The Rationalist Society of Australia has called on the new leader of the Australian Greens to push for removal of daily acts of Christian worship, or replacement with more appropriate practices, in the term of the new federal parliament.

In a letter to Senator Larissa Waters last month, RSA Executive Director Si Gladman urged the Greens to push, early in the new term, for modernisation of Standing Orders to remove Christian prayers.

Both the House of Representatives and the Senate begin each day with Christian prayers, including recital of the Lord’s Prayer.

The Greens have long supported addressing the issue, with Senator Mehreen Faruqi as recently as last year telling the ABC that the practice of observing prayers was “outdated and inappropriate”, and that government and religion should be separate.

Mr Gladman said it was a matter of fundamental human rights and urged Senator Waters to work across party lines to seek support for removing prayers.

“We appreciate the Greens’ consistent public support for removing prayers or replacing them with more appropriate practices. We urge the Greens to act early in the term of the new parliament and seek support across party lines and among independents to achieve the reform,” he wrote.

“The imposition of Christian prayers, including the Lord’s Prayer, alienates many members of parliament, staff of the parliament and members of the public in attendance. All deserve to feel welcome in the nation’s most important institution of democracy.”

Since the federal election, the RSA has written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and independent members of parliament on this issue.

Mr Gladman told Mr Albanese that religious privilege in many government institutions – such as with the imposition of prayers in parliament – resulted in non-religious Australians facing unfair and discriminatory treatment.

The Greens are set to wield more influence in the Senate when the new term of parliament begins later this month, holding the balance of power. Labor will need the support of the Greens or the coalition to pass legislation.

Before the opening of parliament in 2022, the RSA wrote to the then Greens leader Adam Bandt to urge his party to push for the reform.

Upon being elected as President of the Senate in 2022, Labor’s Sue Lines, an atheist, said she did not want to say the prayers and wanted the prayers “gone”.

Trends suggest that, at the next Census in 2026, more Australians will identify as not religious than Christian.

The Rationalist Society of Australia is actively advocating for prayer rituals to be replaced with more appropriate practices in councils and parliaments. See the latest updates here.

Si Gladman is Executive Director of the Rationalist Society of Australia. He also hosts ‘The Secular Agenda’ podcast.

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Photo: Larissa Waters (Facebook).