PRAYING the Lord’s Prayer in Queensland Parliament would remind politicians of a higher calling beyond politics, Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge said.
Responding to a report in The Courier-Mail on mixed reaction from Labor ministers about the Lord’s Prayer during parliament, the Archbishop said the Lord’s Prayer was an “effective way” of setting parliament “in a larger context”.
“At a time when political culture is debilitated and politics is in many ways in trouble, it’s not a bad thing to say in the Parliament that politics though important is not enough in itself,” Archbishop Coleridge said.
“In other words, to set it in a larger context; a context of transcendence.”
The Courier-Mail report on the value of the Lord’s Prayer in parliamentary sessions said Labor MPs “were at odds” about scrapping the prayer, which is prayed at the beginning of every parliamentary sitting day.
Transport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe’s personal preference would be a moment of silence, while Deputy Premier Jackie Trad supported “multi-faith and secular options”, the report said.
Archbishop Coleridge said calls for a multi-faith option was based on misunderstandings of the prayer’s text.
He said the Lord’s Prayer was “in many ways also a Jewish and Islamic prayer” in its inclusive language.
Member for Everton Tim Mander told The Catholic Leader it was “absolutely ridiculous” to consider removing the Lord’s Prayer from parliament.
Mr Mander said the Lord’s Prayer was an important tradition in Australian culture.
“The Lord’s Prayer is an important cultural tradition of our nation as well as recognising that our Constitution, education, legal and social services frameworks are all based on Christian values,” he said.
Mr Mander (pictured) said the suggestion to scrap the Lord’s Prayer was an example of extreme political correctness.
“The next thing they will try to do is ban the singing of Christmas carols,” Mr Mander said.
Speaker of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Peter Wellington said in a Tweet on November 13 the Lord’s Prayer would remain in Parliament
By Emilie Ng
