There was, unsurprisingly, mixed reaction to the Bideford council ruling. But one reaction stood out – a Tory councillor’s, at that.
Imran Khan, a Conservative councillor on Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, welcomed the ruling.
Mr Khan is a Muslim but said he was not particularly religious.
“Religion has no place in politics. The High Court judgement is a victory for everyone who believes that democracy and religious freedom is the cornerstone of Western free society.
“The judgement clearly states that councillors are welcome to pray before meetings, thus respecting religious values.
“Under the old regime I had to wait outside the room while everyone else was praying. This meant that it appeared I was being late or just plain rude to other people’s religions as I walked across the floor afterwards,” he added.
Bishop of Exeter, please give that your careful attention. Please think again about your reaction.
The Bishop of Exeter, the Right Reverend Michael Langrish, said he would encourage councils in his area to continue holding prayers before the start of their statutory business.
He added: “I think it’s a great pity that a tiny minority are seeking to ban the majority, many of whom find prayers very, very helpful, from continuing with a process in which no-one actually has to participate.”
Think about it from the point of view of the tiny minority, you big bully.
Perhaps you shouldn’t worry about being rude about other people’s religions if the don’t worry about being rude about yours.
If any government agency thinks they need prayer to get their job done, they should quit. They don’t know what their obligations are or how to fulfill them.
.
And yet he did worry about it, or at least dislike the feeling. Not so the people in the majority, apparently. Being in the majority can make people callous that way – we’ve seen it over and over.
Giles Fraser, who until last year held a senior post at St Paul’s Cathedral, has a piece in the Guardian in which he welcomes the ruling, saying he has had to conduct prayers in a similar situation and never felt comfortable doing so.
This outlines a fundamental problem with all religions; they are inherently divisive. The logic of “our beliefs are right, therefor those who do not agree with us must be wrong” is inescapable. It is a way to pit people against each other, which is the last thing we need more of in the public sphere.
The link to Giles Fraser’s piece in the Guardian is http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2012/feb/10/banning-council-prayer-sessions-bideford
Any Questions on BBC Radio 4 last night had a piece on this. Anne Widdecombe was … well, she was Anne Widdecombe, I suppose.
Apparently the judgement didn’t even ban prayer in councils. It merely banned having it as a formal part of the proceedings which councellors are required to attend. And they’re still up in arms about it!
TRiG.
There is an illiberal part of me that wants to make being Anne Widdecombe a criminal offence, and another that thinks just being Anne Widdecombe is sufficient punishment in itself.
The great side benefit of such cases is that we can see that preposterous old and dim humbug ex Archbishop George Carey, all his jowls a tremble, on TV ranting about the attacks on Christianity. Come the day.
It will be interesting to see how many of “the majority” bother to attend a separate prayer to be held before the council meeting, if it is instituted.
You may not yet be aware of this development, but a particularly pompous (& stupid) Tory minister has said that councils should ignore the court’s ruling, and carry on praying. (!)
See here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9075159/Government-tells-councils-to-carry-on-praying-despite-High-Court-ban.html
Meanwhile … and so, according to this guvmint minister (the egregious Pickles) one can disobey a particular law, because he doesn’t like it ….
Can we all play, and decide which laws we want to ignore?
What part of Matthew 6:5-6 don’t these fuckers get?