The British monarch is required to take on the role of Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
No head of state should promote an official religious preference.
Let's end the ties between our head of state and the Church.
Our head of state, the monarch, holds the title 'Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England'.
This means the monarch must also be a full member of the Church of England – an anachronism in one of the least religious and most religiously diverse countries in the world.
Despite dwindling congregations, the monarch must also take an oath to maintain the Church of England and to preserve the Church of Scotland.
The position of head of state should not be reserved for members of one particular faith. Most countries allow citizens of any religious affiliation to be head of state. Everyone should be free to follow any personal faith, or none. The monarch is the only person in the country not free to have whatever personal faith they wish or have none at all.
Only 34% of the public think future British monarchs should be required to be members of the Church of England and keep the title of supreme governor of the Church of England.
The ties between the Church and the monarchy are typified by the coronation. The UK is the only democracy to have such an explicitly Christian ceremony for its head of state's accession, with the monarch pledging to maintain the "Laws of God" during an Anglican coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey. The Church has a key role in the coronation of a new monarch, who is crowned and anointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The coronation also has sectarian anti-Catholic overtones. Catholics are explicitly excluded from becoming monarch.
The monarch's declaration of preferential status for one denomination of one religion renders everyone who is not of that religion less than full citizens.
If British monarchs are to continue acting as head of state, they should relinquish the role of head of the Church in order to end the unfair privilege afforded to the Church of England, and show equal regard for citizens of all faiths and none.
Take Action!
1. Write to your MP
While our Head of State is also the head of the established church, we cannot have church-state separation. 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
Belgian monarchy rocked by Queen’s tax avoidance plans
Posted: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 13:14
Belgium plans to slash the annual stipend of the dowager Queen Fabiola after politicians learned she had set up a private foundation to provide for nieces and nephews and for her favourite Catholic charities after her death.
Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo told MPs he wanted to cut the payment from €1.4 million (£1.18m) to €923,000 (£776,000). The widow of the late King Baudouin – a devout Catholic who in 1990 stepped aside temporarily to avoid signing the country's abortion bill – insisted the money came from property inherited from her Spanish family.
The 84-year-old now says she has dissolved a charitable vehicle founded in September that allowed her to pass on monies.
The emergence of the plan a few weeks ago provoked rare outrage in political and media circles in Belgium and has rocked the monarchy to its foundations.
"This weighs heavily on me," Fabiola said of the storm that her activities caused. "It was never my intention to finance this foundation with monies from my stipend, but with monies from my inheritance and my Godfather."
Monarch’s role as head of Church of England “unsustainable”
Posted: Tue, 15 May 2012 00:03
The National Secular Society says that the Queen's or any future Monarch's role as Supreme Governor of the Church of England is unsustainable – despite the results of a new poll showing that 79% of British adults think that the Queen still has an important "faith role".
The ComnRes poll for the BBC also shows that 73% of respondents agree that the Queen and future monarchs should keep the titles of Supreme Governor of the Church of England and Defender of the Faith.
Meanwhile, just one in four think the Queen and future monarchs should not have any faith role at all.
By comparison, opinion is more divided regarding Prince Charles's suggestion that he should be Defender of Faith (as opposed to Defender of the Faith; 50% agree that if Prince Charles becomes King, his title should become Defender of Faith, compared to 35% who disagree.
Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, said: "Britain is a very different country to what it was when the Queen came to the throne in 1952. We can no longer sustain the idea that the Church of England is of any real significance to the vast majority of people.
"Attendance at churches continues to fall – now only one in fourteen is in church on a normal Sunday and the rising proportion who declare themselves to be non-religious is around the same as those declaring themselves Christian.
"If the Queen declares an allegiance to, and indeed preferential status for, only one religion — as she did at her coronation — then it renders everyone who is not of that religion to be less than full citizens.
"Prince Charles's suggestion that he be "Defender of Faith" would be a step forward, but the ultimate goal must surely be for the Church of England to be disestablished and for Britain to be a secular democracy that includes everyone of whatever creed or none without privilege or disadvantage. No head of state, be they monarch or not, should express any religious preference, far less be under a formal obligation to sustain one.
"The monarch should be free to follow any personal faith, or none, but the monarch is the only person in the country not free to have whatever personal faith they wish, or have none at all.
"The monarchy's role in this country is now almost entirely ceremonial anyway, and its relevance will be continually reduced as demographic trends of diversity continue. If the monarchy is to survive as anything more than a sentimental relic, it will have to face up to the fact that this country has changed radically over the past three generations. The next monarch must move on or be left behind as a Ruritanian-style sideshow.
"Despite dwindling congregations, British monarchs promise in their Coronation oath to maintain privileges for the Church of England. It is unacceptable that only a protestant Christian can be head of state. Neither could be less appropriate in one of the least religious and most religiously diverse countries in the world. Practically all western democracies have abandoned the medieval concept of establishment, most recently Sweden.
"That younger people are so markedly less enthusiastic about a religious monarchy is a sign that this is the way we should be changing the oath for those that will be our head of state in future generations."
Had the question about whether 'the Queen and future Monarchs should have any faith role or title at all' not mentioned the Queen, we are convinced that the result would have been much more in favour of no faith role.
