A Christian councillor has again defied the rules and recited the traditional prayer at an Adelaide City Council meeting

An Adelaide city councillor has again upset colleagues by audibly praying during a moment of silent reflection – and claims his stunt has been edited out of official recordings.

A battle over reading aloud a Christian prayer has again played out at Adelaide City Council with one rebel councillor persisting with the historic practice.

Councillor Henry Davis was again on Tuesday night rebuked for reading a prayer in defiance of the ban, and has accused the council of religious discrimination.

Cr Davis has advocated a broadening of the prayer to include non-Christian beliefs, but said he will keep reading a prayer in accordance with his beliefs.

Following his recital on Tuesday night, Acting Lord Mayor Phillip Martin told the meeting he was “disappointed” that Cr Davis was continuing with his recitals.

Earlier Cr Davis told The Advertiser the administration had deleted his reading from the official video of last month’s council meeting.

Cr Davis says the vision recorded of his prayer recitation has been censored from YouTube because it showed the Lord Mayor Dr Jane Lomax-Smith demanding “silence” part way through.

The council denies the charge and has blamed a faulty recording, which failed to activate until some minutes into the meeting.

But Cr Davis said there was nothing wrong with the video as it was live-streamed on YouTube, and supporters had questioned why the beginning of the meeting had disappeared.

The council’s live-stream of meetings regularly fails at the start of proceedings, but after being questioned by The Advertiser, the council located an audio recording of the event.

On the recording, as Cr Davis is heard reciting a prayer, Dr Lomax-Smith can be heard demanding “Councillor! Councillor, I asked you to be respectful of others who want to reflect in silence”.

Lord Mayor of Adelaide Jane Lomax-Smith. Picture: David Mariuz

Adelaide councillor Henry Davis. Picture: Supplied

Cr Davis said the gag order was discrimination on the basis of his religious views, and common practice of reciting the prayer aloud.

But he said the prayer should be more diverse and should also incorporate the views of other religions.

“The Mayor has an issue with me praying in a manner that I deem appropriate as a Christian,’’ he said.

“The council prayer has traditionally been read aloud and I pray aloud. But she wants to silence me and the prayer.

“The prayer should be more open and accepting of all religions which would be more inclusive.

“But that needs to be done in a proper open and transparent way not just the mayor deciding not to read it anymore.”

Dr Lomax-Smith is on leave this week, but Acting Lord Mayor Phil Martin defended her position.

“The Council is following a ruling of the Lord Mayor to replace the reading out loud of the prayer with a silent moment of reflection which allows everyone present to pray in the personal manner they see fit,’’ he said.

“Councillor Davis is free to recite any prayer of his choosing in silence and if there are any members of other religions at the meeting, they too can pray in silence, appropriate to their beliefs.”

The dumping of the prayer first became an issue in March this year when the administration put to the council – elected in November last year – changes to the introduction to meetings.

Up for debate were dumping the prayer altogether, as well as the acknowledgment of Colonel William Light, and silence for veterans.

Councillors were swamped with complaints when the idea was first proposed and Dr Lomax-Smith used her powers to compromise and instead say before meetings: “This is a moment of contemplation about the gravity and implications of decision-making. I invite members to read the prayer as printed or reflect in a manner appropriate to their beliefs on these issues”.

But Cr Davis rejected the ruling, and began reciting his own prayer, leading to Dr Lomax-Smith changing the preamble to include the words “in silence”.