We don't think religious worship should play any part in the formal business of the state.
We want to see parliamentary and local government meetings conducted in a manner equally welcoming to all attendees, whatever their personal beliefs.
Parliamentary prayers
Sittings in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords begin with Anglican prayers. MPs and peers stand for prayers facing the wall behind them – a practice thought to have developed due to the difficulty members would historically have faced of kneeling to pray while wearing a sword.
When the chamber is at its busiest, parliamentary prayers act as a bizarre and antiquated seat reservation system. Even MPs and peers who are slated to speak have no option but to attend prayers in order to reserve a seat.
Whilst they may be viewed by some as an important tradition, parliamentary prayers serve to assert the superiority of Christianity (and the Church of England in particular) at Westminster. This 'tradition' is inimical to a modern, pluralistic, secular democracy.
In the Scottish Parliament, Tuesday afternoon sessions begin with 'Time for Reflection', with faith and belief representatives invited to addresses members for up to four minutes. The Northern Ireland Assembly begins formal business with a period of two minutes of silent prayer or contemplation. The Welsh Assembly has adopted no such rituals.
Parliamentarians who wish to pray are free to do so. But prayers should not form part of the official business of Parliament.
Council prayers
Many local authorities in Britain also begin their meetings with prayer.
Local democracy should be equally welcoming to all sections of society, regardless of their religion or belief. Council meetings should be conducted without anyone feeling excluded, or compelled to either participate in prayers or absent themselves from part of the meeting.
Council prayers open the door to wholly unnecessary conflict and sectarian squabbles within local authorities. There is a history of local councillors being bullied and marginalised for challenging council prayers.
The absence of prayers from the formal business of meetings in no way impedes religious freedoms or denies anybody the right to pray. Conversely, organised worship in secular settings imposes worship on those who do not share the faith. A genuine commitment to freedom of religion or belief is incompatible with including acts of worship in the formal business of council meetings.
If local authorities wish to hold a moment of silent reflection at the beginning of a meeting, or if councillors wish to meet for prayers prior to the meeting, they are at liberty to do so.
Take action!
1. Write to your MP
Please enter your postcode and urge your MP to support an alternative to parliamentary prayers, to make parliament more welcoming to people of all faiths and none.
2. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue - for example, if you would like to challenge prayers at your own council.
3. Join the National Secular Society
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
Prayers cause conflict on Northern Ireland council
Posted: Wed, 29 Apr 2015 15:03
Councillors in Northern Ireland have been left bitterly split after an hour long row over whether to begin council meetings with prayers.
The Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council was left deadlocked for over an hour, before finally voting to say prayers at the start of official meetings – leading one councillor to warn that a "huge case" could be made to the Northern Ireland Equality Commission by staff required to attend meetings and thus forced to sit through the religious observances.
UUP councillor William McCandless said: "I am annoyed that we are sitting here in a Christian country being asked to vote with or against the Lord's Prayer."
He added, "Christians are being beheaded in Islamic countries, I think we need time to reflect for a moment."
Sinn Fein councillor Cara McShane said that religion and politics should be separate, and according to the Coleraine Times, suggested that legal advice was needed.
She also warned that "staff are compelled to be at these meeting, there is a huge case waiting to happen either with the Equality Commission or a Tribunal" if the meetings opened with prayers.
McShane told her fellow councillors, "we shouldn't be shoving beliefs down people's throats."
DUP councillor George Duddy said he was "disgusted" that "a prayer that we should all say every day has become a debate."
NSS campaigns manager Stephen Evans commented, "This should serve as another example to those who think local authorities in other parts of the UK should open their meetings with prayers. They are inappropriate, divisive and unnecessary."
A range of proposals were considered before the vote finally passed. A twenty minute recess was needed as arguments became heated and intractable.
One SDLP councillor said that it is "not very inclusive to expect members to stand outside" while prayers are being held. She added, "I don't come here to pray."
An amendment was tabled suggesting that prayers be held before meetings begin – something which the National Secular Society has suggested for councillors in the rest of the UK, rather than expecting all councillors and staff to sit through prayers during official meeting time – however the suggested amendment was defeated.
A full meeting of the council is needed to ratify the business of the meeting.
The 1998 Northern Ireland Act states that a public authority shall "have due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity" between "persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status or sexual orientation."
It also requires a public authority to have "regard" for the "desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group."
Mr Evans added, "The imposition of religious observances during official meetings does nothing to promote good relations between people of different religious and non-religious views."
Earlier this year the UK Government passed legislation giving English local authorities an explicit power to include prayers "or other religious observance" in their official meetings. The Local Government (Religious etc. Observances) Act was opposed by the National Secular Society, which had previously won a High Court ruling that the inclusion of prayers in meetings to which councillors were summoned to attend was not lawful under the Local Government Act 1972.
Canadian Supreme Court rules unanimously against council prayers
Posted: Thu, 16 Apr 2015 15:45
The Canadian Supreme Court has ruled that a municipal council in a Quebec town may not hold prayers as part of its official meetings.
In a unanimous ruling, the court found that the practise of holding religious observances during official meetings is unlawful. The mayor of the town of Saguenay had argued that the prayers were part of Quebec's religious heritage however the court has rejected this argument.
Justice Clément Gascon wrote: "Sponsorship of one religious tradition by the state in breach of its duty of neutrality amounts to discrimination against all other such traditions."
The court concluded that the prayers "exclude non-believers."
The case came after the town of Saguenay in Quebec was challenged by Alain Simoneau, an atheist, who took his complaint about the prayers to a human rights tribunal. The case has been running for almost nine years, in an extended legal battle.
The judgement said the state must "remain neutral" in matters of religion and belief.
"This neutrality requires that the state neither favour nor hinder any particular belief, and the same holds true for non-belief. It requires that the state abstain from taking any position and thus avoid adhering to a particular belief.
"When all is said and done, the state's duty to protect every person's freedom of conscience and religion means that it may not use its powers in such a way as to promote the participation of certain believers or non-believers in public life to the detriment of others."
The Quebec Secular Movement which supported Simoneau's case said: "A public institution is open to everyone and it's not the place to hold public worship, so I think the message is very clear from the Supreme Court."
The National Secular Society has campaigned against councils holding prayers in England and Wales, and won a High Court ruling which found the practise to be unlawful.
However, the Government-backed Local Government (Religious etc. Observances) Act, passed at the end of the last parliament, means that councils can now hold prayers at the start of their meetings.
NSS campaigns manager Stephen Evans commented: "The Canadian Supreme Court could teach UK Communities Minister Eric Pickles a thing or two about respecting everybody's freedom of conscience and religion equally. It is a shame that our Government fails to realise how anachronistic it is to allow – and even encourage – local authorities to hold prayers during meetings. The UK should be brought into line with other democracies, and the law revised to reflect basic principles of fairness."
