Abigail Boyd MLC on removing NSW parliamentary prayers
How would you feel if, at the start of every working day, your employer made everyone in your workplace stand for a recital of the Lord’s Prayer?
Well, that is exactly what happens in our national parliament, state parliaments, and in many local councils!
In the upper house of the New South Wales parliament last week, Greens MP Abigail Boyd made a plea for the Lord’s Prayer to be replaced with something more inclusive and representative of all people.
She noted that in no other previous workplace had she been required to recite the Lord’s Prayer before starting her daily work.
In her speech, Boyd suggested that a basic first step towards making parliament more inclusive would be to acknowledge that it is not a Christian institution.
“It is wholly separate from the church – from any church – and it is wrong of us to make the recital of the Lord's Prayer, which is a wholly Christian practice, a core part of our everyday proceedings here. It excludes and alienates many of us who are not practising Christians,” she said.
The National Secular Lobby is calling on politicians at all levels of government to act in the removal of discriminatory and unrepresentative prayer rituals.
As part of our #SecularGovernment campaign, we're building a list of the parliaments and councils that enforce the recital of prayers as part of their official government business.
At the National Secular Lobby, we're pleased to have joined forces with a number of pro-secular community organisations in the #DontDivideUs campaign against the proposed Religious Discrimination Bill. Add your voice to the campaign.
