The Lord’s Prayer has long accompanied the beginning of Parliamentary sittings in Australia, but in multicultural and mutli-faith Australia, this practice might be coming to an end in some parliaments.
In Victoria, the Andrews Labor Government have eyed the possibility of replacing the Lord’s Prayer in the parliamentary day with a multitude of prayers from various faiths.
Premier Daniel Andrews has suggested that a “multi-faith moment at the beginning of the parliamentary day” may reflect modern Victoria more than the Lord’s Prayer. The suggestion comes after Victoria’s Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings referred a proposal to an upper house committee that will look at scrapping the century-old tradition or adding prayers from other faiths alongside it.
Reason Australia MP Fiona Patten said that the move would be a “major step forward.”
“Victoria is built on diversity and multiculturalism. This is a secular society and most religious people I speak to are surprised to find out that this is how we start every day here,” Ms Patten said.
Rev. Dr John Squires is the former Principal at the Perth Theological Hall and is currently undertaking an intentional interim ministry at Queanbeyan Uniting Church. He told Insights that he does not mind the idea of the Lord’s Prayer remaining at the start of parliament.
“The great heresy of the 20th century was to claim that religion and politics should not be mixed. That’s incorrect. They are related,” he said.
“One informs the other. So it is fine to pray at the start of sessions where the laws of the land are being debated and decided.”
Read the article by Jonathan Foye on Insights.