At the first regular council meeting of each month, the council of both the town and county of Barrhead invite a member of the local clergy to recite a non-denominational prayer or invocation.
The question is for how much longer?
So far it looks like both the town and county of Barrhead are willing to risk the consequences of a recent Supreme Court of Canada (SCOC) ruling. On April 15, the SCOC ruled unanimously in favour of Alain Simoneu, along with another secular rights organization.
The ruling ends an eight year battle for Simoneu, an atheist, with the City of Saguenay, Quebec over council’s practice of reciting a Catholic prayer before every council meeting.
The fight started in 2007, when Simoneu complained to a human rights tribunal saying that the opening prayer violated his freedom of conscience and religion. In 2008, city officials changed the prayer with a new one it deemed more neutral and delayed the opening of council by two minutes to allow any citizens who were uncomfortable with the practice to temporally leave chambers and then return.
The tribunal sided with Simoneau, and in 2011 ordered the city to pay him $30,000 and for officials to stop saying the prayer and take down the crucifix that adorned council chambers..
But, that wasn’t the end of the story. Saguenay, led by Mayor Jean Tremblay with the money raised through the city’s website, appealed the decision and in 2013 the Quebec Court of Appeal overturned the decision.
The appeal court expressed some reservations about the religious symbols in the chamber, but concluded that the city imposed no religious views on its citizens.
Last year, the SCOC agreed to hear the case and it seems that the Supreme Court Justices disagreed with Quebec’s Court of Appeal.
In their ruling the court said that Canadian society has evolved to where “the state must not interfere in religion and beliefs.”
The ruling stated it is not the text or content of the invocation that is the issue, but the very act of prayer, that violates that neutrality.
Prayer, itself is a religious practice, “even if it is said to be inclusive, it may nevertheless exclude non-believers,” the SCOC judgment said.
After the ruling a number of municipalities suspended the act of reciting a prayer before council meetings, including Calgary and Edmonton.
Not all municipalities are following Calgary and Edmonton’s lead. Along with Barrhead, Winnipeg has also decided to continue to opening their regular council meeting with a prayer.
Good for them. It’s true governments must respect all beliefs, including non-religious or secular beliefs. The challenge is how we as a society respect different beliefs to our own, while still being faithful to ourselves. It is a difficult task, but one that is worth the effort.
