I’ve received several emails expressing concern about the mass prayer in Trafalgar Square involving Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London on 16th March. My colleague, Nick Timothy MP, called it an ‘act of domination’. The Prime Minister demanded that Kemi Badenoch sack Mr Timothy and Nigel Farage then weighed in, demanding a ban on all mass religious observance.
I replied to the emails saying that I believe in freedom of worship.
Our Lord instructed his followers to pray in secret rather that to do it in public, but that was to differ explicitly from the Pharisees who prayed in public in order to demonstrate their piety: showing off to everyone else. I conclude that it is fine to pray in public with proper motives.
When, in 2012 the High Court ruled in favour of an objecting Bideford town councillor who had complained that prayers at the commencement of council meetings were ultra-vires, within 48 hours government legislation overturned the ruling and restored the status quo ante, so they could continue to pray at council meetings.
The first official daily business in Parliament, is prayers -even though we don’t admit the public.
I understand the concern that mass religious observance can make people uncomfortable. It might indeed, be interpreted as a demonstration of power, even – were the numbers to warrant it – an act of domination. Though having spoken to a participant at Trafalgar Sq. I was assured that the intent was quite the opposite, it was simply to show that there was nothing out of the ordinary or sinister about Muslim worship.
Even were it a demonstration, I believe in freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate. And if demonstrations make us uncomfortable, that is the price we pay for having our freedom of expression.
Mr Farage’s demand that mass religious worship be banned would an outrageous intrusion by the State into our liberty. We really must get beyond demanding a ban on anything, just because we just don’t like it.
Personally, I don’t much care for street preachers, they can be loud, intrusive, and often, quite wacky. In my estimate, they are not an effective means of evangelising (St Francis said that we should preach the Gospel always, but rarely resort to words!). Nevertheless, our freedom would be much diminished were such preachers to be outlawed.
We are, however, already way too far down that road: there are examples of officious police harassment, seeking to censor what street preachers may say.
We even have laws that prohibit silent prayer within 100 meters of an abortion clinic. A woman, arrested for praying silently, despite the clinic being closed at the time, was asked by the arresting officer, what it was she was praying about!
We really are on the cusp of implementing aspects of George Orwell’s dystopian vision 1984.
Mr Farage’s knee-jerk response to ban public religious observance is a denial of the rights of people of every religion and none.
If you don’t like acts of public religious observance , the answer is simple: don’t go to one.