Letter: Disestablish the Church of England

Tell your MP: Separate church and state

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 disestablishment, to make the UK a more equitable and democratic country for people of all religions and beliefs.

You can use the below template to share the report and its findings and recommendations with your MP; just enter your postcode to get started. Please consider taking the time to personalise it. Let your MP know:

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Dear {{name}},

I'm writing to ask you to please support Lord Scriven's Private Member's Bill to disestablish the Church of England.

The 2021 census confirmed that less than half the population in England and Wales is Christian, while the numbers of people who have no religion or follow other religions are steadily increasing. As we are officially no longer a Christian country, the presence of an established church is undemocratic, unfair and absurd. I therefore hope you will call for the disestablishment of the Church of England to be given serious consideration.

The Church has enjoyed significant privileges relating its established status for many centuries: reserved seats in the House of Lords, Anglican prayers in parliament and all schools, control over thousands of our state-funded schools, and unique access to resources and political power, to name but a few.

These privileges have remained largely unchanged despite the massive and continuing reduction in support for the Church in the UK. Fewer that 1% of the English population attend Anglican services on the average Sunday. Realistically, this trend is irreversible for the foreseeable future, making the case for the Church of England's establishment unsustainable.

The church’s values are increasingly at odds with those of the British people. At its latest international conference, it re-affirmed gay sex and marriage as sin. Our monarch, as head of the church, is oath-bound to uphold this dehumanising doctrine. It also upholds sexist policies within its own ranks. State-sanctioned homophobia and misogyny can have no place in the tolerant, pluralist society that Britain is today.

Indeed, far from acting as the moral compass of this country, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse found the church prioritised its own reputation over the “physical, emotional and spiritual well-being” of children sexually abused at the hands of its members.

The case for disestablishment has never been stronger. In a country which claims to uphold the equal treatment of all its citizens, whatever their religion or belief, the existence of an established church is a deep anomaly. It is high time its established status was consigned to history.

I therefore urge you to support Lord Scriven's bill and the separation of church and state.

I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

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Letter: Disestablish the Church of England

Tell your MP: Separate church and state

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