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.
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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 welcomes ‘fair and equitable’ draft coroner protocol
Posted: Fri, 20 Jul 2018 10:49
The National Secular Society has welcomed a new draft protocol for prioritising deaths reported to a London coroner, calling it "fair and balanced".
Mary Hassell, Senior Coroner for Inner North London, drafted the protocol following a High Court ruling in April against her policy of refusing to prioritise work for religious reasons.
Adath Yisroel Burial Society (AYBS) took the legal action against Ms Hassell over her withdrawal of an arrangement which gave priority to Jewish families who wanted their relatives' bodies returned quickly to allow them to carry out quick burials.
Ms Hassell withdrew the arrangement in October 2017 citing unreasonable behaviour from AYBS representatives towards her staff. She then said deaths would not be prioritised because of the religion of the deceased or their families.
But the court's judgment said coroners could not "lawfully exclude religious reasons for seeking expedition of decisions". It said coroners' policies needed to be "flexible" and enable "all relevant considerations to be taken into account". It added that it would be wrong for coroners to prioritise cases automatically for religious reasons.
The new draft protocol, released in July, says, "When considering the order of prioritisation, the sitting coroner will take all known factors into account." This includes if the deceased is "of a religion or culture where observers commonly seek early funeral", as is frequently the case in Jewish and Muslim communities.
Other factors include "family wishes expressed direct to the coroner's officer" including via a "faith or community representative", if the family and friends of the deceased "are resident abroad and with limited time in the UK", and "if the deceased is a child".
Stephen Evans, executive director of the National Secular Society, welcomed the draft protocol. "What is being proposed is a fair and equitable approach to balancing the rights and preferences of the community and individuals under the coroner's jurisdiction," he said.
"The protocol makes it clear that coroners should consider the religion of the deceased when deciding on which cases to prioritise."
"It also makes it clear that religion should not be the sole factor in the coroner's decision, and that there are a number of other factors that should also come into play."
"The protocol is fully in-line with April's ruling that policies for prioritising deaths should take all relevant into account."
But Rabbi Asher Gratt from AYBS criticised the draft protocol, saying: "Why is she creating unnecessary road-blocks to consider every case for prioritisation and not just those who ask for it?"
"She is clearly determined to continue causing irreparable hurt and offence to vulnerable bereaved families by pushing everyone into the fast-track lane so being prioritised becomes meaningless."
Mr Evans called Rabbi Gratt's criticism "wholly unjustified."
He added, "AYBS appear to have no regard for anyone else or the other valid reasons for prioritisation. The sense of entitlement is astonishing. This appears to be nothing more than character assassination."
The protocol was drafted following a public consultation in June.
Read more: 'We'll all suffer if we let religion dictate how public servants do their jobs'
NSS backs campaign to save town hall in west London
Posted: Mon, 2 Jul 2018 16:22
The National Secular Society has backed a campaign to prevent a town hall in west London from being leased out to a local Hindu temple.
Last year Ealing Council decided to lease Southall Town Hall to Vishwa Hindu Kendra temple, which occupies the adjacent building, for 250 years.
The town hall is Grade II listed. Charities and community organisations, such as the Southall Community Alliance (SCA) and the Migrant Advice and Advocacy Service, currently use its offices.
A judicial review into the council's decision is due to be heard at the High Court on Wednesday and Thursday this week. The case has been brought by a member of the Save Southall Town Hall campaign.
At a previous hearing a deputy judge said the council must explain how it has considered the community value and use of the building and show it has undertaken an equality impact assessment.
Janpal Basran of SCA, which is part of the campaign to stop the hall's conversion, has said the sale "defies all logic" as the price is well below market value. The lease is being sold for £2.1m, while far smaller retail properties in the area are selling for £2m.
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said the case highlighted the need to preserve secular community spaces.
"In an increasing diverse society, it's vital that we protect and preserve secular spaces which play such an important role in bringing people of all faith and ethnic backgrounds together.
"Southall Town Hall is a much-loved community asset — plans to lease it for the exclusive use of one particular section of the community tramples all over its rich history of pluralism and multiculturalism. It's a form of cultural vandalism which must be resisted."
Harsev Bains of SCA told The Hindu: "We aren't opposed to it because a temple is involved. It wouldn't matter if it was to a Christian, Sikh, Muslim or Hindu organisation.
"We are opposed to the sale of a community asset. It's the last secular building we have where the multicultural, multi-religious, diverse communities in Southall can come together."
The campaign is also being backed by Southall Black Sisters (SBS), which campaigns for the rights of women in minority communities.
In a statement on the proposal – and another plan to sell a town hall in Ealing to a hotelier – SBS said: "These spaces are central to the work of many community groups representing the most vulnerable sections of our society who otherwise would not have access to knowledge and information or the opportunity to participate in community events.
"The demise of democratic and secular spaces will only exacerbate the isolation, inequality and marginalisation that is felt by the poorest and most vulnerable in our communities. As one of our users, a survivor of domestic violence, recently said: 'it feels as if the local authority is trimming the feathers of a bird and then telling it to fly.'"
Ealing Council has sold a number of properties in recent years, including libraries and community centres, as it has faced funding pressures.
In a letter to the local MP last year, council leader Julian Bell said the decision to sell the town hall had been made because of budget cuts and the "significant" capital investment needed to keep it safe and usable.
Image: © Nigel Cox, via Geograph [CC BY-SA 2.0]
