Two parish councils are ignoring official guidance by continuing to hold prayers at meetings.
For decades Crowborough Town Council has begun its full monthly meetings with a Christian prayer, and now Mayfield Parish Council is following suit in spite of fears this could be “offensive” and “inappropriate”.
But the body responsible for local government, the Sussex Association of Local Councils, has intervened.
“Prayers are not part of the parish council’s duties and cannot be included in the agenda,” said Jacqui Simes from the association.
May God bless Crowborough and Mayfield mightily.
Perhaps Ms Jacqui Simes could point out a predominant Muslim nation (how many are there? 22?) that inhibits Muslim prayers or sharia law because it might be offensive or inappropriate. Does she really believe that if Christians are inhibited from praying now that a few years hence, when the Muslims hold a majority in the UK, that the Muslims will actually do the same?
I would imagine that the councils are somehow incorporated under the auspices of the Crown. As Her Majesty as head of government is head of the established church I fail to understand the association’s issue.
Aren’t there still prayers in Parliament every day?
In answer to # 3, yes, there are prayers in parliament daily. Those MPs who do not wish to join in simply wait outside the chamber until the prayers are over. The prayers are always by an Anglican, usually I believe the Rector of St Margaret’s, the Speaker’s church, right next to the Abbey, who at present is the Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin. That said, I cannot see any problem with a local council having prayers from outside the Christian tradition. Indeed, what happens in some places is that the prayers are led by the Mayor’s chaplain who may be Jewish or Muslim. The advice given by the local government association representative in the rather muddled article (eg the bizarre reference to atonement) seems over the top, and may be typical, I am afraid, of Britain’s interfering, bossy dictatorship of politically correct management.