The secular state
A secular state is the opposite of a theocratic state and guarantees:
- freedom for everyone - religious and non-religious.
- freedom for individuals to practice their beliefs without interference - as long as they remain within the secular law.
- freedom and equality before the law - irrespective of gender, sexuality, age, race, disability or belief.
- freedom and equality for women.
- freedom from indoctrination - children are provided with open, comprehensive and impartial information about a wide range of religions and beliefs so that as adults they can make up their own minds as to which religion or belief (if any) they wish to follow.
- freedom of expression - the right to say what you like (within the secular law) no matter how distasteful others may find it.
- freedom to question, criticise and satirise, the beliefs of others. Only those insecure in their beliefs fear criticism or take offence when their ideas are ridiculed.
Many C of E Christians support the aims of secularism because they feel it would free the church from the trappings of the state and allow it to prove its place alongside other religions.
It would also be fairer in a society where people who are not active in any religion outnumber those who are active by at least nine to one.
Secular aims
- To separate church and state - at the moment the C of E is the state religion - this is not acceptable in the 21st century.
- To get religion out of law-making - at the moment C of E Bishops sit in the House of Lords and make our laws in their interests.
- To remove religious worship and religious instruction from schools.
We are not opposed to pupils learning about religions but we are totally opposed to pupils being instructed in a religion.
Please see our worship and RE page for more details.
- To end the apartheid of religiously segregated schools (euphemistically called "faith schools") by returning them to local authority control.
This will cost nothing since taxpayers already fund them 100%.
- To legislate against private schools that promote religion.
- To remove religious symbols from taxpayer-funded buildings.
- To remove special time and space being given to religions to promote their ideas in the public media.
Why should TV licence payers fund "Thought for the day" etc. when the views of the non-religious are deliberately excluded?
- To return religion to where it belongs - the private realm, not the public realm.
- To remove the rights of employees to demand religious privileges in their place of work.
If religious people want time-off to pray or to attend religious ceremonies, they should accept that they will not be paid for this time, and that such absences may make it impossible for them to be employed.
Companies should not be expected to subsidise religion.
Religious symbols should not be worn at work.
There is no place for "chapels" and "prayer" rooms" at work - we got rid of smoking rooms - why introduce religious rooms?
- To ensure that the views and beliefs of the non-religious are fairly represented on all local, regional and national bodies that previously consulted only religious organisations.
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Excuses for not having a secular state
- "It would be too difficult to unravel the church from the law."
No it wouldn't!
We have already made a start - we have quietly removed the right of the Prime Minister to appoint C of E Bishops, we have repealed the Blasphemy Act and taxpayers now pay 100% of the costs of all religiously segregated schools.
Anyway, since when has something being "difficult" been an excuse for not doing it? Some of us can do 48 difficult things before breakfast!
- "It is part of our heritage - it is traditional."
No it isn't!
Some of us live in houses that are older than the Church of England!
The C of E was invented as a sexual convenience by Henry VIII and as a result of the general unrest about the corruption of the Catholic Church. The C of E, as the established church, is a relatively modern invention.
There is no consistent "tradition" in Christianity - that's why the story has been expanded and embellished over the last 2,000 years and why there are at least 57 varieties of Christianity which has split and split again over increasingly minor issues of dogma and ritual. Ask a C of E priest to explain the debate about the nature of Jesus - many Christians are still not sure exactly what he was - or even if he was a real historical figure - after all, there is no hard evidence that he really existed at all!
Don't forget - "Christmas" as we know it - with its trees, presents and carol singing - was a purely Victorian invention.
- "It would change the role of the Queen."
No it wouldn't!
If the C of E still wants Elizabeth Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Wettin-Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg-Oldenburg-Windsor as its head, it is free to do so.
Dis-establishing the C of E does not change the role of the monarchy. Monarchists can still argue for a traditional monarchy and republicans can still argue that an elected president would be more suitable in the 21st century.
We must be careful
Religious schools make up one third of schools in England and worship and RE have been a legal requirement since the 1944 Education Act
The result is that there are more non-believers in England than in almost any country in the world. So, the present system seems to have worked - from our point of view.
Maybe the last thing we want is a system like the USA where the state and religion are (allegedly) separate - there is no RE and no worship in American schools so religious ideas from the home and church are never challenged. The result, unfortunately, is all too obvious - America is the home of Christian religious extremism.
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