Dr Ronan McCrea, Senior Lecturer in Law at UCL Faculty of Laws, is featured in The Irish Times with his article discussing the issue of the saying of prayers at the opening of parliamentary sessions.
In the article Dr McCrea argues that although the cultural role of Christianity in most European states means that absolute religious neutrality is unattainable, states should distinguish between symbols and arrangements that reflect Christianity’s role in national culture and apparent endorsement of a particular faith by the state. Parliamentary prayer falls into the second category and should be abandoned. He suggests that if European states are to require migrants from areas of the world where religion and politics are intertwined to accept the separation of religion and state, it is important that the majority also be seen to respect such separation.
