Always Hope

A swift update on the previous post, thanks to the brilliant Church Mouse Blog: It turns out that Mayor Colin Hall is a stooge in the campaign to ban council prayers and is one of only two mayors to so far condone this nasty and small-minded trend. Whilst I symapthise with Mouse's triumphalism, I feel it would be ungracious of me to withdraw my previously offered sympathy and advice. Always Hope wishes Mr Hall well in his search for better fitting trousers, and in this way hopes to heap burning coals upon his head (but not down his trousers). [Proverbs 25:21-22, Romans 12:20]

Another good story from the Church Times features Boris Johnson's appearance at the latest Global Day of Prayer event in London. Perhaps slightly stumped as to a suitable subject for Mayoral comment on such an occasion, Boris plumped to involve himself in the controversy over whether local councils should say prayers before their meetings. This is, of course, a serious matter and one that I feel is very important. It has recently been brought to a head by the National Secular Society, who have launched a campaign attempting to intimidate councils into giving up prayers by insinuating they may face legal action. This makes us ask hard questions about the use of faith language, and especially Christian language, in public discourse - perhaps even forcing us to consider the essential nature of modern British society. And Boris' contribution to this complex and fraught debate? "It's a load of old cobblers" he tells Premier Radio . (Nice link, also has a typically...