Almighty God, we humbly ask you to bless this meeting, direct and prosper our deliberations, for the advancement of your glory and the true welfare of the people of Newcastle.
That's the script for the prayer recitation before rational argument - alongside mudslinging, grandstanding and point-scoring - gets underway at Newcastle's ordinary council meetings.
Squeezed between Acknowledgement of Country and remembrance of those who served and died, the prayer maintains a long-standing and non-partisan tradition that remains present in most of Australia's legislative chambers.
Advocates for retaining the prayer argue it reaffirms their commitment to the common good of Australia.
But long-standing traditions change. And some vanish. Even the once revered minute's silence to commemorate lost lives has been reduced to around twenty seconds at many sporting events.
Except for the Australian Capital Territory, each state and territory have standing orders that require the presiding officer or equivalent to read a prayer to the chamber at the commencement of proceedings.
But is long-standing tradition a sufficient justification for maintaining prayer recitation in council meetings? When God is asked by elected representatives in the chamber to direct their deliberations, can those representatives then claim to be doing God's work?
Should God take the wrap for poor or misguided direction when council decisions turn out to be monumental blunders? Isn't that an uncomfortable intersection of church and state?
Such intersection hit the headlines in July when former prime minister Scott Morrison told a congregation during a sermon at Perth's Victory Life Centre that he and his fellow worshippers "don't trust in governments" and "don't trust in the United Nations" and that he "still believes in miracles".
The 2021 Census revealed increasing diversity in the religions Australians practised. That reflects continuing changes in social attitudes and belief systems.
The Census found 43.9 per cent of the population identified as Christian. This has reduced from over 52.1 per cent in 2016 and from 61.1 per cent in 2011. The largest Christian denominations are Catholic (20.0 per cent of the population) and Anglican (9.8 per cent).
But while fewer people are reporting their religion as Christian, more are reporting 'no religion'. In the 2021 Census, 38.9 per cent of Australia's population reported having no religion, an increase from 30.1 per cent in 2016 and 22.3 per cent in 2011. If that upward trajectory over the past decade continues, the 2031 Census will reveal a majority of Australians will report having 'no religion'.
The religion question in the Census is the only question that is voluntary, yet there was an increase in the proportion of people answering that question, from 91 per cent in 2016 to 93 per cent in 2021.
In the City of Boroondara, approximately 12 km from the heart of Melbourne, citizens for a Secular Boroondara found that of the 79 councils in Victoria, 39 recite a Christian or monotheistic prayer at the start of their meetings, while two have an interfaith arrangement, in which the prayer rotates between different faiths. However, 38 councils have dispensed with prayer, beginning instead with an Acknowledgment of Country.
At the national level, daily prayers in the sitting House of Representatives were established in 1901 following a motion from William Knox, the first member for Kooyong and a guiding influence on the rapid rise of B.H.P. Standing Order 38 requires the following prayer:
Almighty God, we humbly beseech Thee to vouchsafe Thy blessing upon this Parliament. Direct and prosper our deliberations to the advancement of Thy glory, and the true welfare of the people of Australia.
That is followed by the Lord's Prayer.
No parliamentarian is required to recite prayers, or even be present in the chamber when the prayers are read each day. Accordingly, if MPs believe in their conscience that they cannot partake in a practice such as parliamentary prayer, they are not in any way constrained to participate. They can wait outside like a naughty child until God is sufficiently beseeched.
Is the prayer before Newcastle's ordinary council meetings a cultural relic or does it accurately reflect that prayer, religious observance and superstition still plays a part in the lives of the majority of Novocastrians?
Participating in asking for God's direction in council deliberations if one doesn't believe in God is awkward at best. And it's hypocritical when those with bowed heads and shut eyes don't even subscribe to the usefulness of asking a supernatural being for assistance in determining the true welfare of the people of Newcastle.
In my opinion a truly progressive council would lose the prayer.
