Bishops and MPs criticise High Court ruling on council prayers

Bishops and MPs have criticised the High Court’s landmark ban on prayers during council meetings.

The High Court ruled that it was “unlawful” to say prayers during the formal business at council meetings, following a judicial review initiated by the National Secular Society (NSS).

The NSS pressed for the ban after receiving a complaint from Clive Bone, an atheist and former member of Bideford Town Council in Devon, who said he had found it “uncomfortable” to sit through prayers.

Mr Bone said he was “delighted” by the ruling and the message it sends that “local government is for a certain type of person”.

The Bishop of Exeter, the Rt Rev Michael Langrish, criticised the ruling: “At the House of Lords we began with prayers this morning. Prayers were said by a considerable amount of peers. I don’t think you will find anyone in the House of Lords who will seriously suggest we should end that practice.”

Responding to the ruling, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said that public authorities “should have the right to say prayers before meetings if they wish”.

The decision has been met with disappointment along local Christians. The Rev Claire Rose-Casemore, who leads St Mary’s Church, Bideford, where the local council has its annual service, said it was a “sign of the times”.

“I am sorry for the Christians on the town council. They will be praying personal prayers but it is a shame that they can't do it corporately,” she said.

“To have worship and prayer as part of an organisation, whether on local councils or in schools or any organisation, is a good thing.

“But it's a sign of the times. We will continue to pray for the council and all the good work that they do.

“Christian councillors will still be doing it personally, so prayer will continue. It just won’t be in the same manner.”

The former Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, was quoted by The Telegraph as saying that there was a “huge constitutional implication” to the ruling.

“Where will this stop – by a test case about prayer in Parliament? Prayers in Parliament are definitely part of the proceedings, they are recorded as such, they are on the order paper and part therefore of the constitutional arrangement of the country as the Queen in Parliament under God.”