Leader: Council prayer slot now being threatened

The march of militant secularism took another great stride in Britain today, aided and abetted by the High Court which has ruled that a Devon town council acted unlawfully by allowing prayers to be said before meetings.

At a stroke the practice in councils the length and breadth of England and Wales is now endangered.

It was seen as a test case.

And so, because one atheist councillor complained and had the National Secular Society jumping aboard, councils are to be denied the opportunity to ask for God's guidance and blessing – this is typically the sort of thing that is wished for in traditional prayers before council meetings.

Although the case was brought under European human rights laws it was won, bizarrely, thanks to a technicality concerning local government legislation.

In Shropshire, some councils choose to say prayers. Some do not. There was a row in Wellington not so long ago when one councillor complained about the practice.

The fundamental question is this: Is Britain still a society with Christianity as its cornerstone, or not?

If religion at the core of our public life is no longer accepted or tolerated, it will mean a fundamental change to our institutions including the monarchy itself.

The Devon councillor who complained said he felt "disadvantaged and embarrassed." But was he compelled to pray? Was he held up to ridicule for not doing so?

Respecting the faiths and beliefs of others is a matter of tolerance and politeness. What next? Anti-war campaigners chanting during the two-minute silence on Remembrance Day because they feel staying silent "disadvantages" them?

If councils wish to drop prayers, and democratically decide to do so, then so be it.

For one councillor to deprive every councillor in England and Wales of traditional prayers is intolerable.