Total nonsense. Acknowledgement of the original owners isn’t about dispossession or original sin. It’s just a polite recognition of our shared heritage and our shared ownership of this land. The Lords Prayer is a Christian practice and Christians are now a minority group - they will be less than 40% in the current census. The recitation of it in parliament is both divisive and non-inclusive and the practice should be abandoned in a country that prides itself on the separation of church and state.

E is correct.
While I. personally, consider "Welcome To Country" past its use by date and overdone a tad a little courtesy and understanding towards our original inhabitants is not amiss.
After we all share this country.

It could be said that both the Lord's Prayer and the Acknowledgments are divisive, given the Albanese thirst for division and foolishness of importing different types of people who don't share beliefs with each other or those of the host culture, whose laws, rights privileges and safety are based on the Christian religion.

If the 2021 Census is to be believed, 56% of Australians would not find the Lord's Prayer inclusive. We don't know about this year's Census yet, in which the question on faith or lack of it has been shown to be manipulative.

But, if the Lord's Prayer was to go, the Acknowledgement could not continue because it speaks to even fewer people - some of whom are likely to be Christians despite their heritage.

I would prefer the Lord's Prayer to stay - even though it clearly means nothing to some Parliamentarians (they do not have to recite it). But, if it goes, so should the Acknowledgement, and Australians can continue down the path of believing nothing and being nothing.

I thought that the Lord's prayer reading was voted on by the parliamentarians themselves.

Personally I regard welcome to country the same as a Nazi salute, enforced upon us undemocratically with substantial repercussions to anyone showing dissent.

Authoritarianism in action.

My experience of the Acknowledgement boondoggle is that it is now largely irrelevant. The malarkey is recited at each professional footy game I attend and the crowd largely ignore, speak over and through the so-called elder.

My attitude is that if these charlatans can convince the powers that be to sling them a few watermelons for the grift, then good luck to them. But I, along with the majority of the audience, simply ignore it and await for the real event to commence.

Christianity is by far the leading religion in Australia 43.9%
Islam 3.2%
Hinduism 2.7%
Buddhism 2.4%
Sikhism 0.8%
Judaism 0.4%

All those that object to Acknowledgement of Country, are racist white supremacists and deserve to die….apparently.

The Lords Prayer is a Christian pearl, and should not be thrown before the Leftist swine to trample and denigrate; keeping in mind they are the words of Christ, which make the current situation even more intolerable: Remove it from the parliamentary pig stye of greed and corruption!

Forgot the 'no religionists', 38.9% at the last count, but reduced to 26% when the question was put in a non-manipulative way. Pollsters, PR people (on behalf of governments) can often get the answers they want by manipulating the question. We have people who can check and correct, but they are not given space in the MSM.

It took about 1700 years for Western Europe to move out off the dark ages, shackled by Christian religious intolerance and embrace the Age of Enlightenment which was a European intellectual movement that emphasised human reason, science, and individualism over blind obedience and religious tradition. Although modern Australian society takes on some of the better aspects of Christianity, which are universal, its not that Christianity was the primary mover of the egalitarianism of today. I believe reactionaries within Christian Churches tried to prevent enlightenment.

My wife is doing one of her presentations today on "Maori Culture". She will include in the introduction both a Maori Karakia in the form of 'The Lords Prayer', she being a Christian, and an 'Acknowledgement Of Country'. Its all about respect and inclusion.

The Lord's Prayer is in fact the 23rd Psalm from what Christians call the Old Testament. But the Psalms aren't just a Christian treatise.

The 23rd Psalm is also called the Psalm of David being King David of the united kingdom of Israel and Judah, victor over the Philistine Goliath, successor to Saul, founder of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state, and the purported author of a series of Psalms.

So the 23rd Psalm is also a part of the Jewish heritage.

And, of course, that same David is treated as the righteous king who received the Zabur which is the Islam name for the Psalms.

So the 23rd Psalm is also part of the Islamic heritage.

It seems reading the 23rd Psalm is an act of unity rather than division.

"It took about 1700 years for Western Europe to move out off the dark ages"

What? It seems someone needs a little historic education.

As to the enlightenment, it occurred only once in human history. Although now copied by almost all other civilisations, it originated only in Christian societies.

I'll leave you to work out why.

Hi Trumster,

I used "Dark Ages", not in the in historical sense, with it ending in about 1000AD and being replaced by the Middle Ages, but as in the Christian religious context. About 1700AD when Enlightenment with its secular reasoning started to replace the superstition of Christianity in Western society. What is it with YOU?

"It took about 1700 years for Western Europe to move out off the dark ages, shackled by Christian religious intolerance"

I wonder what 'shackled' all the other civilisations that didn't have an Enlightenment? According to Paul it was Christianity that held the west back. But what held China back or India, the Aztec, the Inca, the Comanche, the Koori, the various caliphates?

Strange that the only civilisation to enjoy an enlightenment was Christian.

"Its all about respect and inclusion."

No, it's like the Nazi salute (another great invention of socialism). It's all about "Go along with it or else.", as that Victorian council worker found out after he lost his job when he didn't go along with wtc/aoc.

You could avoid prayers etc with little problem compared to wtc/aoc. That is freedom of speech and thought in action, and the process by which is came into being is transparent. Ask by what process wtc/aoc came into such widespread usage and you get nothing but bs answers like, "Oh, everyone thinks it's a great idea (except you).".

It's all about the authoritarian pastimes of coercion and weeding out the bad people. And don't forget that the silent socialists in the coalition are all for it as well.

Hi Trumpster,

Both the Arab world and the Oriental world, had periods of secular enlightenment, as well as periods of darkness, where learning and science were suppressed in favour of fear and superstition. In the Islamic world between the 8th and 14th centuries AD, scientists and thinkers made massive breakthroughs in mathematics, medicine and astronomy. At a time when Europe was overtaken by unscientific superstition Baghdad was a major centre of learning. The Chinese Axial Age between 8th and 3rd Centuries BCE thinkers like Confucius, constructed deeply rational frameworks for governance, human nature, and societal development, a time when our European ancestors were still painting on cave walls. Not all was the same as the European experience of enlightenment, but they all had their peaks and troughs in social development.

But since the discussion was about Australia I didn't see it as necessary to bring up other places that had also experienced periods of enlightenment.

Methinks you misunderstand what The Enlightenment was.

Keep Religion out of politics & acknowledgement to country is happening every minute of the day by way of services & welfare & tokenism in employment !
So, both Religion & ATC achieve nothing in actuality !

Hi Trumpster,

Me thinks YOU are yet to be enlightened, and never will be! YOU confuse your rabid Trumpism with enlightenment. YOU could follow the course of the Buddha, enlightenment means waking up to the true nature of reality and achieving total freedom from suffering. Give it a go, YOU might like it.

The 'people' referred to are not separate.
They have no separate control.
The only control they do have is that given by law.
As is the case for all of us.
There is no need for separate flags or separate approval of any kind.
And especially, 'welcome to country' is absurd and out of place.
If anything, it should be the other way round.
I note Mr Howard was reported as expressing the latter view.
And I am sure many did so before him.
But we do not need to announce something which is obvious to all.
We need to get on with living, which includes accepting that all members of our society are equal under the law.

And as for 'prayers' setting the tone of a meeting.
Religious ideals are based on a story.
They are essentially fiction.
In the bright light of day, they appear greyed and insipid.
If we need anything, it is a newly written statement, which sets out the intention of a meeting.
Let us stay on the straight and professional path.