ROTHENBURGER – Say a prayer for our politicians, as long as it’s the right kind

WHEN THE B.C. LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY resumes sitting Monday morning, one of its members will recite a prayer, as usual. Some people don’t like those prayers. They don’t think we should mix religion with politics.

“The daily prayer in the B.C. Legislature is an antiquated and discriminatory practice that has no place in an institution that represents all British Columbians.”

So says the B.C. Humanist Association, which launched a letter-writing campaign to make it stop. I don’t totally disagree, though some of the rationale behind it is just plain amusing.

Aside from the discrimination angle, the humanists contend the practice of opening prayers in the Ledge is both a waste of valuable legislature time and tax dollars.

I’d be interested to know how many pieces of legislation have not been passed and how many tax dollars have been wasted by spending a couple of minutes on an opening prayer.

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Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and newspaper editor. He writes five commentaries a week for CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.