The new Australian Senate President Sue Lines - an atheist - said this week that she wanted the long-standing tradition of starting each sitting day with the Lord’s Prayer dumped because (insert drum roll here) of ‘diversity’.

‘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.’

There may well be a number of parliamentarians who do not believe in the Christian God, but there are even fewer parliamentarians who believe devoutly in the spiritual practice of burning leaves outside Parliament House. Why is one form of spirituality appropriate while the other is not?  Whatever you think of Christianity or Aboriginal Dreamtime, the new religion is Woke hypocrisy.

Can you imagine the uproar if Ms Lines had suggested the Welcome to Country or the smoking ceremony were divisive? And can you imagine the outrage if she added, for good measure, that because she was not Indigenous she should not have to endure them?

She would be derided as a racist and denounced by everybody.

But when she suggested the Lord’s Prayer was divisive and that because she was an atheist she should not have to endure it, everybody nodded approvingly and mumbled, ‘She’s got a point. If we don’t ditch the Christian prayer where will the diversity be?’

Abandoning the Lord’s Prayer does not create diversity, and it is certainly not enlightened. Rather, it pretends that our Westminster system of government and common law arose out of nowhere when, in fact, it was largely influenced by the Bible and Christian tradition.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/08/diversity-or-hypocrisy/

Jovial Monk wrote on Aug 3^rd, 2022 at 9:33pm:



This is not the "what would Socks do on my filthy carpet in a sad abandoned house" thread, juvenile mong. Tsk, tsk 

Of course a "prayer" referring to and kowtowing to a mythical, non-existent
supernatural entity should be abolished from a 21st century Parliament.

It's embarrassing and an insult to the intelligence of the population, and
defies the necessity for the separation of church and state.  At least now
atheist politicians can remain outside the chamber until it's over—when the
doors are reopened and they can enter. 

And their eardrums are not assaulted with arrant bullshit.    

AusGeoff wrote on Aug 6^th, 2022 at 9:08am:


Don't ignore the other side of the coun:



There may well be a number of parliamentarians who do not believe in the Christian God, but there are even fewer parliamentarians who believe devoutly in the spiritual practice of burning leaves outside Parliament House. Why is one form of spirituality appropriate while the other is not?  Whatever you think of Christianity or Aboriginal Dreamtime, the new religion is Woke hypocrisy.

Can you imagine the uproar if Ms Lines had suggested the Welcome to Country or the smoking ceremony were divisive? And can you imagine the outrage if she added, for good measure, that because she was not Indigenous she should not have to endure them?

She would be derided as a racist and denounced by everybody.

John Smith wrote on Aug 6^th, 2022 at 10:45am:



   

What IS the spiritual/religious difference between the two rituals, Christian prayer and.... er..... Aboriginal prayer by smoking ceremony? Both are about the spirit world and communication with it.

John Smith wrote on Aug 6^th, 2022 at 1:44pm:



So why get rid of the prayer but not the smoking ceremony?

That was the question from the OP. Dont avoid it.

Jovial Monk wrote on Aug 5^th, 2022 at 11:01pm:

John Smith wrote on Aug 6^th, 2022 at 5:43pm:


You are trying to hide your stupidity without any success, as usual, plankers.  In this example there is ZERO difference between prayer and prayer (which is what smoking ceremonies are).  You are stupid enough to think that only monotheism is a religion but animalistic, polytheism isn't.

Aboriginal religion, like other religions, is characterised by having a god or gods who created people and the surrounding environment during a particular creation period at the beginning of time. Aboriginal people are very religious and spiritual, but rather than praying to a single god they cannot see, each group generally believes in a number of different deities, whose image is often depicted in some tangible, recognisable form. This form may be that of a particular landscape feature, an image in a rock art shelter, or in a plant or animal form.
https://www.aboriginalculture.com.au/aboriginal-religion/