Lethargy in the UK: How not to accommodate religion or belief

Sandberg, Russell ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4310-9677 2025. Lethargy in the UK: How not to accommodate religion or belief. Gliszczyńska-Grabias, A. and Hacohen, A., eds. Freedom of Religion, Minority Rights and the Law, Routledge, pp. 288-310. (10.4324/9781003423294-17)

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Abstract

This chapter explores the main trends in the constitutional and legal protection of religion or belief in the United Kingdom (UK). Recognising the divergent religion-State approaches in the various nations of the UK, it is argued that the regulation of religion remains shaped more by historical happenstance than the sociological reality. The absence of a written constitutional document and civil or criminal codes means that the law relating to religious freedom is dispersed, and, although there are some 21st-century laws on the matter conceptualising freedom of religion or belief as a human right and protecting against discrimination on grounds of religion or belief, many laws are archaic and reflect a much more socially and culturally religious country than the UK is today. This is epitomised by the existence of a State Church: the established Church of England. However, the prevalence and influence of religion is not only found at the constitutional level. It can also be found, for instance, in laws on education and marriage that continue to favour the established Church of England in particular and Christianity in general, giving little protection to and often excluding non-religious beliefs. This is not compatible with human rights expectations and 21st-century social norms, and so this chapter argues that the UK now provides a good example of how not to accommodate freedom of religion or belief. This ineptness, it is contended, is largely accidental and is the result of the UK Government not focusing on matters of social justice due to an obsession with ideological financial austerity and the exiting of the European Union, which has perpetuated hostility towards the very notion of human rights.

Item Type:	Book Section
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Law
Subjects:	K Law > KD England and Wales
Publisher:	Routledge
ISBN:	9781003423294
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 October 2025
Last Modified:	30 Oct 2025 12:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/181975

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