Tag Archives: prayers

Opinion: An Unlikely Defender of the Faith

By Nick Hollinghurst | Fri 24th February 2012 - 9:00 am

Eric Pickles recently sent forth an encyclical and counterblast to the “illiberal and intolerant secularists” seeking to overturn “the right to worship a fundamental and hard-fought British liberty” and reverse “the fight for religious freedom in British history, deeply entwined with our political freedom”.

Our Town Clerk at once e-mailed us all a copy – on the very day, as it happened, that I went to Hertford for a County Council Meeting.

As usual, the meeting started at 10 30 a.m. And as usual those councillors who wished to pray met in the Council Chamber a little earlier at 10 20 a.m. Nothing wrong with that – their Prayer Meeting is not part …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged eric pickles, religion and secularism | 21 Comments

Should prayers be a part of council meetings?

By Sara Bedford | Fri 6th August 2010 - 8:59 am

The issue of prayers being said before council meetings appears to be moving towards the courts, after Bideford Town Council sought legal advice.

Earlier this year, the National Secular Society (NSS) applied to the High Court for a judicial review of the council’s decision to continue holding prayers as the first item of every council meeting. The NSS believes that religion should be separates from government sated that holding prayers before council meetings was an ‘archaic practice’ which was ‘not appropriate in modern-day Britain’. It claims prayers breach Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights, which …

Posted in News | Also tagged national secular society | 24 Comments