The UK is one of the last western democracies with a state religion: the Church of England.
The Church's entanglement with the state is bad for both.
Join our campaign to disestablish the Church.
CAMPAIGN ALERT: Support the disestablishment bill
In November 2023, a private member's bill to disestablish the Church of England was selected in the ballot.
Please write to your MP and urge them to support this bill, to make the UK are more equitable and democratic country for people of all religions and beliefs.
Since our founding in 1866, one of our primary objectives has been disestablishment of the Church of England: its formal separation from the state.
More than 150 years later, census figures show most people in England and Wales are not Christian. Surveys consistently reveal a similar picture in Scotland. The case for disestablishment has never been stronger.
Disestablishment means the Church would no longer have privileged input into government - but also that government could not involve itself in the running of the Church. Both sides would gain autonomy. This is why support for Church-state separation can be found within the CofE itself.
There have been many proponents, religious and non-religious, for church-state separation, and there are a wide variety of motivations for supporting this reform.
The existence of a legally-enshrined national religion privileges one part of the population, one institution and one set of beliefs. Removing all symbolic and institutional ties between government and religion is the only way to ensure equal treatment to citizens of all religions and none.
The Church of England has enjoyed significant privileges relating its established status for many centuries. These privileges have remained largely unchanged despite the massive and continuing reduction in support for the Church in the UK. It is highly likely that this trend will continue for the foreseeable future, making the Church of England's continuation as the established church unsustainable.
- Christians are a minority in Britain. In Wales and Scotland the majority have no religion.
- Just 1% of 18-24 year olds say they belong to the Church of England.
- Less than 1% of the population regularly attend Church of England church services.
The Church of England is also out of step with the UK public on several key issues: it remains opposed to same-sex relationships and allows parishes to reject women as bishops and priests. These discriminatory positions cannot be reconciled with the Church's status as part of the UK state.
And no institution with the shameful historical record of the Church of England safeguarding and abuse should retain its privileged role in the British establishment.
The existence of a legally enshrined national religion privileges one part of the population, one institution and one set of beliefs. Removing all symbolic and institutional ties between government and religion is the only way to ensure equal treatment of citizens of all religions and none.
Take action!
1. Write to your MP
Ask your MP to support the separation of church and state
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
Cabinet ministers to speak at Christian nationalist conference
Posted: Tue, 9 May 2023 08:17
The National Secular Society has expressed alarm over plans for cabinet ministers to speak alongside anti-LGBT campaigners at a conference organised by Christian nationalists.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman MP and Communities minister Michael Gove MP will deliver keynote speeches at the National Conservativism conference (NatCon) in London next week, according to the conference website.
Other MPs and peers, including former minister Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, are also confirmed as attending as speakers.
NatCon is based on a 'Statement of Principles' which asserts "public life should be rooted in Christianity" where a "Christian majority" exists.
The Statement of Principles adds that no nation "can long endure without humility and gratitude before God and fear of his judgment" and that for millennia "the Bible has been our surest guide" to "public morals" and "political traditions". Christianity's "moral vision", it says, should be "honoured by the state and other institutions both public and private".
It also appears to reject same-sex relationships, stating "the traditional family" is built around a "bond between a man and a woman" and is "the source of society's virtues".
The Statement of Principles embodies many characteristics of Christian nationalism. The Christian nationalist movement in the US, which saw a rise during the Trump administration, holds that the US is meant to be a Christian nation. Christian nationalist campaigners have been linked to the revocation of the right to an abortion and the January 2021 attack on the Capitol.
The conference is organised by the Edmund Burke Foundation, a US group with the aim of "strengthening the principles of national conservatism in Western and other democratic countries".
Same sex marriage is "a really bad social experiment"
Speakers at this year's conference include Kevin Roberts, head of the right-wing US think tank The Heritage Foundation. In an interview with the New York Post, Roberts set out his desire to repeal the constitutional right to same-sex marriage in the US: "We would like to see a court case go up to the Supreme Court and completely tear out, root and branch, Obergefell."
Asked if that would mean existing same-sex marriages would have to be annulled, Roberts replied: "I hope so. That would be good for civil society". He described same-sex marriage as "a really bad social experiment that we're only beginning to see the rotten fruit of" and claimed the effects of children raised in such families are "negative."
Christian group "has contended that LGBTQ people are more likely to engage in paedophilia"
Lois McLatchie, spokesperson of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) UK, a Christian activism group will also be in attendance. ADF-UK is an 2018 offshoot of the US based ADF, which according to the Southern Poverty Law Center has "supported the recriminalisation of sexual acts between consenting LGBTQ adults in the U.S. and criminalization abroad; has defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people abroad; has contended that LGBTQ people are more likely to engage in paedophilia; and claims that a 'homosexual agenda' will destroy Christianity and society."
ADF also seeks to "recover the robust Christendomic theology of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries".
An investigation by openDemocracy found ADF had spent more than £410,000 in the UK between 2017 and 2019.
Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, who said the 2020 US election was "stolen", will also speak.
Previous speakers: Tucker Carlson and Josh Hawley
Previous conference speakers include former Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson, who once described Iraqis as "semi-literate primitive monkeys" and has said immigrants make the US "dirtier". Senator Josh Hawley, who raised objections to certifying the electoral college count in the 2020 US election, has also spoken at NatCon.
NSS: 'Ministers should think carefully about sharing a stage with virulent homophobes'
NSS campaigns officer Alejandro Sanchez said: "It is alarming to see ministers headlining a conference to promote Christian nationalism.
"As we've seen from its rise in the US, Christian nationalism is corrosive to the principles of secular democracy. It puts theology at the heart of policy-making, making those of other religions and beliefs second-class citizens and stripping LGBT people of basic rights.
"We should be working to disentangle church from state in the UK to guarantee equality for all citizens of every religion or belief. Politicians aligning themselves with Christian nationalists will further entrench Christian privilege in our state, as well as putting the rights of LGBT people, women and non-Christians at risk.
"The government should think carefully about whether it wishes to lend this conference credibility by having senior cabinet ministers in attendance."
Coronation should trigger debate on church and state, says NSS
Posted: Tue, 2 May 2023 09:32
King Charles' coronation should trigger a debate on the future relationship between church and state, the NSS has said.
