Adelaide City Council to review its standing orders and the longstanding prayer before meetings is set to be a casualty

Adelaide City Council meetings could soon see their Christian prayer replaced with a “more contemporary” tradition to better reflect the city’s diversity in 2019. Hallelujah or Hell no? Take our poll.

Adelaide City Council is facing a push to replace the civic prayer it has traditionally used to open its meetings.

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A prayer before the start of meetings is set to be scrapped by the Adelaide City Council and replaced with a “pledge or statement of commitment that is meaningful to all people and all faiths”.

Currently under its standing orders city councillors are asked to pray before each meeting.

A review of the orders following the election of a new council last year means the traditional prayer meetings could be replaced by a statement that accounts for other faiths and philosophies.

But a committee tasked with looking into the reform said it believed there was not “a momentum for change”.

That’s at odds with Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor’s view. She said she hoped to make the council “more contemporary in keeping with the changes to our city and its diverse community”.

“As part of this review we will discuss the acknowledgments made at the opening of each council meeting, including the prayer,” she told The Advertiser.

“I hope that we can develop a pledge or statement of commitment that is meaningful to all people and all faiths that has at its core a platform of a commitment for elected members to be united in their service to the city.”

“Almighty God, we ask your blessing upon the works of the City of Adelaide; direct and prosper it’s deliberation to the advancement of your glory and the true welfare of the city. Amen.” — City of Adelaide’s civic prayer

Cr Robert Simms said it was “archaic” for meetings to begin with a prayer in 2019.

“It fails to reflect the diversity of our city,” he said.

“Adelaide is a diverse, multicultural city — we shouldn’t be starting our meetings with a statement that gives preference to one faith above all others.

Councillr Robert Simms.

Adelaide Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor. Picture: AAP Image/ Brenton Edwards

“This prayer should be replaced with something that is non-denominational, something that is inclusive of the whole community and respects all faiths.”

If the city council does scrap the prayer before meetings, it would join neighbouring Prospect Council in doing so.

Prospect Mayor David O’Loughlin said their decision was made three years ago.

“We have a council pledge instead that reminds us of our purpose,” he said.

State Parliament and the Federal Parliament open their proceedings with a prayer.

Former NSW Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon failed in an attempted to scrap a prayer before the start of Senate sittings in Canberra in June last year.

It would have been replaced by a statement that includes religious and non-religious beliefs, with the party arguing that at the 2016 census only 52 per cent of the population identified as Christian.

Conservative Party SA Senate candidate Rikki Lambert said it would “tear our traditions down”.