Atheist Ireland Campaigns for a Secular Irish Constitution.

The Irish Constitution discriminates against nonreligious citizens in many ways.

For example, you cannot become President or a Judge unless you take a religious oath asking God to direct and sustain your work. So up to a quarter of a million Irish people cannot hold these offices without swearing a lie. This is contrary to Ireland’s obligations under the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The Preamble states that all authority of the State comes from, and all actions of the State must be referred to, the Most Holy Trinity. Article 44 states that the homage of public worship is due to Almighty God and that the State shall hold His Name in reverence. This is not merely an assertion of the right of citizens to worship this god. It is an assertion of the right of this god to be worshipped by citizens.

We have a blasphemy law because the Irish Constitution of 1937 says we should have one.

The Constitution also contains many other references to this god and to religion generally. Our national parliament reflects this by starting each day’s business with a prayer explicitly asking the Christian God to direct all of their actions. Under this guidance, they have legislated for many public policies that are heavily influenced by religion.

We should be removing these 1930s religious references from our Constitution, not creating new crimes to enforce them seventy years later. A modern secular Constitution would allow all citizens, whether religious or nonreligious, to live together as equals with the State being neutral on matters of religion.

2 Comments

  1. Avatar
    Mark October 31, 2018

    This is a question, not a comment. When a president or judge has ask “God” to direct and sustain his/her work, is the deity specified? Is there a specific reference to the Christian god? If not, any god will do, presumably. Any thoughts?

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