The Secular Humanist Society of Gibraltar fully supports Jaime Netto MP, in his speech advocating discontinuing the practice of Parliamentary Prayer, made in Parliament on Tuesday 4th June.

A spokesperson said: “We feel this initiative is long overdue and are delighted to see that Mr Netto is seeking Parliament's support to make progress in this regard. An elected legislature such as Parliament should have no business promoting one religion over another, or advocating one deity over another. Individual members are free to pray as much as they wish, in their own time and in their own homes, churches or other places of worship but not in a publicly funded building.”

The spokesperson continued: “As far back as 1791, the United States introduced the First Amendment to its Constitution, by which it provided that ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’”

Explaining the historical background, the spokesperson said: “In his letter to the Danbury Baptists of 1st January 1802, Thomas Jefferson wrote: ‘Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his god, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between church and State.”’

The group says they call on Mr Netto to “build up that wall.”