Lyle says Thy Will Be Done – just like he wants

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the-lords-prayer

Over at the ACL our new bestest mate Straight Lyle is banging on about the lords prayer being said in Parliament.  The Greens are trying to get rid of the prayer.  He thinks it should stay, no surprises there, and there’s no surprises in what I think either.

Since 1901, the prayer has been recited at the start of each sitting day in the senate and house of representatives by the president and speaker respectively.

So?  In 1901 we hanged people, we thought the indigenous people  needed to be eradicated and women couldn’t vote.  My, how times have changed.

Australia did not become what it is in a vacuum. Christianity had a profound impact on the development of western institutions, including parliament.

Religion has abused its position in  Australia.  It was trusted with our most vulnerable children and it abused them.  How’s that for a profound fucking impact.

While not everyone in Australia is Christian (although more than 60 per cent tell the census they are), nothing changes the fact that Christianity made a significant contribution to making Australia what it is today.

That means that almost 40% of Australians are not christian.  Of the 60% that you’re claiming Straight Lyle, how many do you think wake up every morning and say the lords prayer.  Apart from you.  I’d say about 3 or 4 people.  Claiming that 60% of Australia has the same understanding of christianity as you is a load of shit mate.

It is a simple fact that Christianity is part of our cultural heritage in a way that other religions are not. That is no disrespect to them. The ethics and ideas of other religions simply did not have the same impact on the formation of western values and the Australian nation.

In the early years of white settlement the Irish hated the catholics and spent their time killing each other.  Great ethics

As the pre-European peoples of this land, indigenous people, are of course a huge part of our cultural heritage. Recognition of their cultural heritage is also acknowledged in parliament each day and that is fair enough. The Greens have not sought to remove this.

I don’t know about the phrase “pre-European peoples of this land” where the fuck did that come from.  Did it occur to you Straight Lyle that the reason we recognise the first Australians culture is because we murdered them?  We took their culture and utterly destroyed it.  We stole their children.  The acknowledgement of the land we meet on is way more important than some white bloke muttering a religious prayer.

Most of us would condemn the cutting down of a 113 year old tree, but when it comes to our cultural heritage the Greens are happy to fell any vestiges of the values of our past.

How wrong you are.  Most of us don’t give a shit.  If we did we’d still have lots of bushland and would prevent more logging.  Which tree did you fall out of?

There is a clash of ideas and values occurring in our political discourse. That’s fine, that’s healthy, that’s democracy.

Suggesting that someone’s faith has no place in the workplace, as Senator Di Natale did, is anti-democratic. Why are Di Natale’s views superior?

A clash now is it?  Part of democracy is being elected and putting forward ideas.  Once you get elected you then get to put forward ideas and everyone gets a vote.  That’s democracy.  Here we have a Senator using democracy to push forward an idea, and in true democratic fashion it was defeated.  On what basis do you think he is anti-democratic.

Whether people believe in God or not, the ideas of the teacher Jesus embodied in the Lord’s Prayer are worth reflecting on.

If you don’t believe in god you’re not likely to give the lord’s prayer a second thought.  But let me give it a second thought for you.  It’s shit.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Seriously, this is the start of a prayer?  Telling this god fella that his name is holy and where he lives?

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

The kingdom isn’t coming, and if the same will is happening in heaven then heaven is pretty fucked up too.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Certainly this works, there are no hungry people in the world because all the christians pray every day for bread.

and forgive us our trespasses

Yeah, MPs need to get on their knees and pray for forgiveness because they’re really gonna fuck everyone over.

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Unless there is some sort of punishment we can enact and lock them up.

and lead us not into temptation.

What?  Why the fuck would god lead us into temptation.  Oh wait, he put that tree in the garden and Adam and Eve got tempted.  What a prick.

but deliver us from evil

Well that’s not working, so much evil, just look at what we do to asylum seekers.

For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever.

Australia is a sovereign nation, I know this because the government has a program called sovereign borders.  So the power and the glory really seems to sit with whoever calls herself Prime Minister.

Amen

Yeah, whatever.  The lords prayer is a crock of shit, it does nothing and means nothing.

The idea that humans are not the font of all power is especially worth meditating on. Especially in parliament.

We are the font of all power, we exercise that power at the ballot box.  All those christians prayed to get elected and they didn’t.  The power is with the people, not a pretend deity.

Meanwhile, the Greens have vowed to keep fighting to remove the prayer in the same way they are relentlessly campaigning to redefine marriage.

Oh yeah, don’t forget the gays.  Be sure to stick the boots in again, just to make your great christian point that the Greens have no right to attempt to change the system because they’re on the inside and you’re not.  They are entitled to keep fighting for what they believe.  Nothing wrong with that.

It is time to push back on their vision to deconstruct our civic and family life.

And yet, here they are elected.  So they are representing their view of the world based on the people that elected them.  Did you ever think you have the wrong idea about democracy?

They are a small political party but they have a big voice. Seasoned with grace, we should start to use our voice. Silence is no longer an option.

The ACL is a small party of christian right-wing nut jobs who have no political clout.  They’re just pretending.  Your voice, Straight Lyle is anything but silent.  You and your ACL have been bellowing for years about insignificant matters instead of getting out there and helping real people.  Instead you use your money to fund political fights against duly elected representatives.   That sounds pretty un-democratic to me.

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