The High Court ruled today that a Devonshire town council acted unlawfully by holding prayers before meetings. This was condemned on Twitter by the Tory bruiser Eric Pickles: 'I believe the right to worship is a fundamental and hard fought British liberty'. When exactly did the Church of England have to fight to secure religious freedom? Tough one. In the USA there would be no such debate at the First Amendment prevents any religious activity in the name of the state, even so Presidents often invoke god to join them on their side.
The High Court surely got this one right. Nobody is prevented from worshipping - within reason - any god they like, or none for that matter. Freedom of conscience is pretty secure in this country. Why, therefore, would a democratically elected body start proceedings with prayers from one creed rather than another. In a democracy all the people are of equal worth, and believers and non-believers have the right to stand for election and feel comfortable in their particular forum. This does not mean that individual members of the council should not be influenced by their religious or secular beliefs, it just should not be a feature of the institution itself. It is equally disreputable that our national parliament starts each day with Christian prayers; ironically (and rather pleasingly), they are read each day by the Speaker, Mr John Bercow, a member of the Jewish religion.
Let us move on. Freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, of course, but church and state should be separate.
No comments:
Post a Comment