Humanists hit out at 'discrimination' over council session prayers
THE tradition of holding prayers at council meetings has been labelled 'religious discrimination' by the Humanist Society.
It has criticised local authorities in Devon for upholding the practice, but council bosses say it is "custom and tradition".
The Echo reported last year how Exeter City Council changed its policy after a non-Christian councillor raised prayer concerns.
Traditionally, at the start of full council meetings councillors and officers stood for prayers in the presence of a chaplain. But that practice was reviewed after Pennsylvania councillor Paul Pettinger complained.
Prayers are now held five minutes before the session starts, so atheists and people of other religions do not need to be there.
Now, Teignbridge District Council has been criticised for upholding the tradition at council meetings, and Humanist Society member Stanley Newton, of Kenton, near Exeter, has called for it to be scrapped.
"If today's practices were based on past customs and traditions then we would still have public hangings, burning of witches and heretics, public stocks and women without voting rights," he said.
"Another, even weaker excuse, put forward is that there should be no objection because councillors are allowed to opt out by absenting themselves from meetings while prayers are being said.
"This misses the point. As long as prayers are said openly as part of proceedings, the council is seen as aligning itself with one particular religion, excluding all others — in other words, practising religious discrimination.
"There can, surely, be no place in a modern, multi-faith society for observances of a particular religion to be held within a secular democratic institution, set up to represent people espousing many different religions or none.
"A minority are bound to feel excluded and aggrieved — it is so unnecessary."
Teignbridge council chairman David Weekes said: "This issue has been given substantial thought and consideration and only two years ago members of the council voted to maintain custom and tradition.
"I believe, irrespective of my view on faith, a councillor and current district chairman serving the Teignmouth community should set an example to others in the areas of good citizenship and good pastoral concern.
"I also fully support an individual's right to believe in their own faith and aim to be as inclusive as possible."
Mid Devon District Council chairwoman Cllr Margaret Squires said: "It is a tradition that council meetings start with prayers and I would like to see it upheld. Members may choose to leave the room."
A Devon County Council spokeswoman said: "We have received no complaints. Prayers are from all faiths and there is no compulsion for attendees of the meeting to be in attendance for this part of the meeting.
"This seems to me to be a reasonable way to continue."
East Devon District Council said it only held prayers at the annual meeting in May, at the "discretion of the chairman".
4 Comments
by Free Thinker, Dartington
Sunday, August 24 2008, 4:18PM
“Ingenuous is perhaps too polite a word. I have also written to my County Councillor, Trevor Pennington, to object to prayers being held before Council meetings and have not even had a response.
My South Hams Councillor is also happy with the present position of prayers before meetings and claims it is all right because councillors and members of the public who don't wish to attend prayers needn't do so. Why should non-believers be treated as oddities who don't toe the religious line?
Everyone is entitled to their own belief in life but not to inflict it on others. In any case, how can a Council, which is a business organisation paid by taxpayers like me to carry out public works on my behalf, pretend to be a pseudo religious organisation and justify it on the grounds of tradition.
Stanley Newton is quite right in criticising the excuse of tradition and points out the fallacy of such an argument.
Village stocks perhaps - well only for recalcitrant councillors.”
by Keith Denby, North Devon
Sunday, August 24 2008, 12:01PM
“Devon County Council are being disingenuous in claiming not to have had any complaints about prayers. The Chairman of Devon Humanists wrote to complain to Devon County Council in early 2007 but the Council refused to listen because they said that the complaint did not come from a Councillor. I wrote to my County Councillor in July this year to ask him to complain on my behalf but he has simply ignored the letter. So Councillor Joe Tucker - one less vote for you at the next election!”
by Kevin, Torquay
Sunday, August 24 2008, 11:28AM
“According to the Government's new 'Communities in Control' White Paper, councils "should do more to promote participation" to counter "a growing disenchantment with formal political mechanisms" and to tackle declining turnout at elections. Apparently, "people locally don't feel they have an adequate say in the running of local services. And a majority do not think councillors represent their views". Doing away with archaic rituals that exclude non-believers and those of faiths other than Christianity would be a good start in making our councils less elitist. Or are councillors happy with their private club and quite pleased that prospective councillors are being put off?”
by Doc, Torre
Sunday, August 24 2008, 11:06AM
“We are no longer an exclusively Christian society. While 39% of us believe in God, 36% of us are atheists and 25% agnostic. Only 6% of us go to church, so the only other place we are likely to be confronted with people praying is in the Council Chamber.
Many people believe that in the near future we will need to draw upon the resources of all local people to face the challenges of global warming and oil depletion, so we shouldn't have rituals that exclude or offend anyone. In fact, it may well be illegal to expect Councillors to attend what could be seen as a faith-test.
Devon has people of many faiths and of none, and local democracy should not be the preserve of one religion. Indeed, many Councils have replaced Christian prayers with a few minutes of silence during which people can pray if they wish, read their Council papers, or just gather their thoughts. Therefore, I agree with Mr Newton - it's time we took religion out of politics.”