The BHA has today written to the Mayor of Enfield to express their support for her plan to replace compulsory prayer sessions before council meetings with poetry readings. The move, criticised as “anti-religious” by one local councillor, has been made to “support and encourage the arts.”
BHA Campaigns Officer, Pepper Harow, stated, ‘In a pluralist society made up of people with countless religious and non-religious beliefs, it is not the place of the processes and structures of democracy to force councillors to pray. Unfortunately, this is what is happening in some areas of the country where all councillors are expected to attend prayers before council meetings.
‘By allowing councillors to pray in the Mayor’s chambers before the meeting if they wish and by bringing poetry readings into the council chamber, the Mayor has made the council neutral and inclusive. This move is to be welcomed and we hope that other councils will make similar moves in future.’
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For further comment or information, contact Pepper on 020 7462 4992.
The 2010 British Social Attitudes survey found 43% of people are happy to self-describe as non-religious, with other surveys finding up to 63% (Guardian/ICM 2006) of people saying they are not religious. See here for more figures and statistics on belief and attitudes in the UK.
The British Humanist Association (BHA) is the national charity representing and supporting the non-religious, campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief.