http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,7376959%255E3462,00.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s953382.htm
in nsw:
Ms LEE RHIANNON [11.36 a.m.]: I move:
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That the sessional order relating to Prayers first adopted by the House on
Wednesday 8 September 1999 be amended by omitting all words after "read:",
and inserting instead:
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10A. Upon the President taking the Chair each day, if there is a Quorum present
as provided by Standing Order No. 10, the President will say:
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"I ask all members to stand in silence and pray or reflect on your responsibilities
to the people of New South Wales."
The Greens have great respect for freedom of _expression_, freedom of religion and freedom of speech. It is in this context that I have moved this motion to replace the prayers with which we start the day with a non-denominational statement. We believe that it is most timely to make this change as the motion is inclusive of all peoples. The 42 members of this House represent all the people of New South Wales. But not all the people of this State are Christians. Certainly, Christianity is still the dominant religion but successive censuses show that the number of people who state that they belong to a Christian religion is steadily declining. Surely our House needs to acknowledge these changes.
The Hon. Dr ARTHUR CHESTERFIELD-EVANS [11.54 a.m.]: I am continually disappointed by the quality of debate in this Chamber. The fact that the Government and the Coalition have not sought to justify their position but have chosen merely to state that they will oppose the motion—although members interjected on Ms Lee Rhiannon, who proposed it—reflects poorly upon them. They do not have an intellectual argument; they simply say, "We have the numbers and that is enough." That is very disappointing.
An important element of the French Revolution was the separation of church and state, and people died for that cause as they fought for religious freedom. Freedom of religion is guaranteed in the United Nations charter of rights—although I must admit that, as a boy in boarding school, I would have appreciated freedom from religion. The Government and the Opposition have made the casual assumption of orthodoxy. Are they saying, "That is the religion in Australia and, if you do not like it, you can lump it" or "It is the majority view, so cop it"? Is that their justification? If we lived in Afghanistan we would be presumed to be Muslims and would consider ourselves lucky that we were not killed for belonging to the wrong Islamic sect. Australia supports the Baha'i faith. In fact, I intervened recently on behalf of some Baha'i to prevent them being shipped back to Iran where they faced almost certain death. Unfortunately, the Federal Government shipped them off although it is known that Baha'i supporters in that country are killed.
Religious tolerance is very important. Because nobody in this country is killed on the basis of their religion, some people seem to think it is not important. The idea that we are a majority Christian community and that therefore non-Christians must participate in Christian rituals is an assumption of orthodoxy that simply disregards the rights of those who are not of that orthodoxy. As Ms Lee Rhiannon pointed out, a third of Australians are not Christians. When filling in the census question about religion many people hark back to their christening and think "I was brought up a Presbyterian, so I will put that down" even though they do not practise their religion. In fact, although I do not have specialist knowledge in this area, I believe that Australia is one of the least religious countries in terms of religious practice.
The Hon. JAN BURNSWOODS [5.03 p.m.]: I intend to support the motion, although I must admit that I have some reservations ... I think it is about time in this multicultural, multireligious society we examine seriously the prayer that begins the parliamentary day. There are much better ways of debating this serious issue, but unfortunately Ms Lee Rhiannon prefers media coverage and grandstanding.
The speech of Reverend the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes exhibited the kind of Christian chauvinism that is common to his contributions.
http://www.wesleymission.org.au/releases/September03/030918.asp
more of it here:http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/web/phweb.nsf/frames/hansard
