The head of the Conservative Christian Fellowship has described attempts by the National Secular Society (NSS) to prevent local councils praying before their meetings as "wholly undemocratic".
Stephen Evans, campaigns manager at the NSS, wrote on Politics.co.uk yesterday that there is "A small group of Christians in parliament [who] are changing the law, almost unimpeded, to give local councils the power to introduce prayers to their meetings."
In 2012 the NSS won a court battle in Devon over whether Bideford Council could hold prayers during the formal proceedings of council meetings. The judge said it was still lawful for councils to choose to start their meetings in prayer, so long as it was not part of the official meeting.
This may sound like a niche concern, but it has been common practice in many councils for centuries.
After the court ruling, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles brought forward the introduction of a 'general power of competence'. This, Pickles argued, meant that local authorities in England could still choose to include prayers in the formal start of their meeting – though the NSS contests the legal grounds of his assertion.
In yesterday's article, Evans described Pickles' introduction of the new Local Government (religious observances etc) Bill as his "revenge" for the court ruling.
The Bill seeks to ensure that town and parish councils are also free to include religious observances in their meetings. Evans said the Bill "reads like an evangelicals' charter".
Chief executive of the Conservative Christian Fellowship, Colin Bloom, said: "This is a long-standing debate that the National Secular Society and British Humanist Association want to keep raising.
"It is down to each local authority to determine what they want to do. It's not up to Eric Pickles to demand that they do it, but it's [also] not up to secularists to demand that they don't do it. Each local authority has the power to decide what they want to do."
While Bloom said he supports the NSS' right to exist and would defend their right to have an opinion, he said "they cannot enforce their orthodoxy on the rest of us who don't agree with their views."
But do councils really need to pray before their meetings?
Bloom argues that it functions as an important reminder of God's place in politics. "It goes to the heart of our traditions and heritage as a Christin nation," he said. "God still has a part to play, and faith still has a part to play in our political debates.
"For those who don't believe, they don't have to pray... nobody is prevented from exercising their democratic right as a councillor by having these prayers before meetings."
Prayers are also said before each parliamentary session. "You don't hear outcry about that, "said Bloom. "It's just a reminder that as part of our Christian heritage, we are asking God to support and help the political process that we are in."
