Atheists are taking Ontario's Grey County to court to force county council to stop praying the Our Father at the start of meetings.
Peter Ferguson of Kimberly, Ont. — one of nine municipalities in the county on the shores of Georgian Bay — served legal papers on the county July 30 alleging the practice of reciting a Christian prayer at the beginning of a government meeting is illegal. In 1999 the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that Penetanguishine, Ont., was violating constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by starting council meetings with The Lord's Prayer.
Ferguson is seeking an end to the practice along with $5,000 in damages.
As far as Catholic Civil Rights League executive director Joanne McGarry is concerned, going to court over prayer is just sad.
"I always find it very distasteful or off-putting when prayer turns into something people are just battling about," she said.
Ferguson's court case is backed by Secular Ontario, an offshoot of the Humanist Association founded in 2005 with about 20 members.
Secular Ontario president Sheila Ayala told The Catholic Register an important principle is at stake in the case.
"Council meetings are open to the public. It's important that everybody is included," she said. "The principle is that we all pay taxes to where we live. We ought to be included but we're being excluded."
No disrespect is being aimed at the traditions of Ontario or religious conviction of three-quarters of Ontarians who align themselves with Christian faith, said Ayala.
"We're not stopping anybody from going to their synagogue or their mosque or whatever. We're not saying you can't practise whatever religion you want."
But Ayala does believe expressions of religious faith have no place in the public sphere.
Secular Ontario has sent letters to about 28 municipalities where reciting the Our Father at council meetings persists, said Ayala.
"We're having to take them to court again. They're not complying with what in fact is the law. They are breaking the law," she said.
"Court challenges of this kind are unfortunate. It just causes a lot of grief to people that we don't really need to have," said McGarry.
McGarry supports councils that wish to pray at the start of their meetings.
"It's like grace before meals," she said. If there's a need to be more inclusive, then rotate the prayers among the faith traditions of the community, she said.
"One week it might be Christian and the next week Muslim and the following week it could be more secular, a moment of reflection," McGarry said.
When the issue came up at the Ontario Legislature in 2008, Toronto's Cardinal (then Archbishop) Thomas Collins argued against a simplistic, ahistorical interpretation of the word secular.
"It is important not to be befuddled by a distorted view of the secular, one which holds that all life in the public realm must be meticulously sterilized lest a hint of faith intrude," he told legislators.
Collins was not against non-Christian prayers being used to open public debates, but argued tradition and the large Christian majority ought to assure the Our Father remains.
"It is highly appropriate that the deliberations of those whom we elect as our representatives should begin with prayer," he said. "Religion is not alien or dangerous. It is fruitful and life-giving and any effort to eliminate evidence of it in public assemblies is misguided... The Lord's Prayer has the advantage that it is part of our historical tradition, it is a contribution from the spiritual heritage of almost three-quarters of our citizens and it is at the same time open to wider application by any people of faith, and in fact by anyone."