It was only yesterday that I posted on the various talk about secularism in the UK. And today, the saga continues. You may remember Bideford Town Council, who have been in the news a couple of times for publicly praying together before commencing council meetings. Well, because of one offended atheist who was a councillor (Clive Bone, who is pictured above), the council ended up having to cease praying before meetings.

The legal case rested on three arguments: that the prayers were discriminatory against atheist councillors, the prayers were a breach of human rights laws, and that the council had no lawful authority to hold prayers as part of its formal meetings.

The judge rejected the first two arguments, but ruled: “The saying of prayers as part of the formal meeting of a Council is not lawful under s111 of the Local Government Act 1972, and there is no statutory power permitting the practice to continue.”

The Act does allow councils to do anything that “facilitates, or is conducive or is incidental” to a council’s functions, but Mr Justice Ouseley ruled that the saying of prayers at formal meetings does not fall within that provision.

Well, after the episode, outrage broke out. Even the head of the Equality Commission, Trevor Phillips (who I’ll say more about later), thought the case against the saying of prayers before council meetings “nonsense on stilts”.

Then, Chris Bryant, a Labour MP spoke out against the court case.

Agreeing with Christ Bryant, other MPs spoke out against the ruling.

Then, Eric Pickles, a Government Minister spoke out against the ruling and told councils to carry on praying despite the ruling.

And the latest news is that the council have voted to appeal against the ruling.

Not only that, but Eric Pickles is now going to do everything in his power to encourage praying in council meetings.

What’s interesting about the vote is that 11 out of 16 councillors voted in favour of the appeal. Now that’s astonishing.

Whilst these militant secularists are whining and complaining about human rights and supposed discrimination about one man who doesn’t like to pray (or even sit quietly, perhaps) everyone else is standing by the fact that Christianity plays an important role in the lives of Britons, whether they follow the faith or not. I doubt all the 11 who voted for the appeal are practising Christians, but nonetheless they see the value of prayer and reflection before making decisions within the council. Now that says a lot.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, whilst defending the saying of Christian prayers at a council meeting on one hand is now saying that Christians aren’t above the law, and that expecting the law to make exception for them is like the Muslims asking for sharia law! I just don’t get Trevor Phillips. But that’s another story.

Even if we take his current stance, then I wonder when he will tell the humanists, the secularists and the militant new atheists that they aren’t above the law either, and that they must accept the fact that we are living in a country which highly regards our Christian heritage and the church?

The scales just aren’t balanced. And what’s even more telling is that the majority of people are fine with a council saying prayers at a meeting. Obviously, the council themselves are, with the majority so happy with saying prayers that they see it important to appeal against a ruling preventing them from praying!

Yet the smallest group seem to have the loudest voice. The country needs to wake up. The Church needs to stand up and be counted; countless people who aren’t even Christians are standing up for Christianity and the Church, yet many Christians are sitting back and letting them do the hard work. It should not be so.

What’s your view on the situation? Answer the Poll below, and feel free to add any additional comments or responses below.

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About Dean Roberts

Dean is a keen worship leader and blog writer who has a passion for Jesus, evangelism and worship. He became a Christian at the young age of 11 where he experienced God working powerfully in his personal life. Since then, he has been involved in church worship ministry, evangelism teams, and has served Cardiff University Christian Union as the Worship Coordinator. He is currently Pastoral Assistant at St Paul's Church in Newport, South Wales, and is in his final year of Theology at Cardiff University as well as a final year RSCM student. He is also going through the selection process to be ordained in the Anglican Church. His favourite Bible verse is Zephaniah 3:17: "For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty Saviour. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” (NLT) Read More @ http://deanroberts.net/about