-third to a clear majority (57%) today.
On the issue of contraception — although the Catholic Church condemns the use of birth control, only 9% of Catholics in the survey said they would feel guilty about using it.
When it comes to extra-marital sex, less than 60% of Catholics would feel guilty about it — the same proportion as Anglicans, and indeed the general population. The guiltiest are Baptists and Pentecostals — almost 90% of those surveyed say they would feel guilty about extra-marital sex.
The least guilty are those of no religion — only half would feel guilty about extra-marital sex.
Four times as many religious people (20%) say they would feel guilty about pre-marital sex as non-religious people (5%).
More than twice as many religious people (33%) say they would feel guilty about using pornography for sexual stimulation as non-religious people (15%). Interestingly, there is little difference between nominal and practising Catholics (about 30% would feel guilty) about the use of porn, whereas many more practising Anglicans (55%) would feel guilty than nominal Anglicans (30%).
On the issue of religion's treatment of women, there was overwhelming disapproval.
Only 8% of the population express approval of the Church of England's current policies towards women — and that includes Anglicans.
Age, gender, social class, and educational level do not make any appreciable difference to this proportion. The figure falls to 3% among those who don't affiliate with any religion.
Only 11% of Anglican adherents (nominal Anglicans) support their Church's policies. More Muslims (26%) than Anglicans approve.
Amongst actively practising Anglicans, only 16% express approval. Even the most devout and obedient of Anglicans (7% of the total), only a quarter express approval of the Church of England's current policies towards women.
There is even more disapproval of the Catholic Church's policies. Only 6% of the population express approval of the Catholic Church's current policies towards women — and that includes Catholics.
More Catholics than Anglicans approve of their Church's policies — 22% compared with 11%, but it is still a small proportion. Amongst practising Catholics that figure rises to 31%, and to about half of Catholics who are most respectful of Church teaching.
The overwhelming majority of people, both religious and non-religious, think religions would be better off with more women leaders.
Professor Linda Woodhead who has led this research commented: "These new findings show that the churches are seriously out of step not only with society but with their own members. In failing to allow women's leadership in the churches, church leaders are privileging the views of a tiny, disproportionately male, group of people over the views of the vast majority of people in their own churches and in the country as a whole."
Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, said: "This research is further confirmation of what has been very obvious for some time now — the churches are not only out of step with society, they are at odds with it. They do not even reflect the views of their own members. The question then becomes — why does the Government pay so much attention to them and give them so much influence?
"More to the point, why are they being given such influence over our education system to perpetuate ideas that very few people support — in fact, that most people are appalled by?"
Read the whole report here.
Church to take over thousands of community schools
Posted: Thu, 4 Jul 2013 10:54
The Church of England has struck a deal with the Government that will allow it to take control of thousands of non-religious community schools.
Despite reassurances that the character of community schools will remain intact, with no change in religious education, admissions policies or employment terms for teachers, the National Secular Society has expressed grave doubts that this promise will be kept over the long-term.
Executive Director of the National Secular Society, Keith Porteous Wood, said that the move would inevitably lead to a further religionisation of the school system.
Speaking to The Times newspaper, Mr Porteous Wood said: "This will surreptitiously bring the education system under religious control. It will lead to the further alienation of school children who are from non-religious or religiously unconcerned families. Despite now being the majority, they are becoming increasingly disadvantaged in admissions and by the growing religionisation of publicly-funded schools."
Mr Wood said: "Once schools have been taken over by religious interests, it will be almost impossible to ever bring them back under community control."
Bishops will have the power to appoint governors at the schools.
At a seminar in Lambeth Palace, Education Secretary Michael Gove once more sang the praises of Church schools, ignoring the unjust admissions criteria and discriminatory employment practices in appointing teachers.
He said: "We would not have so many great state schools in this country without the Church of England. I know the Church does a wonderful job helping to raise educational standards and in providing a safe and loving environment for hundreds of thousands of children.
"However, there is much more we can do together. I want the Church to recover the spirit which infused its educational mission in Victorian times and support more new schools — especially academies and free schools — to bring educational excellence to the nation's poorest children."
Bishop John Pritchard, the Church's education leader, told The Times: "I think people may not realise the significance of what looks like a small technical change but actually allows the mutual support, the drawing together of resources, experiments in collaboration. It allows a whole lot more and it will enhance the educational experience of millions of children." Nothing could more clearly demonstrate the concerns the NSS has expressed.
He also predicted "steady, faster" growth in the number of church-led academy chains, especially among primary schools, and said that academy status would become "the norm" for church schools. The Church of England is already the biggest sponsor of academies, with 217 schools that converted to become academies and 50 church academies that replaced failing schools. There are 4,484 Church of England primary and middle schools, a quarter of the total, and 193 secondary schools.
Bishop Pritchard said that joining church-led groups of academies was the best way for small primary schools to secure their future.
Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, said: "The Church of England is rapidly changing its focus from its primary purpose — church worship — which has failed spectacularly with empty pews all over the country, to getting its message out in schools.
"Schools are the perfect platform for proselytising because children are bound by law to be there. Once inside a religious school, the law allows the Churches to teach children whatever it wants about religion and in any way it wants. The Church of England has made clear it intends to make its religious education far more evangelical in nature.
"This is not what schools are for, and yet Michael Gove blithely hands our nation's children over to religious interests so that they can be subjected to religious propaganda day after day. And what could be less appropriate in a society where Christian worship and belief has been rapidly declining for decades? The non-religious and religiously unconcerned majority are being betrayed by this Government, which is obsessed with "faith"."
Mr Sanderson said that if parents were uneasy with this new development it was up to them to organise and make their feelings known both to schools and, more importantly, politicians.
