A West Australian state Labor MP wants the traditional reading of the Lord’s Prayer removed from the WA Parliament and replaced with a moment of silence. Source: ABC News.
Bassendean MP Dave Kelly said he wants the prayer scrapped to “make Parliament more inclusive of everybody” regardless of religious belief.
A committee reviewing parliamentary procedures said removing it would raise broader questions about “the balance of tradition and modernisation”.
A range of changes to the rules that govern WA’s lower house are being considered in the first major review of such procedures since 1999.
As part of that, the question of whether the Lord’s Prayer – which is read at the beginning of each sitting – should remain was raised.
Mr Kelly, a former cabinet minister, said, in his view, a Christian prayer was “no longer appropriate”.
“Unfortunately, I, and a number of other members avoid coming into the [Legislative Assembly] for the Acknowledgement of Country because if you do you are forced to remain there for the Lord’s Prayer,” he wrote in a submission to the committee undertaking the review.
“WA is now a proud multicultural community welcoming citizens from all around the [world], with many religions and no religion,” he wrote.
“Now more than ever we should strive to make everyone feel welcome and included.”
Mr Kelly, who has long advocated for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, also linked the prayer to their experiences.
“You cannot underestimate the triggering effect on survivors when they come to this place and see that the [Legislative Assembly] starts every day with a Christian prayer,” he wrote.
Australian Christians MLC Maryka Groenewald described the push to scrap the opening prayer as “troubling” in a post on social media.
“Opening Parliament with the Lord’s Prayer was seen as a simple acknowledgement of the Christian heritage of our nation, and the faith that shaped so much of our law and culture,” she wrote.
Ms Groenewald said Mr Kelly’s link between the prayer and institutional child sexual abuse “is effectively to say that any reference to Christianity must be read through the worst actions ever committed by people within the Church”.
A discussion paper released by the committee noted the Lord’s Prayer has been a “long-standing parliamentary tradition” and that any change “raises broader questions about the balance between tradition and modernisation”.
FULL STORY
Labor MP calls for Lord’s Prayer to be scrapped in WA Parliament (By Keane Bourke and Nadia Mitsopoulos, ABC News)
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