Secular Society new report- Religious charities promoting misogyny

[Imnobody4]

This is one for Jess Phillips.
NSS report: Religious charities promoting misogyny with impunity

National Secular Society https://share.google/qZfigF3EVM4fWR9Ld
Charities are promoting violence against women – including marital rape – under the guise of 'advancing religion', the National Secular Society has said in a new report.
A new report warns charity law needs 'urgent' review as charity regulators are 'failing' to tackle religious charities which promote misogyny.
The report, 'Mission and Misogyny', was published today by the NSS, which campaigns for reform of charity law.

mission-and-misogyny-read-the-full-report.pdf https://share.google/eu2yxTgToA0fSj2YI

Conclusions and recommendations
This report reveals a serious and widespread issue of religious charities promoting,
condoning or signposting various forms of misogyny: the subordination of women,
sexist modesty codes, and violence against women including marital rape and FGM.
In every case, religion is cited to justify the misogyny. And because registered charities
are entitled to extensive tax benefits, this amounts to indirect state support of misogyny
through public money.
Our case studies demonstrate that the presence of ‘the advancement of religion’ in the
list of recognised charitable purposes is a principal barrier to preventing charities from
promoting misogyny.
On the one hand, there is little to stop misogynistic religious institutions from
registering as charities in the first place. There is apparently little vetting of a charity’s
communications or ethos when it applies to become a charity, as demonstrated by
the number of newly registered charities the National Secular Society has discovered
promoting misogyny.
As long as a charity demonstrates that it is ‘advancing religion’,
there appear to be few other considerations about whether that charity is truly
benefitting the public.
On the other, once a religious charity does register, there is little the regulators can
do to stop it promoting or condoning misogyny.
As demonstrated by the repeated
offences of Green Lane Masjid, the Charity Commission for England and Wales’ strategy
of providing “advice and guidance” is ineffective.
OSCR is even more toothless; it refuses
to intervene at all on religious charities promoting misogyny if that misogyny is part of
the charity’s religious beliefs.
We will not end misogyny, and the discrimination, abuse and violence women face as
a result of misogyny, if we only treat its symptoms and not its causes.
Fundamentalist
religion is a key cause. By failing to tackle misogyny in religious charities, the state is not
only permitting misogyny – it is effectively supporting it.
Charities are meant to provide a public benefit. Misogyny is a form of hatred and
dehumanisation of half of all humanity: women and girls. Any charity which promotes
or condones misogyny is not benefitting the public; it is harming the public.
Tackling misogyny in religious charities is not easy. There is no quick fix; it will require a
thorough review and renewal of charity guidance, and a considerable reform to charity
law itself.
But ‘it’s too difficult’ cannot be used as an excuse for inaction. Misogyny is a life or death
issue.
Charity laws and systems which result in charities promoting the subordination
and abuse of women are fundamentally flawed. They call the integrity of the entire
charity sector into question.
That’s why we urge policymakers to adopt our recommendations, and ensure that
when it comes to misogyny in society, the charity sector is no longer a culprit.

Sorry about the formatting

Thank you very much for linking this.

Interesting and powerful.

And useful.

Thank you for sharing.

There is apparently little vetting of a charity’s
communications or ethos when it applies to become a charity, as demonstrated by
the number of newly registered charities the National Secular Society has discovered
promoting misogyny.

This is interesting. Why are there suddenly a number of new charities promoting misogyny? Is there a breakdown of the different religions represented by these charities OP?

It seems to me that they're talking about mosques. Almost all mosques in the UK are charities. I assume the vague phrasing about "religious charities" is because the NSS is hypersensitive about its progressive image and wouldn't want to be classed with certain other people who talk about radical Islam.

There's no overarching Muslim authority in the UK to regulate mosques like they have in some other countries. Each congregation is independent. So the nearest thing to a regulator would be the Charity Commission.

I'm not sure this strengthens the NSS's position, because as I understand it they don't believe any religious body should have charitable status, which would leave them completely unregulated.

They have included some evangelical churches as well. I think they want tax exemptions removed and government funding from those promoting misogyny.

Thanks, OP. I saw this reported in the press last week but not the full report.
https://www.thetimes.com/article/48a42c3d-765c-4fd2-a3bf-4d6c4daa0d85?shareToken=184f4bc6a33de195471ea8b4d36860c3

The report will be presented in London on Saturday 29-Nov, at an event reserved for members of the National Secular Society https://www.secularism.org.uk/members-day-2025

Some of the stories are gut-wrenching. Like this sermon at a Birmingham mosque, with a fruitcake saying that it is a woman's duty to open her legs whenever her husband wants, otherwise the husband is entitled to hit her:

https://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2025/03/nss-criticises-lack-of-action-over-rape-culture-charity-sermon

The video of the sermon is here: https://x.com/NatSecSoc/status/1838223344694370727

The guy speaks in English - no risk of mistranslation.

Now go on, tell me I am Islamophobic...

This is a submission to a uk consultation(not sure of date but a long time ago.) It's worth reading.
This charity no longer exists.
After a brief introduction to our organisation and the importance of secular democracy, we outline our reasons for opposing any importation or state sanction of the shari’a into the U.K., as a parallel system of justice. We outline the problems and give examples of instances of breach of human rights and obfuscation of the law

In 2006, a group of Muslims, proud to belong to their faith, set up BMSD, in the belief that progressive Muslim voices were being drowned out by more obscurantist individuals and groups.

committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/69566/html/#:~:text=British%20Muslims%20for%20Secular%20Democracy%20(BMSD)%3A,more%20obscurantist%20individuals%20and%20groups.

Afaik even evangelical churches do not condone or promote marital rape. Only one religion overtly does that.

@Grammarnut Maybe not as openly, and maybe not so much in the UK, but the US is full of evangelical crazies peddling the message that wives must submit to their husbands and "not neglect them", be "attentive to their needs", and other subtle, coded messages which basically mean "open your legs whenever he wants it". Maybe evangelicals are smarter and know how to be more subtle, how to convey a similar message in a vague enough way that won't get them called out the same way as these Muslim fruitcakes.

Youtube is full of accounts of people who left their faith for this kind of reasons.