Dear Paul,

«Do you agree that swearing an oath to an old woman in England is archaic, and irrelevant to Australia in the 21st centenary.»

Not surprising to hear you making this claim given that you want to prevent people who are 80 years old or over from driving!

You would probably also hate Leviticus 19:32 - "Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the Lord.", or Job 12:12 - "With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.", perhaps you would rather even turn the aged into compost, but I still do respect the well-matured elderly and their wisdom.

I don't quite understand what you mean by "irrelevant" - after all, if it is indeed irrelevant, then how come that you, while living in Australia and in the 21st century, are still so concerned about it?

Admittedly I make a little celebration when the highest digit (the 100,000's) of my car's odometer turns and all the other digits change from '9' to '0', yet I have no reason to celebrate when the top digit (1000's) of the arbitrary Gregorian calendar changes, which means nothing to me. What was good in the 20th century did not stop being good just because that digit changed. Times were in fact better in the 20th century before we got entangled with this digital jungle.

As for this "Australia" or "England", you must already be aware of my view that both are far too big and ought to be divided into smaller states, thus neither has any significance for me. An old person should be respected wherever they live. One day you too may be old!

Having said all that, I do agree that swearing an oath is a bad idea, any oath, in any place and in whatever century: that was declared both in the old testament and by Jesus, but then they also said that IF you fail to listen to this good advice and make an oath anyway, then you must live up to it.

Paul,

"Did you miss the bit about the Greens wanting to have a republic?"

They appear to be in favour of declaring a republic, what ever happened to the people voting to change the Constitution?

Dear Is Mise,

«They [the Greens] appear to be in favour of declaring a republic»

I wonder why?

Her Majesty the Queen is so gracious and gentle, She makes no demands, She lives in far-away England thus have no expectations from Australia, She could not harm a fly, She is just there to love us as we also love her, so what is missing? perhaps the Greens wish for a local-Australian head-of-state so that s/he will rule over us with a rod of iron?

Do you agree that swearing an oath to an old woman in England is archaic
Yuyutsu,
It's not to just an old woman, it's to a system which has worked until the Leftist reared their ugly heads.
It's like saying swearing an Oath to some useless Academics calling themselves Govt Ministers in a Republic.
In my view neither are desirable but I do prefer the former when I look at the alternative !

Dear Individual,

We cannot stop people from having and swearing an allegiance to all sorts of things, be it even their favourite sports team, but what has any of that to do with one's commencing their job in parliament?

Parliamentarians' job-description is not to serve their Queen, the monarchy, their political party, their country or any other country: their job is to REPRESENT their constituency - nothing more, nothing less.

Thus, if there is to be an oath at all (which most religions oppose), then let it be an oath to serve one's constituents faithfully.

If one's other allegiances hinder them from serving their constituents faithfully, then they should think twice before registering themselves as electoral candidates.

Yuyutsu,
The average voter is as greedy & corrupt as the people they vote in with the hope of finding an ally in authority ! Most aren't interested in the health of their community as is easily deduced from the many posts here alone.
I don't fully agree with the notion that those in Parliament are obliged to work for their community as such. I firmly am of the opinion that Parliamentarians' primary responsibility is to work towards a common good not just simply aid the greed mongers amongst us.
That's why I am so against Negative gearing for a start because it is exactly that, negative ! Negative to the community as a whole !