NSS launches legal challenge in ‘Council Prayers’ campaign

The National Secular Society launched a legal challenge on 30th April 2010 against a local Council’s practice of starting its meetings with prayers.

Following a complaint to the NSS from a councillor on Bideford Council in Devon, the NSS will seek a judicial review to consider whether including prayers as part of council meetings breaches the European Convention on Human Rights.

Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the National Secular Society said: “The councillor and some colleagues object to being subjected to prayers, or having to leave the chamber while they are said. Elected Councillors of public bodies should not be put in such an uncomfortable and embarrassing position. The council’s purpose is to provide local services, not church services.

“The councillor who complained to us tells us that he knows of other potential councillors who are put off becoming candidates because of this archaic practice. The practice is therefore interfering with operation of local democracy. There is a chronic shortage of candidates and unnecessary obstacles to new councillors should be discouraged.”

“The NSS took advice from top city lawyers, Beachcroft, who believe that the practice is a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights, which not only guarantees freedom to manifest religion but also freedom from religion. The Society fully supports both aspects of this freedom – we support, for example, the freedom of street preachers to preach against homosexuality or anything else that does not directly threaten other people’s safety.

“It is nonsense to claim that the rights of councillors to manifest their religion would be restricted if the judicial review is successful. Councillors can, like anyone else, go to church or pray at home whenever they wish, and indeed we do not have a problem with them praying separately before or after council meetings. But it is not appropriate in modern-day Britain for prayers to form an integral part of the council meeting. The majority of people in this country do not enter a church, expect perhaps for weddings and funerals, from one year’s end to the next. It is also possible that some from other religions will not feel comfortable being expected to participate in Christian prayers.

“The argument that prayers have been held in councils for centuries is not in itself an argument for their retention. Many councils throughout the country manage perfectly well without prayers and council meetings should confine themselves strictly to council business, not to promoting religious beliefs.

“All we are doing is subjecting a common practice to legal scrutiny. How could anyone fairly object to that? Could it be that those so keen to object are doing so because they suspect our challenge is well-founded and is likely to prevail?

“We know of another council where the religious element takes ten minutes. In a nation that is rapidly changing, with many non-believers and non-Christians taking part in the democratic process, religion should be left to the individual conscience and not foisted onto people in contexts that are inappropriate.”

The Daily Mail presented our action as further evidence that Christianity is being persecuted in this country. But Terry Sanderson, President of the NSS, said: “No-one has yet explained to my satisfaction why council meetings should involve praying in the first place. What relevance does it have to council business? And claims that this is a Christian country are no longer sustainable. We are a country of many beliefs and none. The fact that councils have had this ‘tradition’ in place for centuries does not mean that it is beyond question. There are many ‘traditional practices’ that have been abolished. We have to accept that society is changing and so must the way it is organised.”

Mr Sanderson said: “In the great scheme of things, this may seem like a minor issue. But as secularists it is our aim to separate religion from politics. Council prayers are wrong in principle, and need to be challenged as a step on the road to a properly secular society. This may not be a popular campaign in some quarters, but, as they say, you can’t make omelettes without breaking eggs.”

The NSS has been collecting information on the number of councils that start their meetings with prayers. What is the position at your council? See how you can help the NSS campaign