Church rules against CCTV in services to allow ‘private’ prayer

CHURCHES must switch off CCTV cameras during services because prayer is private, a Church of England court has ruled.

The consistory court ruling is believed to be the first made on the ethics of CCTV in church and was made in response to a Canterbury vicar who applied to install cameras so his church could be left open during the day.

The Rev Philip Brown, and churchwardens Robin Slowe and Robert Allen, want to install the system to deter vandals from damaging the church and catch the actions of any wrongdoers.

St Mary’s Chartham is a Grade Ilisted medieval building, most of which was built between 1285 and 1305.

Morag Ellis QC, commissary general of the Diocese of Canterbury, said that the cameras should be switched off during services, including regular Sunday worship and events such as weddings.

“Funerals and baptisms, in particular, are examples of occasions on which people are likely to be very sensitive,” she added.

Cameras should also be kept away from secluded areas designed for prayer, she added.

“Areas set aside for private devotions seem to me to fall within the especially sensitive category where one would not expect to be filmed while praying. Similarly, in any churches where sacramental confession or other ministries of individual pastoral support, such as healing, are practised, there should be no filming in the part or parts of the church set aside for such purposes,” she said.

Church of England churches are encouraged to keep their doors open, with experts advising that such a policy means vandalism is less likely than if the doors are locked.