• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Australian Senate President Calls For The Daily Reading Of The Lord’s Prayer To Be Ditched

Home> News

Published 21:38 28 Jul 2022 GMT+1

Australian Senate President Calls For The Daily Reading Of The Lord’s Prayer To Be Ditched

It's been a tradition for more than 120 years but Senator Sue Lines wants it dumped.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

The President of the Australian Senate is calling for the practice of reading the Lord's Prayer every day before sitting to be ditched.

For the last 121 years, politicians have stood and and listened to the Lord's Prayer be read out each day, according to Sky News Australia.

It's a relic of the past when Australia was a far more Christian country.

However, there is now a campaign to dump the practice because Australia is far more multicultural.

Advert

Rolf Richardson / Alamy Stock Photo

Sue Lines is the President of the Senate and is also an atheist. She believes it's high time the Senate becomes atheist as well.

Speaking to The Australian: "On the one hand we’ve had almost every parliamentary leader applaud the diversity of the Parliament and so if we are genuine about the diversity of the Parliament we cannot continue to say a Christian prayer to open the day.

“Personally, I would like to see the prayers gone. I’m an atheist. I don’t want to say the prayers. If others want to say the prayers they’re open to do that.

“Personally I would like to see them gone but again it’s not something I can decree. It’s a view of the Senate.”

Advert

She's planning on raising the issue with the Senate Standing Committee on Procedure to see if they can amend the daily practice.

In addition to the Lord's Prayer, the Senate also has an Acknowledgement of Country. That practice has been in place since 2010 and recognises First Nations people as the original custodians of Australia.

Senator Sue Lines/Facebook

Politicians aren't required to attend the Lord's Prayer, not do they have to participate in it if they are present.

While some people would be in favour of removing the Lord's Prayer from standard practice, the suggestion has already angered some in Canberra.

Advert

Politician Bob Katter said: "Is it an unreasonable thing to quote from a book that more than half the population is committed to? In Australia it is.

“And now, we have been told today by some that we cannot say prayers in the Parliament. We can show allegiance to some lady in England, but we cannot say prayers.”

The 2021 census has revealed Christians are dwindling in numbers, with only 44 per cent of Aussies identifying as Jesus-worshippers.

When you compared that figure to the last census in 2016, which came in at 61 per cent, it's a pretty big decline.

Non-believers now make up 39 per cent of Australia's population, up from 30 per cent in 2016.

Advert

If Christianity continues to lose worshippers at this rate, then having no religion will become the next 'dominant religion' at the 2026 census.

Featured Image Credit: Senator Sue Lines/Facebook. Darren Weinert / Alamy Stock Photo

Topics: Australia

Stewart Perrie
Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Senior Journalist at LADbible. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign. He is in charge of the LADbible Australia editorial content and social presence.

X

@stewartperrie

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

6 hours ago
7 hours ago
10 hours ago
  • 6 hours ago

    Girl, 9, dies after mum left her in the car whilst she went to work

    She was left unattended in the car for hours

    News
  • 6 hours ago

    Incredible photo shows woman hanging on to tree before being rescued from freak flood that killed 27

    The woman had been swept 20 miles downriver before being rescued

    News
  • 7 hours ago

    Man robbed bank claiming 'it was art' and filmed the whole thing

    Gonna have to try this one

    News
  • 10 hours ago

    Someone made a £5000 Bitcoin investment in 2011 and has now made ridiculous profit 14 years later

    Maybe they're a time traveller who did what we all dream of

    News
  • Australian visa health rules after British couple set to be deported due to 'outdated' rule following shock diagnosis
  • How Australian breakdancer Raygun managed to qualify for Olympics before scoring zero in Paris
  • 'Living Nostradamus' issues chilling warning to UK following Trump's calls for ceasefire
  • UK locations that would be safest in the event of WW3 as Brits warned to ‘actively prepare’ for war