By GUARDIAN UK
Added: Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:00:00 UTC

Thanks to Linda Ward Selbie for the link.

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/harry_phibbs/2008/04/thy_will_be_done.html

Thy will be done

Some people object to saying prayers before council meetings, but it's easy to accommodate those who wish to give thanks

From Rochdale to Bideford, the practice of saying prayers at local council meetings is under attack. In Rochdale, councillor Robin Parker announced that when he took over as mayor he would dispense with the prayers, making the point that they are often followed pretty boisterous argument once the substantive business gets under way.

"It seems rather like saying prayers and giving thanks before going off to war," he said. "It does not seem right to me. You have to ask what these meetings are about and how they are conducted."

But for anyone clinging to the slightest belief in God, surely going to war would be the time of greatest inclination to pray?

The bishop of Manchester has kept out of it. But down south, the bishop of Exeter, Michael Langrish, has come out fighting, together with other Christian leaders. This followed the consideration by Bideford town council that prayers might breach the Human Rights Act, following legal advice from the National Association of Local Councils.

"We said there was a possibility that it might fall foul of the Human Rights Act not that it would," an NALC spokesman tells me. "It's up to the council, it's not something we have a view on either way. Bideford have written to the government asking for their legal advice."

Langrish says prayers "are a public act which reflects the self-understanding of the English nation; and of its governance as being by 'the Queen in Parliament under God', with expressions of this at every formal level of constitutional life. This is why in both houses of parliament and in council chambers up and down the country prayers are said in the presence of the mace."

He adds: "From the legal advice that we have received it would seem quite clear that no council continuing the practice of starting meetings with public prayer would be breaching the Human Rights Act."

Even if saying prayers is legal and upholding a tradition, what of the concern that in modern Britain many local councillors, reflecting the population generally are not Christian and often don't believe in God at all? Langrish says that those present don't have to say "amen" - which means "so be it".

The invitation to say "amen" after a prayer gives those present a choice to assent or not. Of course the wording of the prayer can be inclusive. In Manchester when Afzal Khan became lord mayor in 2005 he appointed four chaplains of different religions - Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Sikh - who led prayers in rotation.

Another point is that those who don't wish to take part can wait in the corridor outside the council chamber for a couple of minutes and help themselves to a cup of tea. In Hammersmith and Fulham, where I am a local councillor, our mayor recently bucked the trend by reintroducing prayers. Given the professed aim of providing a source of calmness and unity, it wasn't a complete success as half the Labour councillors walked out - one falling over in her enthusiasm to leave. I have no idea how many of my Conservative colleagues believe in God but none walked out. I didn't attempt to spot how any who said "amen."

Talking about the matter to the council's chaplain, Rev Joe Hawes, later on, he turned the argument about us being a multi-faith community on its head. "Would they have walked out if it had been a rabbi or an imam?" he asked.

A rather British compromise has now been agreed. Prayers take place in the council chamber 10 minutes before the start of official proceedings.

TAGGED: ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE, POLITICS, RELIGION