Does the Clutha District Council begin its meetings with a prayer?
Alex Harris made this Official Information request to Clutha District Council
The request was successful.
From: Alex Harris
Dear Clutha District Council,
As you may have read recently, the Whanganui District Council abolished its opening prayer after a complaint was made to the Human Rights Commission. I'm interested in learning how widespread this practice is, so I'd like to request the following information under the LGOIMA:
* Does the Council open its meetings with a prayer? * If the answer to the above is "yes", then I'd like a copy of that prayer (or examples, if more than one is used), when the practice was first established, whether the council has considered abolishing it in the wake of the Whanganui decision, and any advice the council may hold on the prayer's compatibility with both the Human Rights Act 1993 and Bill of Rights Act 1990.
I would prefer to receive an electronic response. Queries about this request will be automatically forwarded to me by the fyi.org.nz website.
Yours faithfully,
Alex Harris
From: Alan Dickson
Clutha District Council
Hello Alex, the Clutha District Council does open its council meeting with a prayer (copy attached). The practice has been in place since amalgamation in 1989. The council has not considered whether the practice should be abolished. The council has not had any advice about the prayer's compatibility with the Human Rights Act of Bill of Rights Act.
Please contact me if you require any further information.
Regards
Alan
show quoted sections
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence
Offensive? Unsuitable?
Requests for personal information and vexatious requests are not considered valid requests for Official Information (read more).
If you believe this request is not suitable, you can report it for attention by the site administrators
Report this request