Services funded by public money should be open to all, without alienating anyone.
The recent drive to contract out public services to faith groups risks undermining equal access.
Help us keep public services free from discrimination and evangelism.
The government is increasingly pushing for more publicly-funded services to be provided by religious organisations.
Many faith-based groups have carried out social service without imposing their beliefs. But religious groups taking over public service provision raises concerns regarding proselytising and discrimination.
65% of people have no confidence in church groups running crucial social provisions such as healthcare with only 2% of people expressing a lot of confidence.
Any organisations involved in delivering public services should be bound by equality law and restrictions on proselytisation.
Those advocating for faith organisations to take over more public services risk undermining these restrictions, which exist to protect both the public and third sector.
"We have concerns that some religious groups that seek to take over public services, particularly at local level, could pursue policies and practices that result in increased discrimination against marginalised groups, particularly in service provision and the employment of staff. Non-religious people and those not seen to confirm to the dominant ethos of a religious body, such as being in an unmarried relationship or divorced and being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered, could find themselves subject to discrimination."
Unitarian Church (Submission to the Parliamentary Public Administration Select Committee about the Big Society agenda)
There are also concerns about faith-based mental health and pastoral care in public institutions, including chaplaincy programmes in the NHS and the armed forces. Where such services are funded by the state, they should not be organised around religion or belief.
Religious commentators are often keen to document the contribution of religious organisations to the third sector and social activism. But they fail to demonstrate why it should be the state's role to build this capacity or why local authorities shouldn't have legitimate concerns about religious groups running services.
Take Action!
1. Write to your MP
Ask your MP to protect secular public services.
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 reveals councils’ spending on discriminatory coroners’ service
Posted: Fri, 31 Aug 2018 07:00
The National Secular Society has criticised five north London councils for spending £56,000 on an out-of-hours coroners' service which has been exclusively designed to accommodate religious requests for fast treatment.
The councils in Haringey, Barnet, Brent, Enfield and Harrow will fund a "formal out-of-hours coroners' service for faith communities" at the North London Coroners Court, according to a briefing paper. Haringey Council released the paper in response to an NSS freedom of information request.
It says the service will be available "throughout the evening for urgent faith matters" on weekdays and between 10am and 12pm on Saturdays and Sundays. This will require a coroner and a member of staff to be on duty to provide support.
Haringey Council's paper cited the large Jewish and Muslim populations in north London and gave no justification for the service that did not relate to their wishes. As the 'relevant authority' in north London Haringey appoints the senior coroner with jurisdiction across the five council areas.
The council estimated that the scheme would cost a total of £56,000, not including funds required for the Metropolitan Police to cover the staff on duty. Each of the five councils involved in the new service will be asked to pay a sum proportionate to their total population to fund it.
The paper, which was released last week in response to an NSS freedom of information request, says the amount of work required to run the service "could increase" once it has been advertised and formalised.
As part of its justification it cites a recent High Court ruling that a neighbouring coroner's 'cab rank' policy was unlawful. The NSS said the councils had "misinterpreted" the judgement in that case, which concerned inner north London coroner Mary Hassell's refusal to prioritise requests based on religion.
Haringey is the 'relevant authority' for the north London area, meaning it appoints the senior coroner with jurisdiction over the five council areas.
In a response to the same request Barnet Council revealed that almost 5% of the money it spends on coroners will be for the out-of-hours service. The council said it has contributed £290,540 to the funding of the north London coroner's service in this financial year; £13,540 of this is for the out-of-hours service.
NSS spokesperson Chris Sloggett called the service "discriminatory" and said it would "encourage demand for bespoke treatment".
"Basic frontline public services are strapped for cash but these councils have reached behind the sofa to fund this premium, discriminatory service. The service has been exclusively designed to accommodate the wishes of some Jews and Muslims. And this decision will, by the leading council's own admission, increase demand for bespoke treatment.
"The councils need to explain why they have caved in to pressure from assertive faith groups. They need to explain why they expect all their residents to fund a service when the interests of many of them have been ignored in its creation.
"Those who drew up this policy have also misinterpreted the court's ruling in the case of Mary Hassell, where the judgement specifically said it would be wrong to give automatic priority to requests for religious burials.
