Council to smite religion from city hall in light of Supreme Court ruling
God is dead, at least within the confines of City Hall.
Despite a final plea from interfaith leaders, Mayor Don Iveson said council's executive committee had no choice but to recommend prayer be permanently abolished from council meetings.
Council suspended the practice of opening meetings with prayer in April, after the Supreme Court ruled on religion in municipal buildings.
In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that a Quebec city's practice of starting municipal meetings with a Catholic prayer was an infringement of freedom of religion and conscience rights.
Rev. David Fekete, president of the Edmonton Interfaith Centre, appeared before the executive committee on Tuesday to ask that the prayers be reinstated.
He said the prayers represented a long-standing tradition and a celebration of diversity, unlike those in Quebec.
"The prayers that have been said in Edmonton were interfaith prayers," Fekete said. "So it wasn't as if one particular religion was singled out."
Coun. Mike Nickel agreed that silencing faith in City Hall was more likely to suppress diversity than promote it.
But Mayor Don Iveson said the court's decision clearly prohibited prayers in a government setting.
According to the city's lawyer, Anne Kaplan, allowing opening prayers to continue could mean the city would have to pay substantial damages.
"I don't see us having much of a choice here," Iveson said.
Instead, councillors recommended prayer be replaced with a moment of reflection. Exactly what kind of reflection will be allowed will still have to be determined.
Coun. Ben Henderson said he likes that idea more than the prayers. As a "confirmed agnostic," he said being made to pray in council made him feel uncomfortable in the past.
"It wasn't something that I was ever going to make a huge fuss about," he said.
"But it poses some interesting thoughts. And if it was doing that for me, what's it doing for others?"
He hopes the city invites people of different faiths and backgrounds to the moment of reflection to help maintain the diversity of voices the prayer brought to city hall.
City council will make a final decision next week.
