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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Latest updates
NSS criticises Surrey Police for ‘engaging in evangelism’
Posted: Sat, 28 Apr 2018 08:00
The National Secular Society has criticised Surrey Police for engaging in evangelism after it accepted 1,000 branded bibles for distribution amongst officers and staff.
This week David Munro, the police and crime commissioner for Surrey, was pictured on Twitter brandishing a bible emblazoned with the force's badge. The book was one of 1,000 which have been made available in a joint initiative between the force's Christian Police Association and Gideons International.
The Gideons is an evangelical Christian organisation famous for leaving bibles in hotel rooms.
National Secular Society CEO, Stephen Evans, said it was "disappointing to see Surrey Police allowing itself to be used in this way".
"As public service providers, police forces should serve with impartiality and without fear or favour. Distributing badged bibles and brandishing them in publicity shots gives a strong impression of religious favouritism."
The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Surrey defended itself in a tweet.
"For avoidance of doubt Surrey PCC supports the wide range of beliefs & faiths (including non-religious) in policing and is national PCC lead for Equalities, Diversity & Human Rights," it said. "Surrey Police is a multi-faith organisation."
In response Mr Evans said it wasn't the role of the police to "support beliefs".
"Good policing will inevitably involve working in partnership with local people, including faith and belief communities. But police forces must maintain professionalism and a secular ethos and be careful not to allow themselves to be used in this way for proselytising."
Surrey Police's multifaith chaplaincy team has also assisted with the church-led 'Street Angels' initiative and 'Town Centre Chaplaincy'.
In 2012 a number of police forces in Scotland declined the offer of commemorative editions of the New Testament and Psalms from Gideons International. At the time, a UNISON spokesperson said: "It is not the role of a police force either to provide official endorsement of any religion or foist religious views on its staff."
The National Secular Society has written to David Munro, Surrey's Police and Crime Commissioner, requesting that the Force refrains in future from promoting any particular religion or belief outlook.
Image: © Dave Conner, via Wikimedia Commons [CC BY 2.0]
Court rules against coroner’s ‘cab rank’ policy
Posted: Fri, 27 Apr 2018 16:06
The National Secular Society has said religion must not "automatically entitle people to expedited access to public services" after a coroner lost in court over her 'cab rank' policy.
On Friday the High Court ordered Mary Hassell, the senior coroner for inner north London, to change her policy of refusing to prioritise work for religious reasons.
Hassell's policy said that "no death will be prioritised in any way over any other because of the religion of the deceased or family, either by the coroner's officers or coroners". Lord Justice Singh and Mr Justice Whipple ruled that it was incompatible with the Equality Act and articles nine and 14 of the Human Rights Act.
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".
But it added that it would be wrong for coroners to prioritise cases automatically for religious reasons.
The decision came after the Adath Yisroel Burial Society (AYBS), a Jewish group, brought a judicial review into Hassell's policy. Hassell withdrew a previous arrangement which granted special treatment to Jewish people in October 2017, citing unreasonable demands and behaviour from AYBS representatives towards her staff.
In its ruling the court said it hoped Hassell could "draft a new policy which met the needs of all concerned, including protection of the legal rights of all members of the community". It suggested taking advice from the chief coroner, Mark Lucraft QC, among others.
Before the hearing the NSS wrote to the chief coroner to express concern that political interference had unduly influenced proceedings. In his submission to the court Lucraft described Hassell's policy as "over-rigid", "not capable of rational justification" and "not lawful" – despite the fact he had previously called it "excellent".
His position changed after several prominent politicians spoke out against the policy, including several London-based MPs and the city's mayor, Sadiq Khan. The prime minister also responded to a question about the case in the House of Commons by saying it was "important that we take into account specific requirements of someone's faith".
In response to the court's ruling Stephen Evans, the NSS's CEO, said: "Despite ruling that this specific policy was too inflexible, the court has rightly recognised that religion isn't a trump card that gives an automatic right to preferential treatment. Indeed, the ruling is clear that it would be wrong to give automatic priority to cases for religious reasons.
"Whether to accord one case priority over another is for coroners to determine, and they should be free to make their decisions without harassment from religious communities. In Mary Hassell's case it was certainly fair to resist the unreasonable demands which were placed on her office.
"Religion must not automatically entitle people to expedited access to public services.
"Mary Hassell has been bullied and hounded for sticking up for the principle of equal treatment and resisting demands which were impossible to meet. This was a policy borne of frustration."
Coroners are independent judicial office holders responsible for investigating deaths where the cause of death is unknown or considered unnatural. The role is funded and resourced by local authorities.
After the ruling the vice president of the Board of Deputies, Marie van der Zyl, called on Ms Hassell "to consider her position". In response Mr Evans said "Mary Hassell's removal would set a very damaging precedent and embolden those who demand special treatment for religious groups".
