Quote Originally Posted by Centurion1 View Post
Don't you have an official state religion in the coe so its perfectly legal if its an anglican prayer.

I don't really care either way though my innate american love for seperation of church and state is tingling

This is, I suspect, spot on. If the prayers are conducted in "Church of England" fashion, then they would be in accordance with the official state religion and nothing more than part of the normal instruments of governance. Recitations from the Vedas would be out of bounds as they are NOT part of the Anglican faith and therefore form no part of public life, as is the case with all that popery stuff I enjoy. Unless and until Parliament passes a law forbidding prayer at government functions, I think this lawsuit will be fruitless.


PJ:

Many secularists prefer to argue from the position that such principles as that embodied in Article IX cited above allow for a "unit veto." That is, if any ONE person objects on the grounds of their beliefs that ALL persons present must refrain from that activity during a public meeting/function of governance in order to refrain from offending and/or embarassing the one person thereby discomfited.

All in all, I find Pannonian's response the more mature approach. There are laws protecting your right to not join in, so have the courage of your convictions and sit down. If anybody asks/comments, you now have their implicit leave to tell them why you sat down and why you think the activity in question is a waste of time.