The Catholic Church says the declaration of Zambia as a Christian Nation should not be enshrined in the Constitution.
This is contained in written submissions to the Constitution Review Commission (CRC) from the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) signed by president Telesphore Mpundu and 11 other bishops.
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The bishops said no loophole should be left in the Constitution that might at one time lead to non-Christian Zambians being regarded as second-class citizens or even excluded from public office.
ZEC submitted that while Christianity might be the religion for the majority of Zambians, there were many dedicated Zambians who professed other faiths.
The bishops said the Constitution of the country belonged to citizens who professed other faiths as it did to those that professed Christianity.
"While noting that this declaration is to be found in the preamble and is therefore not justifiable, the conference is of the opinion that this declaration should be omitted altogether from the Constitution," reads the submission in part.
They have argued that legislating faith and religion into the Constitution could lead to fundamentalism, which could be used against Christianity by a leadership of other religious persuasion.
ZEC endorsed the recommendations of the Mwanakatwe Constitutional Review Commission that stated that Christianity or any other religion could be safely secured without any form of declaration.
The bishops stated that such a declaration could lead to abuse of religion for purely political ends and even bring discredit to the name Christian as experience had shown that since 1992, Christianity had been brought into the political fray to the faith's detriment.
They reiterated their 1992 statement that the Church and the State should remain separate and that the nation was not Christian by declaration but by deeds.
ZEC also submitted that the recommendations of the CRC should be submitted to the Constituent Assembly for purposes of further debate and adoption only.
The adopted draft Constitution should then be taken, if necessary, to a referendum and thereafter to Parliament to be enacted into law.
"The new Constitution must be designed, adopted and implemented in a non-partisan fashion that is fully transparent and accountable.
This will require a Constituent Assembly and a National Referendum, if that is necessary," the bishops said.
On the death penalty, the Church said it believed in the sanctity of life and opposed all forms of violation of human life sanctity such as abortion, suicide, euthanasia and death penalty.
There was need for the expansion and strengthening of Part 111 of the Constitution of Zambia to protect the rights of private citizens as they relate to right to life, gender and women's rights, children's rights, freedom of information, social, cultural and economic rights.
The third generation rights currently placed in the directive principles of the State policy should be moved to the bill of rights so that such rights as employment, education, health and housing were given a clear place in the heart of the Constitution.
The bishops called for the strengthening of the electoral system, embracing of separation of powers to enhancement of the principle of good governance that proceeded on the assumption that the three arms of Government would be separate, autonomous and equal.
Meanwhile, former freedom fighters have submitted that a heroes burial site be created to keep history.
Former freedom fighters' representative, Cuthbert Kolala submitted to the CRC that a heroes burial site be created as was the case in other countries.
He also submitted that former freedom fighters should be invited to important national celebrations in honour of their dedication to the liberation struggle.
Mr Kolala further submitted that freedom fighters be compensated or rehabilitated through allocations of land for farming purposes, housing schemes or loans at lower interest rates.