Last week Hone Harawera caused somewhat of a stir when he refused to recite the prescribed oath when he was being sworn in. Of course this exercise pointed out how ridiculous it is having to swear an oath to the crown and not the people. Brian Rudman's column does a good job of pointing this out so I don't need to comment further.
This does bring to light the issue of who our MPs are swearing an oath to.
At the start of every parliamentary session the speaker of the house recites a prayer which goes as follows:
Almighty God, humbly acknowledging our need for Thy guidance in all things, and laying aside all private and personal interests, we beseech Thee to grant that we may conduct the affairs of this House and of our country to the glory of Thy holy name, the maintenance of true religion and justice, the honour of the Queen, and the public welfare, peace, and tranquillity of New Zealand, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
In 2007 MPs voted to continue reciting this prayer. Here's what I have a problem with: I don't want those elected by the people to look for guidance from a man in the sky whose book promotes everything from slavery, misogyny, homophobia and many other despicable acts.
These people were elected to use their own minds to solve our problems and guide our society. I don't want the people who work for us to look to a 2000 year old book to find their moral compass.
Of course the other issue is, what about those who are not christian? We have MPs who are Muslim, Buddhist and god forbid Atheists. They have to stand and listen to that prayer and are then expected to say amen. I expect better from my MPs, I want them to have the guts to stand up and say, "I don't believe in this and I will not be taking part in this prayer."
I want them to use rational, empirical evidence to make their decisions, not look to the heavens and hope.
