British Judge: Prayer Before Town Council Meeting Unlawful

A High Court Judge ruled that local authority has no power to hold prayers as part of a formal local authority meeting, or to summon councillors to such a meeting at which prayers are on the agenda.

The case was brought by the National Secular Society (NSS) and Clive Bone, a former councillor against Bideford Town Council objecting to the Council meetings which began with a prayer.

The dispute arose with respect to a practice dating back to Elizabethan times, where prayers are led by a Minister or Priest chosen in rotation from one of the 8 Churches in Bideford town before the Council meeting. The prayer session which takes 2-3 minutes sometimes include a brief homily and ends with the Lords Prayer. No Councillor was obliged to be present during the prayers.

Mr Justice Ouseley in his judgment said,

“Mr Bone is not a Christian, and does not wish to participate in or even to be thought to be associated with acts of religious observance. He regards “the introduction of religious observances into civic life” as “inappropriate and needless; it discriminates against those holding different beliefs, or no beliefs at all, and causes upset, embarrassment, distress and inconvenience.”

Justice Ouseley, also said,

"There had been no objection to the practice until Mr Bone was elected in 2007. He made no complaint for 9 months, and then in January 2008 he proposed a motion that prayers cease: it was a tradition no longer appropriate, which could deter some from seeking office, contrary to equality policies. His motion was defeated by 9 votes to 6, with 1 abstention. He withdrew a similar motion in March 2008, but in September 2008 put forward another motion which would have replaced prayers with “a short period of silence”. This was defeated by 10 votes to 5. A campaign by humanists and the National Secular Society then ensued. This litigation is part of that campaign".

Although Justice Ouseley dismissed Bone’s claim that this practice is in breach of his human rights under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Equality Act 2010, but held

“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.”

Neil Addison, Barrister At Law, was quoted in the Religion Law Blog as follows,

“As a lawyer I find the decision bizarre I could almost find it easier to understand a decision based on breach of Article 9. The basis of the decision seems to be the legal concept of 'ultra vires' which prevents public bodies engaging in actions which are not permitted by legislation. However the 'ultra vires' doctrine like all doctrines is subject to the old idea that "the law is not concerned with trifles" which in modern context is usually expressed as the concept of proportionality. By any rational analysis it seems wholly disproportionate to say that a local ceremony which has lasted for hundreds of years is unlawful merely because it is not specifically mentioned in legislation.”

The full text of the judgment is found at this link: http://www.secularism.org.uk/uploads/bideford-judgment-final.pdf