Aretha Franklin Christmas “Joy to the World”
Gutted Parliament’s prayer not leading John Key into temptation
This morning the Dominion Post reported under the headline”Gutted prayer not leading Key into temptation“… “[The] National [Party] opposes stripping religious references from Parliament’s prayer, with Prime Minister John Key saying it should stick with the status quo. Speaker David Carter has signalled the prayer could be “less religious” and remove mention of Jesus Christ. But Key said: “I’m not a deeply religious person, I hardly ever go to church unless there’s a particular reason, but I think my preference would be to just leave it as it was.”
Source: The Dominion Post: December 9, 2014.
Pope: Kids have a right to both mums and dads
A month after convening a major meeting meant to welcome non-traditional families, Pope Francis told a gathering of global religious conservatives on Monday (local time) that “children have a right to grow up in a family with a father and a mother”.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/63316647/pope-kids-have-a-right-to-both-mums-and-dads
The NZ parliamentary prayer should remain unchanged
Wellington Christian businessman, Mr Tim Lough, argued in his published feature article “Still a Christian state” (Dominion Post 30/11/04, B5), that the parliamentary prayer should remain unchanged. He was responding to a viewpoint expressed by Stephen Levine, Political science professor at Victoria University (DP, 12/11/04), that the prayer should be scrapped. More recently there have been calls for the Speaker of the House to of Representatives, the Hon. David Carter, to seek the opinion of all MPs on a newly proposed prayer, and to issue a ruling.
See: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10301346/Parliaments-prayer-up-for-review
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/63301433/New-prayer-proposed-for-Parliament
The existing prayer is:
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.
Tim Lough wrote: [Read more…]