Challenges for Religion in a Secular Society
Religion and the State in Britain
Britain is unusual among modern democracies in having an established religion — the Church of England. The Monarch is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, a title established by Elizabeth I’s Act of Supremacy in 1559 (Henry VIII’s 1534 Act had made him “Supreme Head”, a title Elizabeth deliberately softened to “Supreme Governor”). This means Christianity is woven into the fabric of British public life in ways that are often invisible until they are contested.
The most visible sign of this is in Parliament: Church of England bishops — known as the Lords Spiritual — sit in the House of Lords and can vote on legislation. Twenty-six senior bishops currently hold these seats, including the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. Critics argue this gives one religion an undemocratic privilege in a multi-faith society; supporters say the bishops bring a moral and pastoral voice that purely party-political peers may lack.
Beyond Parliament, the Church provides services that touch all citizens: church schools educate roughly a quarter of all state primary pupils in England; religious services mark national events such as royal funerals, state openings of Parliament, and Remembrance Sunday; and public holidays such as Christmas and Easter reflect the Christian calendar. These arrangements are often called “soft establishment” — the legal and cultural intertwining of Christianity with state identity.
The Monarch is Supreme Governor of the Church of England; Church of England bishops sit in the House of Lords; church schools educate roughly a quarter of state primary pupils in England; and public holidays such as Christmas and Easter reflect the Christian calendar.
Secularisation: The Decline of Religion’s Public Role
Secularisation describes the long-term shift in which religion becomes less central to how societies organise themselves and how individuals make decisions. In Britain, church attendance has fallen sharply since the 1950s: the 2021 census was the first in which fewer than half of respondents described themselves as Christian. The sociologist Steve Bruce argues that modernisation — through science, individualism and social pluralism — inevitably weakens religious authority.
Secularisation affects religion in several overlapping ways. Institutional secularisation means that laws, schools and hospitals are no longer controlled by religious bodies. Individual secularisation means that people make ethical decisions — about divorce, sexuality or end-of-life care — without consulting religious teaching. Cultural secularisation means that religious symbols, language and festivals lose their original meaning and become largely commercial (as many argue has happened to Christmas).
The Education Act of 1988 required all state schools to hold a daily act of collective worship that was “wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character.” This remains law today, though many schools do not fully comply. The Act also made Religious Education compulsory — though parents retain the right to withdraw children.
This creates a genuine tension. Secularists and humanists argue that imposing Christian worship on children of all backgrounds in a diverse society is both unfair and counterproductive. Faith groups and many Christians argue that introducing children to religious reflection — even broadly — builds moral character and cultural literacy. The existence of faith schools sharpens this debate: state-funded schools run by religious bodies can, within limits, prioritise admission of pupils from their own faith community, teach from a faith perspective, and appoint staff on religious grounds.
Humanism: An Alternative Worldview
Humanism is not simply the absence of religion — it is a positive worldview with its own values, methods and organisations. In Britain, Humanists UK (formerly the British Humanist Association) represents and campaigns for people who hold a naturalistic, reason-based view of the world. Humanists believe that human beings are capable of determining right and wrong through reason and empathy alone, without needing divine commands or sacred texts.
Humanists support a fully secular state: they argue that laws should be based on evidence and the common good, not on the teachings of any one religion. They have campaigned for the removal of bishops from the House of Lords, for an end to compulsory acts of worship in schools, and for inclusive sex education. The National Secular Society takes a similar position, arguing for a strict separation of religion and state. The Sunday Assembly — sometimes called the “atheist church” — offers community gatherings with music, reflection and speakers, meeting the social functions that many people find in religion without any supernatural beliefs.
Humanists UK (formerly the British Humanist Association) campaigns for a fully secular state: removal of bishops from the Lords, ending compulsory school worship, and inclusive relationships education. The National Secular Society and Sunday Assembly pursue related goals from secular perspectives.
Religion, Law and Equality
Some of the sharpest conflicts between religious teaching and secular law arise over equality and family law. The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination on grounds including sex, sexual orientation, race, and religion or belief. For most religious organisations, this presents no difficulty — they have long-standing commitments to fairness and human dignity. However, tensions arise when religious teaching appears to conflict with protected characteristics.
The most discussed example is same-sex marriage. The Church of England and the Catholic Church in England and Wales teach that marriage is between a man and a woman — a view they ground in scripture (for instance, Exodus 20:13 and broader creation theology) and natural law. The state legalised same-sex civil marriage in 2014. Religious organisations were given an explicit exemption: they are not required to conduct same-sex marriages. However, some Christians argue that even operating within a society where same-sex marriage is legal creates moral difficulty.
Forced and arranged marriages create a different kind of tension. Arranged marriages — where families introduce partners but both parties freely consent — are not illegal and are practised in many religious communities. Forced marriages, where consent is absent, are a criminal offence. Religious communities themselves have often been vocal in condemning forced marriage; the tension is not between religion and law but between genuine religious practice and abuse carried out in a religious context. The government’s Forced Marriage Unit works with community leaders, including imams and Hindu community representatives, to address the issue.
Medical ethics is another arena where religious and secular values regularly clash. Most religious traditions assert the sanctity of human life from conception, grounding this in texts such as Psalm 139:13 (“you knit me together in my mother’s womb”) and Exodus 20:13 (“You shall not murder”). This leads many Christians, Muslims, and members of other faiths to oppose euthanasia and to restrict their acceptance of abortion. Secular ethicists often prioritise self-determination — the idea that individuals should have control over their own bodies and end-of-life choices.
Genetic manipulation raises questions about the creation of life and the limits of human intervention in natural processes. Therapeutic gene editing — correcting inherited diseases — receives more cautious religious support than the creation of “designer babies” selected for non-medical traits. Humanists tend to support medical advances that reduce suffering; the key question for them is whether the science is safe and used fairly, not whether it violates divine intentions. Religious objectors argue that such techniques treat human embryos as raw material, undermining their inherent dignity.
Key Concepts: Tolerance and Freedom
Underlying all these debates are competing understandings of tolerance, freedom of belief, freedom of expression, and freedom of practice. In a plural society, these freedoms are in constant negotiation. Religious believers ask for the freedom to live according to their convictions, including in public and professional life. Secularists ask that no one worldview — including any particular religion — be given privileged authority over others. The question of whether secular values should take precedence over religious values — or whether a genuine dialogue between them is possible — is central to this theme.