Message from the National Secular Society's Executive Director, Keith Porteous Wood
Those of us who value reason are alarmed about the increasingly extreme religious influence in our Government, on our lawmakers, and in our public institutions – especially our education system. Many people, while standing up for freedom of religion, and freedom not to believe, feel that the proper place for religion is in the place of worship or home. They see the danger of religion becoming too politically ambitious.
The NSS is a rallying point for opposition to this religious resurgence. We must convince our politicians and public servants — as well as our friends, neighbours and colleagues — that our institutions and public life should be secular. A secular state should guarantee freedom of conscience, but eliminate religious privilege.
The only way to prevent the kind of religious power-seeking that leads to conflict is to make both religious discrimination and religious privilege constitutionally impossible.
We need a secular constitution that will:
- End the privileged input of religious bodies to policy making and law-making
- Keep all public services free from religious control so that that they remain equally available to all on the same terms
- Abolish the established Church and all its privileges (including 26 bishops in the House of Lords)
- Put an end to the divisiveness of publicly-funded religious schools by making them open to all (both pupils and staff) without discrimination on grounds of religion, or lack of it, and bringing them under local authority control
- Abolish repressive laws that impinge on freedom of speech and expression, rather than extend them
Religious influence in Government has not been higher in living memory. The rise of fundamentalist religion of all shades has the potential to seriously erode hard-won freedoms and rights.
Individually, we can only watch the growing threat, but working together we can make a difference. Join the fight for a truly secular society and join the National Secular Society today.
Keith Porteous Wood
Executive Director
National Secular Society
