Nairn provost Liz MacDonald told all the other councillors by e-mail that she was not interested in receiving a copy, and that the council should also consider stopping the tradition of opening meetings with prayer or should invite prayer from faiths other than Christianity.

The move has caused "sadness and disappointment" among some other council members, who said this was an attempt to abandon part of the Highlands' heritage.

The offer of the Bibles came from church leaders in the Highland area. They wrote to the convener Sandy Park and chief executive Alistair Dodds "to demonstrate support and prayers for those in leadership roles in our area". The Bibles would be in a modern translation with the name of each recipient inside, and they would be presented by Lord Mackay of Clashfern, the former Lord Chancellor.

Councillors were e-mailed to gauge the level of interest in the proposal. It is understood a proposal came from within the SNP group to refuse the offer, but their coalition partners, the independent group, disagreed.

Councillor Liz MacDonald circulated an e-mail which said: "I am not interested in receiving a copy of a Bible. I understand that councils saying prayers at the start of their meetings may be discriminatory against alternatives religions and we should consider stopping prayers at Highland Council, or should extend the remit to include other faiths. We should seek the view of our equal opportunities officer about this issue and with this in mind I have included her in my response."

Ordinary meetings of the full council are opened with prayer, as are meetings of the education, culture and sport committee.

A number of councillors take it in turn to pray, including Mike Finlayson, Margaret Paterson and Alasdair Rhind.

Mr Finlayson said: "Scotland is still deemed a Christian country and so it is appropriate to open council meetings with prayer."

Mrs Paterson said: "If Councillor MacDonald feels that strongly about the prayer she need not come into the council chamber, as some of the other members do, until the prayer has been said.

"Many of the councillors feel that prayer is a help to them. I am saddened that she objects, because we live in a Christian country."

Mr Rhind said: "This was a very kind offer made by a group of church leaders and Councillor MacDonald has not responded appropriately.

"The Christian faith is our faith and it is part of the heritage of the Highlands, and it saddens me that this e-mail was circulated. When councillors are elected they get offered advice on many things and I see this offer from church leaders as very appropriate."

This is the third time that members of the SNP group have fallen out with Christian groups.

Provost Bob Wynd of Inverness caused controversy over the Kirking of the Council in the Old High Church for members in the Highland capital by choosing to read his own speech instead of a passage from the Bible.

SNP members in Inverness also criticised the newly-started street pastors. The pastors are sent out by Christian churches in the area to counsel and help people who are drunk on the city streets at weekends. SNP members said they should include among their pastors people of other faiths and people of no faith at all.

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