As the Hypocrites Are

A judge has inflicted another setback on those Christians whose reading of the Gospels dictates that they must not only flaunt their disgusting superstitions in public, but must needs inflict them on the rest of us. Possibly half of Britain's councils hold prayer sessions as part of their formal meetings, apparently under the impression that the Deity needs to be prodded into taking a greater interest in local affairs. A councillor in Devon, supported by the National Secular Society, took his own council to court, and the judge has ruled that the practice is discriminatory.

The bishop of Exeter issued the usual self-pitying squeal on the BBC: "No one is compelled to participate in these activities," he blathered, presumably unaware that the Devon council's supplications were minuted as part of the meetings. "If they get their way it will have enormous implications for prayers in parliament, Remembrance Day, the jubilee celebrations, even the singing of the national anthem", all matters of vast and overwhelming significance to the kind of people who are still arguing about whether or not women and gays are proper human beings.