Adelaide City Council votes to keep opening prayer for its meetings

A prayer to open Adelaide City Council meetings is likely to be retained, despite an elected member saying it should be removed for the good of community, just like public hanging was.

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The opening prayer at Adelaide City Council meetings will not be “sacrificed at the altar of political correctness”, after most councillors decided to keep it.

The council was on Tuesday night set to vote on whether it should keep the Christian prayer, as well as an official acknowledgment of Colonel William Light, as part of its standing orders procedures.

A majority of councillors told a committee meeting last week it was important to retain tradition, especially since Adelaide was known as the City of Churches.

Adelaide City Council voted to keep a prayer as part of its standing orders.

That came despite elected members calling for the prayer to be replaced with a “pledge or statement of commitment that is meaningful to all people and all faiths” earlier this year.

Cr Alexander Hyde told the committee meeting it was important to acknowledge “where we came from”.

“I don’t think we should be sacrificing our tradition at the altar of political correctness,” Cr Hyde said.

Cr Arman Abrahimzadeh said he identified with the prayer even though he was not Christian.

“Me, as a Muslim, it speaks to me,” Cr Abrahimzadeh said.

“(The word God) might be in English but, nevertheless, … I am hopeful it speaks to other religions and other cultures too.”

Cr Arman Abrahimzadeh said he identified with the prayer even though he was not Christian.

According to latest Census statistics, at least 44 per cent of all Adelaide City Council residents did not identify with a religion, 12.7 per cent were Catholic and 7 per cent identified as Anglican.

Neighbouring Prospect Council decided to scrap a prayer from its meetings about three years ago.

City Cr Phil Martin wanted the prayer removed, saying sometimes tradition should be broken for the good of the community.

“I believe we are a diverse, multicultural society with freedom of religion,” Cr Martin said.

“We have gotten rid of a lot of things in the past, including hanging people publicly.”

Cr Rob Simms said having a prayer was something that was “out of step” because many faiths were represented across the city.

“Why should Christianity be given a particular form of recognition that other religions don’t have?” he said.

The council was last night also set to discuss a “gag order” to stop councillors from speaking to the media. The move would bar elected members from speaking to the media about motions they intended to put before the council until they were published in an agenda.