Greens leader Bob Brown has made calls this week for an end to the Lord's Prayer being recited at the beginning of each day of Federal Parliament.
The Greens would like to see it replaced with a period of reflection and a conscience vote in both houses on the issue.
So far the Federal Government and Opposition have rejected the idea of making changes or abandoning the prayer.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Harry Jenkins, wants a public debate about the matter. So I thought we might start our own public discussion here on Open House.

• How important is the prayer in parliament? Given that many people in parliament are non-believers, and in their hearts they really don’t participate, would it matter if they stopped the official reciting of that prayer?
 
• Do people like Bob Brown have a point, when they say it’s not right to force people to say a prayer they don’t believe in?
 
• What do you think of the idea of a quiet time of reflection instead? This would allow Christian MPs to still have their own time of silent prayer – is this just as effective?
 
• Are we hanging onto it just for traditions sake?
 
• Or is it more important than that?
 
• Let’s hear your views.