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 asks NHS Choices to review advice on fasting during Ramadan
Posted: Tue, 12 Jun 2018 12:03
The National Secular Society has asked NHS Choices to review health advice on its website which draws heavily on Islamic theology.
A page on the website, which purports to advise people on fasting during Ramadan, includes lines such as "children are required to fast when they reach puberty". On the question 'Can I use an asthma inhaler during Ramadan?' it says "Muslim experts have differing opinions on this issue".
It says breastfeeding mothers should make up for their lack of fasting at a later date, people on dialysis should "perform fidyah" (pay a form of 'compensation' for missing the fast) and it is "a good idea" for children to "practise fasting for a few hours at a time".
NHS Choices says the advice was "put together by medical experts and Islamic scholars and researchers".
In our correspondence with NHS Choices we wrote: "We have no objection to the NHS issuing health advice on fasting during Ramadan. But the public expects the NHS to give impartial, unbiased medical information.
"It is not the place of the NHS to dispense religious teachings. We ask that NHS Choices review this document and remove references to theological teachings so that it complies with NHS Choices' policy of providing objective, impartial and evidence-based information on healthcare."
Our chief executive Stephen Evans said: "It's reasonable for the NHS to offer advice on fasting and to highlight that advice during Ramadan, when many British people choose to fast.
"But taxpayers fund the NHS to look after their health. They don't fund it to play the imam. The health advice it provides should therefore be drafted by medical experts rather than Islamic scholars. The health service shouldn't be afraid of contradicting religious leaders when that's the right thing to do."
The information was last reviewed in 2017 and the next review is not due until April 2020.
No need to prioritise requests based on religion, says chief coroner
Posted: Thu, 17 May 2018 15:40
Coroners in England and Wales are not obliged to give automatic priority to requests which come from particular religious communities, the chief coroner has said.
In guidance issued on Thursday, Mark Lucraft QC said a recent court decision did not "require a coroner to give automatic priority to deaths from religious communities, nor does it require coroners to drop other important work to deal with such deaths".
"The court also recognised that other deaths may require urgent handling for non-religious reasons," he added.
The National Secular Society welcomed this declaration but warned that requirements to "respect" representations based on religious belief, even when resources are scarce, should not be interpreted too broadly.
The guidance comes after the High Court told the senior coroner for north London to change her 'cab rank' policy, under which no death was prioritised for religious reasons, last month. The court said coroners' policies needed to be "flexible" and enable "all relevant considerations to be taken into account".
Lucraft also highlighted the fact the court had said coroners have a "margin of judgment" on whether to prioritise cases.
"The decision is one for the individual coroner, considering all the circumstances. Such a decision may only ordinarily be challenged if it is unreasonable or if it clearly fails to strike a fair balance between rights of the particular family and the interests of other families who might be affected."
He said the Hassell case had established that coroners "should be open to representations that a particular case should be treated as a matter of urgency (whether for religious or other reasons)" and that "proper respect should be given to representations based on religious belief".
The guidance noted that "some faith groups, particularly Jewish and Muslim, have religious and cultural wishes about treatment of a body and burial following a death". It said coroners should "pay appropriate respect to those wishes, within the framework of their legal duties and in the context of their other responsibilities".
It also said concerns about availability of resources "cannot be used as a reason to rule out giving consideration to proper requests for expedition on religious grounds".
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said: "The chief coroner's guidance largely reflects what the court judgement said in the Mary Hassell case: religion is one but only one consideration that coroners should bear in mind when prioritising their work.
"The guidance has made explicit the fact that coroners are under no obligation to give priority to requests which are based on religion. That's a relief – the alternative would have been utterly unfair and unsustainable.
"We're still concerned that coroners, especially those working in areas where assertive Jewish and Muslim community groups are very active, may face unreasonable demands on their time and services. It's very important that they are aware they are under no obligation to give in, and that those in power support them when they need to stand up to those demands.
"There are particular worries that the requirement to 'respect' religious beliefs may be interpreted too broadly and that coroners may feel under pressure to concede ground even when resources make it impractical to do so. Coroners will need support in exercising their margin of judgement in the face of religious demands."
