Yet another attack on Australia’s Christian heritage has taken place, with renewed calls from atheist groups and politicians to remove the use of Christian prayers from the Australian Federal Government’s processes.
Challenges to the use of these Christian prayers in Parliament have been occurring regularly in recent years as Christianity continues to decline in Australia.
Since 1901, two Christian prayers have been spoken at the beginning of each day that the House of Representatives sits in Australia’s Federal Government since. Atheist groups argue that the use of Christian prayers in Parliament privilege one religious worldview over another.
These groups have submitted a petition to the Australian Parliament calling for the removal of all Christian prayers. To date, only 3,000 people had signed the petition.
In 2022, a senator had campaigned to remove the Lord’s Prayer from Senate practices in Australia. This move follows the removal of any reference to Jesus in the New Zealand government’s daily prayer in 2017 with New Zealand following a similar pattern to Australia with Christian numbers and influence steadily declining in recent years.
Recently, a Melbourne council dumped its traditional prayer from meetings after lawyers complained it was a breach of human rights law.
According to The Guardian, the City of Boroondara voted on Monday night to stop reading the council prayer at the start of its meetings. The motion passed nine votes to one.
