Two local councils in South East England have been told to stop holding prayers at the beginning of their council meetings.
Mayfield parish council in East Sussex had voted to include prayers in their meetings but was then told by the Sussex Association of Local Councils that these were not appropriate for a public meeting and should be taken off the agenda.
Councillors from nearby Crowborough town council then weighed in, saying that prayers had been a part of their meetings since anyone could remember. Crowborough’s mayor, Kay Moss, commented: “No one’s ever said there was a problem.
“The prayer predates me by a long way. There was a motion a few years ago to do away with it but we voted for the prayer to continue. I’ve never heard since that we were doing anything wrong.”
However, Jacqui Simes of the Sussex Association of Local Councils argued that “Prayers are not part of a parish council’s duties and cannot be included in the agenda. They should not be part of the meeting. It should be something completely separate.”
The leader of the Christian People’s Alliance, Alan Craig, warned that the episode demonstrated a wider national trend. He said: “This demand is part of the secularisation of our society.
“As we rip up Christian values and now Christian prayers we see the result on our streets in the form of rioting, binge drinking and drug culture. The most important thing is to get Christian values and Christian prayers back into our society and not take them away.
“Having Christian prayers is saying Christian values are good values for public life and a council meeting is a part of public life.”
Andrea Williams added:
“Unfortunately this kind of thing is becoming commonplace as small sections of society seek to try and suppress any influence that the Christian faith might have on public life.
“The Christian faith provides foundational values for healthy, compassionate and tolerant communities. This is why prayers are appropriate in council meetings and this is why any attempt to halt them is ill informed.”
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