Athée Canadien
Prayer at City Council Meetings
By Veronica
Larry Moran at Sandwalk posted on this topic on January 18, 2007 and January 27, 2007. Moran says, “The practice [reciting the Lord's Prayer at city council meetings] was declared illegal following an Ontario Court of Appeals ruling in 1999.” However, the members of the Peterborough City Council have chosen to ignore the ruling. The agenda for October 24 reads
Remembrance Day Observance
The Lord’s Prayer
Thirty Seconds of Silent Reflection
National Anthem
Why the Peterborough City council is observing Remembrance Day more than two weeks before November 11 is not the focus of this post. Reciting The Lord’s Prayer and the thirty seconds of silent reflection are. I intend to attend the October 24 meeting because one of the topics on the agenda is the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board’s recommendation to close the only downtown public high school in Peterborough. I can’t avoid The Lord’s Prayer and the thirty seconds of silent reflection because the school closing is a hot topic, and the chambers will fill up quickly. I will use the thirty seconds of silent reflection to reflect on why the mayor and the council feel it is necessary to call on the Christian God for help as they perform their secular duty.
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Comments are closed.
about 6 months ago
On a related topic, do they refer to your mayor as “Your Worship”? That’s how Windsor does it. It makes my skin crawl.
about 6 months ago
I don’t know how the mayor is addressed in Peterborough, but I will be going to my first Peterborough City Council meeting on Monday and will let you know.
about 6 months ago
You may have discussed this earlier, but have you considered sending a letter of protest to the mayor and council? It may be more effective if you provide it to the media too. Perhaps your local atheist/humanist group will back it too (or if you don’t have one, a provincial or national group).
about 6 months ago
Ian
Thanks for the feedback.
I emailed the councilor for my ward (Oct. 5), emailed her on Oct. 20 to see if she received my email, and she asked me to resend the message. I resent the message on October 20. Today, I sent the URL for the above post to the mayor with a cc to the councilor for my ward. She replied to the email sent today that included the URL.
Thank you for reminding me to send the URL to a contact at the local free newspaper.
about 6 months ago
There is no active Atheist group n Peterborough at present . I have formed a page on Facebook that I would like to transform into a local active group for the purpose of meetings and trips and lectures but it is slow growing in the last month. I am planning on getting the word out about the group more forcefully after the holiday season. I would appreciate some input on the group Veronica if you get the chance to check it out. Please email me at the group email.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Atheist-Community-of-Peterborough/242273172490695
atheistcp@hotmail.ca
about 6 months ago
I suggest you check out http://www.meetup.com, it gets good rankings on google and the cost is reasonable. I’ve started a couple successful groups this way. (Toronto and Guelph) And its really easy to use. If money is an issue, CFI might be able to help, they have a few meetup groups… and each account allows for 3 groups, so they might have an extra slot. Good luck.
about 6 months ago
Hey Veronica, good for you for going to this meeting and gritting your teeth through the goddy bits. Just curious about the concern over closing the school. I know it’s disappointing to the staff and students who go there but doesn’t it make more sense to close the school in the downtown core in favour of a school like TAS, which according to most people I talk to has more in the way of athletic facilities? I’m looking at it from a purely practical point of view of course. I know it must be difficult for those in the school community, but I would think it makes more sense to have the board offices and adult ed centre downtown. Wouldn’t that actually benefit downtown businesses more?
about 6 months ago
Ri
I’m sorry, I missed your comment when it was first posted and did not reply. However, as much as I would like to discuss closing TAS versus closing PCVS with you, this blog is not the place to have this conversation.
about 6 months ago
Well? Any news about the outcome of the council meeting?
PS I think “Your Worship” is the standard honourific for Mayors. IIRC, it is also the standard for Justices of the Peace. Full judges get the “Your Honour”.
about 6 months ago
Update via Wiki-fu.
“The term worship implies that citizens give or attribute special worth or esteem (worthship) to their first-citizen or mayor.[1][2] According to Chaucer, the term means to respect; to honour; or to treat with civil reverence.[3]”
So maybe not a direct religious reference, though certainly one with religious undertones.