ABSTRACT
The preamble to the Charitable Uses Act 1601 refers to ‘the repair of . . . churches’. English law steers a neutral course between all forms of religions. ‘Religion’ is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as a ‘recognition on the part of man of some higher unseen power as having control of his destiny and as being entitled to obedience, reverence and worship’ or ‘a particular system of faith and worship’. There is not a great deal of judicial authority recognising non-Christian religions (although Judaism has been recognised in Strauss v Goldsmith (1857) 8 Sim 614 and Neville Estates v Madden [1962] Ch 832 (see p 405 above)), but regulations made under the Charities Act 1993 assume that non-Christian religions are charitable. The Goodman Report (National Council of Social Services, Chairman Lord Goodman, Charity Law, Voluntary Organisations, 1976, London: Bedford Square Press) declared that account must be taken of all religions, whether monotheistic or not. This would include a polytheistic religion such as Hinduism. Buddhism, which does not involve a belief in God, is universally regarded as a religion and may be treated as an exception to the rule that a religion involves a faith or spiritual belief in a supreme being. On the other hand, in Re South Place Ethical Society [1980] 1 WLR 1565, it was decided that the study and dissemination of ethical principles, but which did not involve faith in a deity, could not constitute religion, although the society was charitable on the ground of advancement of education.
