Incoming AFA President Michael Boyd was recently quoted in an article titled With God on their side: when religion and politics collide by Cathy Alexander on Crikey on 5 July 2013. An excerpt from that article is reproduced below. The full article can be read at the link above; registration (free) may be required.
“In the wake of this week’s short-lived focus on religion and politics sparked by Husic’s Koran moment, president of the Atheist Foundation of Australia Michael Boyd is calling for a more robust separation of church and state.
“I think it’s critical to a civil society,” Boyd told Crikey. “It is incredibly important when you’ve got a society where we have multi versions of religion. It’s extremely important that church and state are completely separated.”
Boyd is not fussed about Husic being sworn in on a Koran — he says any MP should be sworn in on “any book of fiction” they choose. (Despite some of the media coverage, religious expert Marion Maddox told Crikey Husic is “not the groundbreaker here” — an unnamed, federal Catholic MP had been sworn in on a Koran before, for thrills. And MPs have been sworn in on the Jewish bible.)
But Boyd is adamant the Lord’s Prayer should be banished from Parliament. Incidentally, the Anglican version of the prayer is read — despite the fact that just 17% of Australians follow the faith.”
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