National Secular Society
 |
|
| Motto | Challenging religious privilege |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1866 |
| Founder | Charles Bradlaugh |
| Type | NGO |
| Legal status | Limited company |
| Headquarters | London |
|
Region
|
United Kingdom |
|
Membership
|
International Humanist and Ethical Union |
|
President
|
Terry Sanderson |
|
Executive Director
|
Keith Porteous Wood |
| Website | www |
The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no-one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. It was founded by Charles Bradlaugh in 1866 and is now a member organisation of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, endorsing the Amsterdam Declaration 2002.
The NSS, whose motto is "Challenging religious privilege", campaigns for a secular state where there is no established state religion; where religion plays no role in state-funded education, does not interfere with the judicial process nor does it restrict freedom of expression; where the state does not intervene in matters of religious doctrine nor does it promote or fund religious activities, guaranteeing every citizen's freedom to believe, not to believe or to change religion.
Although the organisation was explicitly created for those who reject the supernatural, the NSS does not campaign to eradicate or prohibit religion, arguing that freedom of religion, as well as freedom from religion, is a human right and that state sponsorship of selected religions encroaches upon that right. It holds that belief should be a private matter for the home or place of worship and does not belong in the public sphere. In seeking to represent the interests and viewpoints of atheists, the NSS is often critical of what it sees as the damaging effects of religion.
The National Secular Society was founded in 1866 with Charles Bradlaugh as President and Charles Watts as secretary. There were a number of secularist groups around the UK and they joined up to coordinate and strengthen their campaigns. The word secularism was coined by George Holyoake in 1851. The NSS’s principles asserted that "this is the only life we have, and that we should work for its improvement".
...
Wikipedia