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
Probation mentors lose ‘faith’!
Posted: Thu, 7 Jun 2012 14:21
Members of the Nottingham Secular Society became alarmed, early in March of this year, when the Nottinghamshire Probation Trust launched its 'Faith Mentoring Scheme'. Alarm bells rang, not just because of the scheme's title but because a mentor, also a member of an evangelical group, commented in an interview with the local BBC radio station that a Trust employee, who was also a member of the evangelical group, had told a church meeting that there were, "…opportunities to be had…"
Dennis Penaluna, President of Nottingham Secular Society, wrote to the County's Probation Trust seeking assurances that, amongst other things, there would be no proselytizing of probationers. His letter resulted in a meeting with the Trust's Deputy Chief Executive, Sheila Wright, where she began by saying that the letter had opened up an important debate within the Trust itself.
The meeting was described by Mr Penaluna as, "…full, frank, open and very useful. We discussed the rationale behind the scheme; the use of the word 'faith'; the ways in which its use excluded the majority, the non-religious, from the mentoring scheme and implications arising from the Equalities Act (2010).
Ms Wright assured me that the Trust would make it absolutely clear to all mentors that proselytizing was totally unacceptable and she would consider having questions asked in probationers' exit interviews which would ensure this was the case."
Last week he received this in an email:
"Following our meeting I returned to the organization and commissioned a full review of our recruitment/selection and training process of our mentors. Suffice to say the term faith has been dropped with immediate effect, and we will (be) issuing information on our website and elsewhere to reflect this change."
Mr Penaluna added, "Quiet dialogue can be very effective!"
We will pick up your VAT bill, Chancellor tells the Church
Posted: Fri, 18 May 2012 15:04
Places of worship have been singled out for preferential treatment following the removal of the zero VAT rating concession for alterations to listed buildings announced in the budget.
A concerted campaign by churches has led to the Chancellor agreeing to set aside £30 million per annum to compensate places of worship for the extra VAT resulting from the withdrawal of the concession. The government's offer is on top of £12m already provided to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme (LPWGS). No equivalent money is to be made available to listed secular buildings.
The Church of England has welcomed the government offer to fund alterations and repairs to the Church's 12,500 listed buildings.
The National Secular society, while accepting listed churches are important cultural icons, has argued that they should not be singled out for preferential treatment.
Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the National Secular Society said: "Places of worship should take their share of the pain, or some more money found for secular buildings."
This view was echoed by Shadow culture secretary Harriet Harman. While welcoming the £30 million, she said: "This Government's U-turn is a victory for the campaign by churches and local communities against a wrong-headed proposal in the shambolic Budget.
"But it won't help the National Trust, all the museums, galleries, theatres, libraries and community centres that are in listed buildings, and which are important for heritage, tourism and local communities."
Mr Porteous Wood said: "Like Harriet Harman, we believe secular listed buildings deserve relief rather than being once more denied privileges meted out to listed places of worship.
"We do not share the prevalent view that churches deserve special concessions denied to other listed buildings. The Church Commissioners assets' total around £3 billion, mostly in prime investment properties earning juicy returns. And many cathedrals charge very hefty entrance fees. Places of worship already receive vast sums from government, lottery and many other grant making bodies. And very substantial sums should be being generated from the sale of the many redundant churches without architectural merit."
It seems clear from the comments being made by church representatives that the ultimate aim is for the state to take over complete responsibility for the upkeep of churches. The wife of the Dean of Wakefield, Pamela Greener, said that the £30 million did not provide a long-term solution, and called for further discussions. "It would be churlish not to welcome the Government's increased funding, following their shock Budget tax raid on the nation's heritage," said told the Church Times. "So, although I am grateful to the Chancellor and his team for listening to the outcry they provoked, I urge the Church not to build its house upon the sand of the Listed Places of Worship Scheme — which is not based in law and therefore has an insecure future."
See also: VAT a disgrace
