'Out of touch': Greens double down on call to scrap Lord's Prayer

Senator Mehreen Faruqi believed in a "secular parliament" with a "separation of church and state" and said the Lord's Prayer should no longer be read out to start each Senate day.

"I would like to get rid of it because so many people of different faiths and from all over the world live in this country, and that is not representative," she said on July 7.

All Australian parliaments feature the Lord's Prayer - generally read at the start of each sitting day - with the exception of the ACT Legislative Assembly. Since 1995 it has started sittings with an invitation to MPs to "pray or reflect" on their responsibilities as elected representatives.

Acting Greens leader Sarah Hanson-Young told ACM that forcing parliament to begin each day with the Lord's Prayer was "out-of-touch and not reflective of our multicultural community".

"We will continue to push for this common-sense change, which we know many many Australians support," she said.

A federal government spokesperson told ACM any change to the Lord's Prayer was "unjustified".

"The changes made earlier in this term, which invite senators to pray or reflect, get the balance right between tradition and respecting the personal preferences of different senators."

Christianity remains Australia's most common religion but the number of followers continues to decline.

The 2021 census revealed that 43.9 per cent of Australians identify as Christian, with Catholic being the largest denomination, followed by Anglican.

However the number of people reporting they were Christian continues to fall from 61.1 per cent in 2011 and 52.1 per cent in 2016.