ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an open question whether the new legislation has had an impact on the historic understanding of religious liberty in English law. The wide-ranging constitutional reform agenda initiated by New Labour after their election victory in 1997 included enhanced legal protection for human rights as well as a major extension of equality law. Non-conformist churches were constituted in law as voluntary societies; any obligations were thus assumed by the willing submission of individual members to the internal law of their religion in accordance with general principles of property and contract law. The principle that public bodies should be non-religious required the removal of governmental functions from the church. The principal privilege enjoyed by religious groups is charitable status, which carries with it both tax exemptions and the right to reclaim income tax on donations. The principle that religious people and places require specific protection from hostile acts has been a constant, albeit minor, theme within the law.
