. . . and if you insist on grace at meals, don’t mention God

GIRLGUIDING chiefs have told leaders who traditionally say grace before meals at camps to leave out references to God for fear of upsetting non-Christians or atheists.

Official advice on the organisation’s website also said that the singing of songs with ‘faith-based lyrics’ around the camp fire should be banned.

Set up in 1910, the charity has no official link with any religion but its values have been widely seen as broadly Christian, and many of its leaders are Christians who hold meetings in church halls.

Critics reacted with fury to the advice, with one former Guide leader saying that it would have ‘devastated’ the Christian founders of the movement, Lord Baden-Powell and his wife Olave.

General Synod member Alison Ruoff said: ‘I was a Guide leader and if we had a day-long hike and we were eating, we would always have grace.

‘The idea of dropping it is an absolute nonsense, absolutely appalling.

‘The Guides are being very foolish in trying to whitewash Christianity, and they must not.’ Girlguiding, formerly the Girl Guides Association, said ‘it may be traditional’ to say or sing grace – the prayers that Christians use to thank God for food and drink – but added: ‘Consider how this might make members who are from a different faith – or have no faith – feel.’

It suggested that leaders who wanted to say something before a community meal should ‘try to think of a statement that doesn’t make reference to any particular god or faith’.

On singing, the guidance added: ‘Some songs may have faith-based lyrics.

‘Would it be possible to change the words to songs?’

Girlguiding’s chief executive Julie Bentley said the organisation has ‘always been open to girls of all faiths or none,’ and that the organisation had updated its guidance on saying grace and using songs as part of the changes it had made to its pledge.