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
Prison imams found to have links with Islamic extremism
Posted: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 16:51
Some of the imams working in UK prisons as chaplains have links with Muslim extremist groups, and may be contributing to the radicalisation of inmates, The Times newspaper has revealed.
The views of the groups concerned include advocating the killing of adulterers, the killing of women who have pre-marital sex and beating women.
According to the Muslim advisor for the Prison Service, Ahtsham Ali, in 2009 there were 203 Muslim chaplains employed by the Prison service. A Ministry of Justice document states that of the total number of chaplains, 80 were employed full-time. Prison chaplains are funded by the state, and since 1952, by law, every prison has been obliged to have one.
There are just under 12,000 Muslim prisoners in Britain's jails, with around 100 of them considered al-Qaeda-inspired Islamist terrorists, according to The Times.
The government says that it deploys imams in order to help steer Muslim inmates away from extremist paths, but there have been suggestions that some of these imams are in fact part of the problem of spreading extremism rather than part of the solution.
According to The Times report, the Prison Officers' Association has said that there is a "real problem" with inmates being radicalised, with some imams with radical views having "slipped through the net".
The Times highlights three imam chaplains with extremist links. One is Shaykh Yusuf Az Zahaby, who, along with being a chaplain and mentor in West Bromwich, is a leading member of Al Hikma Media. Al Hikma media is a preacher-run group which has expressed extremist views and whose members include Abdur Raheem Green, who supports the beating of women to "bring them goodness" and Shady Suleiman, who has promoted the killing of women who have pre-marital sex.
Another is Azadul Hussain, who has mentored prisoners in Bedford. He has shared material on his Facebook page from MPAC, an anti-Semitic Islamic extremist group that advocates killing adulterers.
A third chaplain with extremist links highlighted is Sahib Bleher, who had been a part-time chaplain at Woodhill high-security prison in Milton Keynes for eight years. He was also the general secretary of the Islamic Party of Britain, a political party that allegedly advocated the death penalty for public displays of homosexuality and wanted to transform Britain into an Islamic state. Mr Bleher denies that he has ever had extreme views.
Professor Anthony Glees, head of the centre for security and intelligence studies at the University of Buckingham has called for better vetting procedures in the recruitment of chaplains.
He described UK prisons as "a state-funded breeding ground for extremism."
He has also said that it is necessary to "stop confusing 'preachers' with 'chaplains'" and that "their religious qualifications should be properly checked, they should be required to preach in English and told they must keep clear of all political issues."
Professor Glees argues, that "what these 'preachers' do is put extreme views to prisoners - for example gays should be hanged, the Jews/CIA carried out 9/11, adulteresses should be stoned to death. They foment resentments and when you add extremism to resentment you get radicalisation and ultimately terrorism. Not every radical is a terrorist but every terrorist has been a radical."
According to a spokesperson for Her Majesty's Prison Service, it is "committed to tackling extremism in prison and chaplains are a vital part of this work, helping to challenge dangerous and distorted views. Muslim chaplains are subject to rigorous security vetting and checks — as are all prison staff. Any member of staff giving cause for concern will be dealt with robustly."
Prime Minister calls on Christians to be more "evangelical"
Posted: Thu, 17 Apr 2014 17:20
In his most recent effort to highlight his strong Christian faith and the importance of Christianity within the UK, David Cameron has called for Christians to be more "evangelical".
Mr Cameron criticised those promoting state neutrality on religion, saying they failed to grasp the role that religion can have in "helping people to have a moral code". He contrasted "secular neutrality" with "the Christian values of responsibility, hard work, charity, compassion, humility, and love".
He also expressed the hope that "we can [...] infuse politics with a greater sense of evangelism about some of the things we are trying to change. We see our churches as vital partners. If we pull together, we can change the world and make it a better place."
The Prime Minister's comments were made in an article authored by him, "My faith in the Church of England" and published in the Church Times.
He also announced that the government would be giving £8 million to a Church urban fund, Near Neighbours, which brings together people in religiously and ethnically diverse communities.
His article follows a video Easter message, in which he noted "countless acts of kindness carried out by those who believe in and follow Christ", and an Easter reception at Downing Street in which he called for an expansion in the role of faith and faith organisations in the UK.
His most recent comments come after church leaders have, for the second time in two months, made the headlines by publicly urging the government to take action on food poverty.
As part of a campaign organised by the End Hunger Fast, 47 bishops and over 600 non-conformist leaders and clergy from across all the major Christian denominations in Britain have co-signed a new letter calling for urgent Government action on food poverty
And in February, 27 bishops wrote to the Daily Mirror saying that Cameron had a moral duty to act on the growing number going hungry.
Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said: "The Prime Minister's description of Britain as a "Christian country" is one most people simply won't recognise.
"Around half the population don't belong to any religion and the religious among us follow an increasingly diverse range of faiths. They should not be made to feel like less than equal citizens by the prime minister asserting the moral superiority of Christianity.
"Mr Cameron is of course entitled to his personal beliefs but he must realise that as the Prime Minister of a democratic and diverse nation his remarks are wholly inappropriate.
"Non-Christians may feel particularly aggrieved by Mr Cameron's divisive assertion that we are a "Christian country", but everyone should be concerned at his suggestion that essential state functions such as education and welfare should be handed over to religious organisations."
