The NSW Greens have resumed their campaign to end prayers in the state legislature, claiming that the custom is “absurd” and alienating to the populace.
Every day that the NSW parliament meets, prayers and a national anthem are recited at the start of the session. This custom, which started in 1934, has since spread to other state and territory legislatures as well as the federal government.
Abigail Boyd, a Greens MP, said of the custom, “I believe it is ludicrous.”
She continued, “We weren’t required to stand and pay attention to the Lord’s prayer before we opened all the registers when I worked at Kmart.
The majority of people in the actual world, in my opinion, consider what we do to be rather unusual.
Despite Boyd’s lack of confidence, Meredith Doig, president of the Rationalist Society of Australia, claims that there is rising national support for Boyd’s motion to ban Christian tradition from public institutions.
People want change, according to Doig, and that includes changing the custom of favouring one faith over another.
Shoalhaven and Wagga Wagga councils in NSW, among others, had previously decided to move to a minute of peaceful thought, she added.
In 2019, Boyd attempted to have the prayer eliminated but was unsuccessful due to opposition from the administration and Labor.
Tanya Davies, a Liberal MP, would oppose any resolution that would ban prayer in Australian legislatures.
According to Davies, “I support the continuation of prayer, including the Lord’s prayer, in Parliaments around the country.”
It serves as a reminder to all MPs to serve in a humble, steadfast, compassionate, just, and equitable manner.
According to a NSW Labor official, the motion would not be supported.
Outgoing Labor MP Walt Secord vehemently opposed any motions to change the custom, and his office had a tonne of calls against the proposal when it was originally put up.
In 2019, he declared, “We are a parliament, not a student council.”
Unexpectedly, followers of non-Christian religions, such as Hindus and Muslims, perceived it as an attack on all believers, not simply those who practise The Lord’s Prayer.
Boyd maintained that hearing Christian prayers eventually served to hinder diversity in the parliament.
She asserted that she thought that continuing to read the prayer amounted to affirming Christianity as the standard.
The lack of diversity in parliament is fairly amazing, Boyd continued.
The Rationalist Society will host a webinar with Ms about their push to remove the Lord’s prayer from public institutions, on Wednesday night..
NSW Greens redouble their efforts to ban state legislature prayers
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