Does the Southland District Council open its meetings with a prayer?

Alex Harris made this Official Information request to Southland District Council

The request was successful.

From: Alex Harris

Dear Southland 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

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From: David Adamson
Southland District Council

Dear Alex

No, Council nor any of its committees, sub committees or Community Boards open their meetings with a prayer.

David Adamson
Chief Executive
Southland District Council

Phone - 0800 SDCSDC | 0800 732732
Fax - 0800 SDCFAX | 0800 732329
E-Mail - [email address]
WWW - http://www.southlanddc.govt.nz

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Please consider our environment... do you really need to print this email?

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