Calgary council meeting opens without prayer after Supreme Court ruling

A Calgary city council began Monday without a prayer for the first time in decades.

Instead there was a moment of quiet contemplation.

• Prayer could be banned from Calgary City Hall
• Supreme Court rules against prayer at city council meetings

The move follows a ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada last week that reciting a Catholic prayer at council meetings in Saguenay, Que., infringes on freedom of conscience and religion.

The decision ended an eight-year legal battle that began with a complaint filed by an atheist and a secular-rights organization against Saguenay's mayor.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi sayshe is unhappy with theruling.

Since the mid-1970s, city council meetings in Calgary have begun with a 30-word prayer asking God to guide officials into making wise and knowledgeable decisions and ends with the word "amen."

Some Calgary council members were upset with the decision by the city's law department to drop the opening prayer in view of the court ruling, so the issue will be discussed again at next week's council meeting.