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.

The National Secular Society has concerns in several areas of health. One is that public money is not spent on the provision or promotion of unproven, and often potentially dangerous, 'alternative' therapies such as homeopathy, chiropractic and faith healing.

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 intolerable that elected representatives should be put through this 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.

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.

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 stands for Human Rights before religious 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.

The National Secular Society have been involved in campaigns relating to religious slaughter for meat, enforcement of school uniform policies and religious interference in the EU and the UN.