The majority want change. It is just that they were split about what the change should be.

Mallard appeared before the governance and administration select committee at Parliament on Wednesday morning to speak to the petition, from John Trezise, to remove religion from the parliamentary prayer, oaths, and national anthem.

He told committee members that it would be impossible to get consensus on the matter.

"There were submissions to me from both sides, people saying 'how dare you in a secular country have God in the opening of Parliament?' and people who wanted to revert to something that was strictly a Christian prayer.

"We won't satisfy everyone but I am satisfied that the balance is about right."

Mallard said he thought Parliament should be an inclusive place, "and we have people of different religious beliefs who were not comfortable as MPs with the prayer as it was."

He said replacing the word "Jesus" with "god" would allow people to "respect the particular god in which they believed but without an Anglican prayer which excluded groups of Christians and all non-Christians."

After the meeting, Mallard said feedback:

• largely fell into three groups: supporting the former Christian prayer, the current one with a reference to God but not Jesus Christ, and those wanting no reference to God.
• About 40 per cent of MP in favour of the Christian prayer, 30 per cent supporting the new prayer, and 30 per cent who wanted no religious references.
• Email feedback strongly favoured keeping the former Christian prayer
• Religious leaders were much more supportive of the new prayer because it was more inclusive.

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• newshub.co.nz
• Image: stuff.co.nz

Parliament's speaker removed reference to both Jesus and the Queen in the prayer read out at the start of each sitting day.

Mr Mallard says he removed reference to Jesus to make the prayer more inclusive.

He has since reinstated mention of the Queen.

But Auckland Islamic Shia leader Seyed Mohammad Taghi Derhamy disagrees.

He says he thinks the speaker is trying to marginalise rather than appease all faiths.

He suspects the government is trying to make people "forget" about religion.

Mr Derhamy is a trustee of the Islamic Ahlul Bayt Foundation.

He says putting all faiths into an ambiguous prayer reduces them "all to zero" in a sense.

He says if all religions are equal then they are equal to nothing.

Mr Derhamy says his Islamic community does not resent the presence of Jesus in the parliamentary prayer.

"The word Jesus, they love it, especially if it is pronounced by the person who believes in it," he says.

He says he doesn't mention Jesus in his own prayers. But he loves to hear Christians being honest and sincere in their love for Jesus.

The National Party caucus wrote to the speaker, concerned at inadequate consultation.

They object to the removal of Jesus Christ from the prayer for its importance to Parliament's history.

Cardinal John Dew says he hopes there would always be a prayer acknowledging the importance of God in our lives.

But he says it is important in today's society to respect all faiths.

For Mr Derhamy, the historical parliamentary prayer didn't need to speak for all faiths.

He says it's rubbish to try to summarise all faiths, from beliefs to non-belief in a prayer that mentions none of them.

Source:

• TVNZ

While the Queen is back in the new version to be read ahead of Question Time next week, references to Jesus Christ are still on the chopping block. Continue reading

He undertook a very low-key consultation process with MPs and offered an alternative that would remove religious references to "Almight God" and "Jesus Christ our Lord" from the English version.

However his alternative prayer included lines in Maori - E te Atua Kaha Rawa - that translates to "Almighty God," something Assistant Speaker Trevor Mallard described as "almost dishonest." Continue reading

It also appeared to confer rights of Parliament's sovereignty on the local iwi, Te Atiawa.

Speaker David Carter appears to have consulted only MPs and perhaps a handful of others about changing the prayer. He won't discuss it before making the decision next week. Continue reading

Rasik Ranchord, spokesperson on public issues for New Life Churches International, has sent out an email asking church leaders to get their members to write to members of parliament urging them to retain the present prayer.

On 17 November the Speaker, David Carter, sent a letter to all members of Parliament regarding two options for the prayer that is read at the commencement of each day's parliamentary business.

MPs have been told the choice is between the existing prayer, which is 70 words long, and the 82 word proposed alternative.

No amendments will be allowed.

He has asked for their feedback by Friday 5 December 2014.

The second version is in Maori and English.

Ranchord says the English section in this version "is a 'cut and paste' version of the present prayer".

He says the following segments have been omitted:

• and of our country to the glory of Thy name
• the maintenance of true religion
• through Jesus Christ our Lord

Contentiousness surrounding the parliamentary prayer is not new.

The present parliamentary prayer was adopted in 1962 and it was last reviewed in 2007.

At the first sitting of the NZ House of Representatives on 26 May 1854 religious differences between Protestant and Catholic were deftly handled by Speaker Clifford (Catholic himself) in bringing the local Anglican clergyman in to do the honours.

Those who drafted the New Zealand constitution were emphatic that it should guarantee strict equality for all.

A South Island Scot, James Macandrew, moved that the first act of the House of Representatives should be a public acknowledgment of the divine being and a supplication for his favour on its future labours.

Seconded by a Scot from Nelson, this was at once challenged by a Roman Catholic from Auckland, who protested against converting the House into a conventicle.

An Aucklander said that he too felt deeply grateful to providence for having brought him to New Zealand, but as members were of various denominations, he would not care to see a clergyman of any particular sect brought in to say prayer.

James Edward Fitzgerald, the supreme constitutionalist, held that the very appearance of a state religion should be avoided.

With that in view, when the Canterbury Provincial Council was about to meet, the Church of England members attended service in their own parish church.

At this stage, Mr Weld, who later became Sir Frederick Weld, Premier, begged that nothing should be done to impair the perfect religious equality of members.

Mr Weld was an English born Roman Catholic. His amendment affirming the principle of religious equality was lost by 20 to 10

Macandrew's motion was carried. Prayers were read by the Reverend F.J. Lloyd, Church of England, who it was said to be the first clergyman to be found.

The House then saw no harm in giving the assurance Weld had asked.

Later it was agreed that the Speaker would say the prayer

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• prayeratparliament.org.nz
• nzhistory.net.nz
• Image: yournzfiles.wordpress.com