Prayer at Vancouver City Council

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – You can no longer pray in public schools, but you may be surprised to hear it’s still happening at the beginning of Vancouver city council meetings.

The prayer is not always focused around god, nor is it necessarily religious, according to outgoing COPE councillor Ellen Woodsworth. She gave this week’s remarks and says it’s a tradition that brings people together.

“I think prayer means many, many things to different people. I think the interpretation as a religious statement is being more generalized into a philosophical statement.”

Woodsworth says there’s a place for it, as the debates can often get competitive.

“It does change the nature of the beginning of council meetings. People are brought together out of their individual thoughts. I think there’s a usefulness having everyone stop in utter silence.”

Atheist Ian Bushfield with the BC Humanist Association disagrees. He would like to see the name prayer changed to something more accessible, like “opening remarks.”

“When they bring these church ideas or religion into city hall, they potentially exclude a lot of people of different or even no faith. So I don’t think there’s any need to invoke any higher power. Having some opening words is not against anything I believe in, to mark the ceremony. It’s just important to recognize there are different viewpoints and we should try to include anyone rather than exclude anyone.”

A man from Penetanguishene, Ontario took the issue to court back in 1999, arguing prayer before council violated his Charter Right to freedom of conscience and religion and the Ontario Court of Appeal agreed.
    
Still, there are several cities across Canada, including Ottawa, which still practice prayer before council.

Britain’s high court is considering a challenge by the National Secular Society, which says prayer is inappropriate in “a secular environment concerned with civic business”.