"These councils should spend their money on decent public services for all."
In response to the revelations a spokeswoman for North London Coroner's Area told the Evening Standard religious concerns were a factor but the expanded service was for "any member of the community".
Mr Sloggett said this was "inconsistent with Haringey Council's own document" and "an unsatisfactory explanation".
"Haringey's briefing paper explicitly says this is a service 'for faith communities'. It doesn't mention anyone else or give any justification that relates to its benefit to all.
"And councils should be able to justify their spending on secular grounds. Can the coroners' service honestly say it has decided this spending will benefit all its citizens fairly, regardless of religion?"
Haringey's paper says the decision to introduce a formal service has been made amid "interest from both faith communities and politicians". Mayor Sadiq Khan and Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers are due to meet the senior coroner to discuss it. During the Hassell case the NSS wrote to the chief coroner to raise concerns about the impact of political interference on behalf of the religious groups.
The councils have run an informal out-of-hours service for "faith communities" for the last 10 years but have been planning to formalise the service since May 2017. The senior coroner for north London, Andrew Walker, announced the launch of the service in July.
Haringey Council says the coroners' service currently receives over 100 requests per year for different treatment for faith reasons.
Council proposes secular remembrance space following NSS intervention
Posted: Tue, 24 Jul 2018 08:57
The City of Edinburgh Council has proposed creating a new remembrance space without religious symbols following advice from the National Secular Society.
Following consultation with other local authorities, the Scottish government and NHS Lothian, the council has said it plans to create a new garden of remembrance at Mortonhall crematorium where babies' ashes may be interred.
The NSS wrote to the council in March after discovering that the ashes of babies who have shared cremations are interred in the garden of remembrance at Mortonhall crematorium, which has a large cross.
When most bodies are cremated at Mortonhall relatives have the option of taking away the ashes or having them interred in the garden of remembrance. But in the case of shared cremations for very young babies, the ashes cannot be retrieved on an individual basis and are all interred at the garden of remembrance.
No alternative arrangements are currently available for bereaved parents who opt for a shared cremation but do not wish for their baby's ashes to be interred in a space with Christian symbols. Parents who object must arrange a private funeral instead.
The NSS said in its letter to the council that its crematorium policies of meeting "all religious, secular, ethnic and cultural needs" and respecting "the wishes and needs of parents" in the sensitive issue of cremations for babies were "commendable" but that the council was failing to deliver them by not providing a non-Christian space.
"This can be resolved by ensuring a secular garden of remembrance is provided as standard for the interment of ashes," it said.
In a its annual report published last week, Scotland's HM Inspector of Crematoria said that "the lack of inclusive space for internment or scattering of ashes for those of a non-Christian faith or of no religion" had been raised recently.
The report added: "It has also been said that there is a lack of transparency in making this information known to applicants in advance of the cremation.
"There have also been concerns raised over the presence of Christian religious symbols, particularly the 'cross' in chapels and gardens of remembrance."
The proposed new garden of remembrance will be located in a separate area from the cross, and will be themed around the four seasons.
The council will make the final decision on approving the proposal after its recess at the beginning of August.
A spokesperson for the NSS said, "It is very positive to hear that City of Edinburgh Council is taking the issue of providing secular remembrance space seriously, and that it proposes to create a separate space away from the large cross at Mortonhall for interring babies' ashes.
"Funeral arrangements for very young babies are naturally an extremely sensitive issue, and so it is essential that the anguish of grieving parents is not further exacerbated by the unwanted presence of religious symbols in communal remembrance grounds.
"I sincerely hope the council will implement the proposal, and that other councils follow suit in re-evaluating their burial and funeral policies to ensure no one is disadvantaged."
In 2016 the NSS called on the government to ensure all state-owned crematoria are religiously neutral, allowing religious symbols to be added when requested.
Mortonhall crematorium made the national press in 2013, when more than 250 families discovered their children's remains had been disposed of without their knowledge. Staff at the crematorium buried baby ashes in secret and parents were told there were no ashes left when young babies were cremated.
Photo for illustrative purposes only.
