A councillor in a Pickle

After something of a blogging hiatus owing to finishing up my lab work, I can now happily voice my more meandering thoughts here whilst penning my thesis too!

There has been a growing controversy mounting in some of the broadsheets over the decision of the high court this month to ban prayers in a local council meeting. A decision which was later overturned personally by the minister for communities (an appointment doubtless as colossal as the incumbent) by fast-tracking a portion of the soon-to-come localism bill which, as I understand it, makes anything which would be legal for an individual legal for an organisation. The controversy was that one of the councillors – an avowed atheist – objected to the council holding prayers before council meetings, and so took his objections to the high court, which ruled that it was indeed unconstitutional. A temporary victory for the councillor, then, but a sound principle. After all, we do not want to end up like some parts of America do we? where judges have faux slates bearing the ten commandments behind them as they sit, enthroned and empowered handing down the Lords wrath to those who break His laws. Of course I’m sure Iran is worse. But there is a not inconsiderable case for proper separation of church and state, and whilst you can never take the church out of the people who inhabit the state, it might be better to separate the roles of the Queen as head of the Church of England, as well as being our head of state.

But, more importantly, I was back in church recently, for a service a few weeks ago, and I was reminded of what I consider the saving grace – if I can use the phrase – of Anglican Christianity, besides the excellent Archbishop BC of course, and to an extent the church as a whole. This is the promotion of humility; it is a double edged sword of course, but the prayers of intercession in a church service do allow one an excellent space to reflect on the state of the world, and indeed the staggering fortune of being born to this life. To sit in the dark, and think about what is wrong with the world, and to do it in a fairly logical order – the prayers usually start with local concerns but move onto world affairs, all of which are topical and, most importantly, deeply considered. It is my opinion that the prayers at the beginning of a council meeting like the one above would serve to focus the mind and humble the spirit – and I image one would struggle to find a politician not in need of a little humbling! You could look at it as a form of meditation, which is surely healthy.

Secondly, and perhaps crucially, it seems to me to be a simple matter of manners; if this councillor doesn’t want to pray then he damn well doesn’t have to! We are a tolerant culture, or at least I would like to think we are, even if not an accepting one, and this is the crucial definition – to tolerate something simply means to put up with it, and respect people rights etcetera etcetera. If his is a more structural concern, about the separation of church and state then I suppose he sees a greater goal.

This whole discourse is separate of course from the actual and literal truth of what the church teaches, and this is where the division arises, between people like the councillor troublemaker I mention above, and people like the Queen, and Baroness Warsi who have call for a defence of religion in the face of what they perceive to be a wave of militant secularism sweeping the world. I would question the phrase ‘militant secularism’, which of course it is hyperbolic, and nobody is taking up arms to promote their brand of secularism, as fanning the flames of a fire still in the research-and-development phase of its existence. I would consider myself a secularist, broadly speaking, it that it seems to me to be logical to try to exclude religion, and religious considerations from the exercise of public life. There is very little that is militant about secularism, because it really is just a way of characterising a slow and creeping change, I believe, which is enveloping the country – for better or worse – which is often mischaracterised as a ‘PC revolution’.