One of the National Secular Society’s primary aims is the secularisation of Britain’s education system. We campaign for an end to faith schools which we regard as divisive, discriminatory and unjust. We want all state-funded schools returned to community control, and all religious entry requirements or selection of children in order to produce good results abolished. We also want to end discrimination in employment by faith schools.

The Pope opposes universal equality and Human Rights. The National Secular Society think he should not be accorded the honour and recognition of a publicly funded State visit to our country.

The National Secular Society has concerns in several areas of health including conscience opt-outs for doctors and pharmacists, attempts by religious groups to control women's reproductive rights, PSHE and SRE (including sex education) in schools, non-medical circumcision, end of life issues, the use of condoms to prevent AIDS, so-called reparative therapy for homosexuals and the interference of the religious lobby in vital research. We also do not hold with public money being spent on the provision or promotion of unproven, and often potentially dangerous, 'alternative' therapies such as homeopathy, chiropractic and faith healing as the lack of evidence for their efficacy makes them effectively faith-based treatments.

There are many — maybe even the majority — of local councils in this country that start their meetings with Christian prayers. Non-believers and those of other religions are put in the embarrassing position of wondering whether to participate or pointedly not participate. It is unacceptable that elected representatives should be put through this archaic ritual in carrying out their duty.

The National Secular Society is concerned about religious threats to free expression. The Society’s 140 year campaign to abolish the blasphemy law in England succeeded in 2008 and it continues to protest about blasphemy laws in other parts of the world - in some places conviction can carry the death penalty.

Many religious groups are increasingly trying to prevent criticism - and even discussion - of their beliefs, while maintaining their own right to be judgemental. They often claim persecution and exclusion from public debate when facing even mild criticism.

One of the primary, long-terms aims of the National Secular Society is the disestablishment of the Church of England. This means separating Church and State, ending the privileged position of the Church of England with the Queen as both Head of the Church and Head of State.

We stand against the growing influence of religion on Government and the increasing desire of this current Government to involve religious bodies and individuals in the decisions of state, often in the name of multiculturalism. We believe this puts the large minority (maybe even a majority) of the population who are not religious at a disadvantage.

Elected members are in some cases guided by their beliefs even though these are not reflected in the constituency that elected them.

Public services that are intended for the whole community, especially those funded by public money, should be secular. The trend towards handing them over to religious control must be stopped, and the NSS is working to ensure that Faith Based Welfare does not impose religious conditions on service provision.

At present, 26 bishops of the Church of England have seats as of right in the House of Lords. The NSS has argued that this is unfair, undemocratic and undesirable. One of the Government’s proposals has been to extend religious representation in the Lords to other religions, rather than remove the bench of bishops. We think this is completely the wrong answer.

The NSS opposes religious rights taking precedence over Human Rights. We have been supportive of the Government’s Equality and Human Rights agenda. We have spoken favourably of the new legislation that brings legal protection to disadvantaged groups. We have also conducted campaigns against exemptions from this legislation for religious groups.

The NSS believes that the BBC devotes too much of its resources to the provision of religious propaganda, funded by the licence payer. We think that the amount of religious broadcasting is excessive - research has shown very few people watch it.

The NSS campaign for the law and the administration of justice to be based on equality, respect for human rights, and on objective evidence. No weight should be attached to religious doctrine or to belief in the supernatural.

As Lord Justice Laws said: "We do not live in a society where all the people share uniform religious beliefs. The precepts of any one religion – any belief system – cannot, by force of their religious origins, sound any louder in the general law than the precepts of any other. If they did, those out in the cold would be less than citizens, and our constitution would be on the way to a theocracy, which is of necessity autocratic."

The National Secular Society has been involved in campaigns relating to archeological remains, morals and ethics, the enforcement of school uniform policies and religious interference in the EU and the UN.

Animals should not be made to suffer unnecessarily to satisfy religious requirements concerning their slaughter.