The Age’s View | Editor, Gay Alcorn
The Lord’s Prayer has been a regular fixture in the Victorian Parliament since the early part of last century. It has been recited at the start of each sitting day since 1918. The prayer, which begins with the line, “Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy name,” is considered central to the Christian faith and is said across most Christian denominations with some small variations in wording.
The prayer opens the sitting day in Federal Parliament, and most of the state and territory parliaments across Australia have a requirement to read a prayer at the start of proceedings, the majority of them reading the Lord’s Prayer. The ACT Parliament, by contrast, asks its members to stand in silence, and pray or reflect on their responsibilities to the people of the ACT.
This week, changes to the 103-year-old tradition in Victoria are being put forward. Reason Party upper house MP Fiona Patten will push for a debate and a vote on a motion to scrap the prayer and instead have the President of the Legislative Council open the day by instructing MPs “to stand in silence and pray or reflect on their responsibilities to the people of Victoria”, not unlike the ACT model.
Ms Patten, an atheist, has argued since 2019 that reciting the prayer makes Parliament seem like a “Christian’s club”, which she says is inappropriate for a secular institution. She says there are more than 100 religious affiliations in Australia and a parliament designed to represent a multicultural, multi-faith society should not be so closely tied to one religious viewpoint…
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Read the full article on The Age’s website.
