Opinion
Faith schools foster unfairness and discrimination
Fairness and freedom should be central to state education. Recommendations from the UN child rights committee lay... Read More »
It’s religion’s critics, not believers, who are being pushed out of politics
Christian politicians have recently claimed they cannot talk openly about their faith. Megan Manson says recent events... Read More »
Why are councillors doing Islamists’ work for them?
After a councillor was denied mayoralty for criticising Islam, Jack Rivington warns politicians are playing into the... Read More »
Thanks, but no thanks: the US can keep its culture war
American efforts to export regressive religious views under the guise of the 'culture war' are to be resisted, argues... Read More »
Hold the Church to account for abuse – separate it from the state
The Church of England's increasingly dire record on safeguarding should have consequences for its established status,... Read More »
House of Lords makes politicians out of prelates
Religious leaders should be free to speak out on matters that concern them, but they should do so on the basis of... Read More »
The coronation isn’t for us. It’s for the Church.
As King Charles' coronation approaches, Megan Manson says we must stop letting the Church using our affairs of state to promote itself. Read More »
A coronation fit for a king, not a modern democracy
An exclusively Anglican religious ritual is no way to inaugurate a head of state in diverse Britain, argues Stephen... Read More »
Hospital chaplains: unfair, unevidenced, unnecessary?
NSS research shows the NHS significantly cut real-terms chaplaincy spending between 2009 and 2021. This is a step... Read More »
Why are safeguarding experts fleeing the Catholic Church?
Experts appointed to tackle abuse in the Catholic Church are quitting their roles. Keith Porteous Wood says this demonstrates... Read More »
Homophobic churches and liberal states make for unhappy bedfellows
Parliament should begin the process of disestablishment rather than try to fix the Church of England, argues Stephen... Read More »
Parliament’s rift with the Church shows the need to separate religion and state
MPs dismayed over the Church of England's position on homosexuality are pushing for legislation to permit the Church... Read More »
The state must stop faith schools behaving like cults
New research by the NSS has found some state funded faith schools' admissions policies are so extreme they appear... Read More »
We need to normalise blasphemy
Stephen Evans argues that the huge overreaction to a Quran being scuffed in Kettlethorpe is symptomatic of the adoption... Read More »
Why not judge politicians by their views?
Kate Forbes' religious beliefs have come under scrutiny as she bids to succeed Nicola Sturgeon, prompting suggestions... Read More »
A homophobic church shouldn’t be an arm of the state
Anglican bishops' stance on same-sex marriage shows Church and state have drifted apart. Formal separation should... Read More »
Happy Christmas, secular Britain
2022 was the year which made the case for secularism stronger than ever – not only in the UK but across the... Read More »
It’s not just the Census. Everywhere you look, the CofE is withering.
By every measure membership figures for Church of England are in freefall – and the church's increasingly outdated... Read More »
Secularism has never been so relevant and necessary – unlike the established church
The Census 2021 results reveal that for the first time, most people in England and Wales aren't Christian. Megan Manson... Read More »
Time for an Islamophobia self-awareness month
Recent incidents reveal pushing the term 'Islamophobia' is less to do with challenging genuine anti-Muslim bigotry,... Read More »
When it comes to religion, the BBC is showing its age
Radio 4's discriminatory 'Thought for the Day' slot is totemic of religious privilege at the BBC and should be the... Read More »
Show FIFA’s moral relativism the red card
Human rights defenders are perfectly entitled to ignore FIFA's plea to 'focus on the football' and use the World Cup... Read More »
Salman Rushdie and the women’s revolution in Iran are linked
There is a direct link between the threats and violence faced by Salman Rushdie and that faced by generations of women... Read More »
IICSA and clerical abuse: the devil in the detail
Richard Scorer unpacks the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and finds that while... Read More »
Our health system is failing to protect children from ritual circumcision
While UK medical bodies tie themselves in knots on ritual male infant circumcision, untold numbers of boys are being... Read More »