Lord's Prayer Questioned in Australian Parliament

PokerFace Sun Nov 23, 2008 12:41 am

Source: Lord's Prayer Questioned in Australian Parliament

Summary:
There is a debate going on over whether or not the Lord's Prayer should continue to be said at the beginning of each session. This prayer has been said at the start of every day of Parliament for over 100 years and it is a tradition picked up from British colonial rule.
The debate arises because Australia is now an "increasingly secular and religiously diverse nation." There are currently over 65% of Australians that identify themselves as Christians and there are no Muslims or Aborigines included in Australia's 226 federal lawmakers.
There are also different alternatives being proposed, such as having the prayer be replaced by a period of silent reflection or a recognition of Aborigines, Australia's original inhabitants.
For some, it looks as though nothing is going to change soon because Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and opposition leader Malcom Turnbull both wanted to keep the prayer as part of their routine/

This may or may not come as a surprise to some people, given that I am a practicing Roman Catholic, but I think that there wouldn't be much harm inflicted if the prayer was to be removed from the beginning of each day. I think this mainly because not everyone is Christian, and similarly, not everyone believes in the importance of prayer.

I understand that it is a tradition that many people would like to retain, but I think that it is something that can be done away with. If something MUST take its place, then I think that the moment of silence/time of reflection would be most accommodating. Members can use this time to pray, reflect, or something else of their choosing.

But of course, this is not my decision to make, so it will be interesting to see what happens with this in the future!