
Secular Sunday #62 – Non Habemus Papam
It’s Sunday again, and our big news this week is that conference tickets are now on general sale. We’ve also got a roundup of news stories concerning religion, science and human rights, compiled by Barbara Monea; details of upcoming events including brunches next week; some interesting blog posts; and an unusual piece of art. Enjoy!
– Derek Walsh, Editor
Atheist Ireland News
Tickets are now available for our conference “Empowering Women Through Secularism” which takes place in Dublin on the weekend of 29 & 30 June.
Speakers will include Ivana Bacik, Dan Barker, Ophelia Benson, Ann Brusseel, Mairin de Burca, Carlos Diaz, Jane Donnelly, Annie Laurie Gaylor, Anthea McTiernan, PZ Myers, Maryam Namazie, Taslima Nasrin, Michael Nugent, Nina Sankari, Farhana Shakir, Kate Smurthwaite, Anne Marie Waters and Rebecca Watson.
If you have any questions about the conference you can email wsconference@atheist.ie
News Digest
compiled by Barbara Monea
IRELAND
- Still much work to do to ensure justice for Magdalenes
- ‘You can’t change facts’: Savita report with government next week
- I wish I’d taken my own life when I was able to, says Marie Fleming
- Former Brother jailed for sex abuse
- €300m to be invested in research centres in ‘unprecedented’ move
- Young Irish women ‘vulnerable to stalking and online abuse’
- Irish cardinal denies ‘inappropriate’ acts with priests
- Emer O’Kelly: Religious must pay for warping our society
- Column: Ireland has the worst managed healthcare system in the developed world
- Ireland to make first member address at UN Human Rights Council
- Our casual racism against Travellers is one of Ireland’s last great shames
- I swear on the Holy Bible, religious oaths drive me mad
- An Irish artist’s quest for meaning in Mexico’s capital of femicide
WORLD
- Legal challenge to bring abortion guidelines to Northern Ireland
- Pope Benedict XVI leaves the Vatican
- A day in the life of Pope Benedict
- Scandals and Intrigue Heat Up at Vatican Ahead of Papal Conclave
- Papal resignation linked to inquiry into ‘Vatican gay officials’, says paper
- Two popes, two resignations: Benedict XVI and Celestine V
- Modern culture has reduced the pope to an actor in red shoes
- Fr Dougal’s a better bet than Hummes
- A child of Auschwitz remembers
- Israel furious over links between payments to holocaust survivors and building settlements
- South Korea swears in first female president
- British councillor who said disabled children ‘should be put down’ quits
- Obama asks US justices to overturn gay marriage ban
- Apple, Google, Facebook Tell Supreme Court: Gay Marriage Is Good for Business
- Facebook and Google gurus team up to fight cancer with app
- Church needs saving from its dysfunctional structure
- Swedish transsexuals seek damages for forced sterilisations
- Germany: Morning-After Pill Allowed for the Victims of Rape, Bishops Say
- Maldives girl to get 100 lashes for pre-marital sex after rape
- Britain’s top Catholic in ‘inappropriate acts’ row: report
- USA, Christian school fires pregnant woman over premarital sex
- Egypt, novelist accused of contempt of religion
- Indonesian wins rare victory against noisy mosque
- Bangladesh war crimes trial: Delwar Hossain Sayeedi to die
- U.S. Catholic Hispanic Population Less Religious, Shrinking
- Mother Teresa: anything but a saint…
- ABC hacked after anti-Islam politician Interview
- One rat brain ‘talks’ to another using electronic link
- Superheros or super beings: where is evolution taking us?
- Human Evolution: Gain Came With Pain
- Church Helps Fill a Void in Africa
- Male circumcision tied to less sensitivity in sexual pleasure
- 500-million-year-old sea creature unearthed
- ‘Ultimate’ Prebiotic Molecules Found in Interstellar Space
Calendar
- Sunday 10 March, 12:00 noon, Trinity Capital Hotel, Pearse St., Dublin 2 (map), Dublin
Our Second Secular Sunday Second Sunday Second Breakfast. An opportunity for our members and friends to meet, eat and chat. Facebook event page - Sunday 10 March, 12:00 noon, A Casa Mia, Tobergal Lane, Sligo (map)
Sligo’s Second Secular Sunday Second Sunday Second Breakfast. Facebook event page - Sunday 10 March, 12:00 noon, Salthill Hotel, Galway (map)
Galway’s first Secular Sunday Second Sunday Second Breakfast. Facebook event page
Check our website and Facebook page for other Second Sunday events around the country as there will likely be one or two more organised before next week.
- Monday 11 March, 8:30 pm, McSwiggans Bar and Restaurant, Woodquay, Galway (map)
Galway Skeptics in the Pub. More science and skepticism in the pub! Facebook event page - Wednesday 20 March, 8:00 pm, Absolute Hotel, Sir Harry’s Mall, Limerick (map)
The Mid West Humanists are meeting. As well as old and new attendees (new people always welcome) getting to talk about life as an atheist or humanist in a society with a religious-biased culture, they are continuing their plan to meet TDs in the region, on the Constitution, starting when the Blasphemy article arises in the Convention. - Saturday 29 & Sunday 30 June, O’Callaghan Alexander Hotel, Dubln 2 (map)
“Empowering Women Through Secularism” An international two-day conference featuring some of the biggest names in atheism, skepticism, secularism and feminism. Buy tickets now
Blogroll
Imagine if 96% of our primary schools were run with an explicitly atheist ethos – not a neutral, secular ethos, but an explictly atheist ethos – where children were taught that there is no god, and that ethos was permeated throughout the entire curriculum.
Imagine if the UN Human Rights Committee repeatedly told us that this was infringing on the human rights of religious people, and the state said they would set up a forum to discuss having a small number of agnostic schools, but still no religious schools. – Michael Nugent wonders what Ireland would be like if the state discriminated for atheism
Will the Irish construction industry be restored to former glory as each town breaks ground on separate compounds to better inculcate reverence for the Gunners, the Bohs, or devotion to the mighty Bodfather? Will school boards of management be given authority to limit admissions on grounds of allegiance to specific teams? Should a teacher who is discovered as a Shelbourne season holder be at risk of their job if they are publicly violating the ethos of a Bohemian school? – Geoff examines David Quinn’s arguments on religion and sport
We’ve all been there. That little voice in the back of your head that can’t let you catch a break. It’s convinced that everything you do isn’t good enough. It is, in fact, convinced that you haven’t ever done anything worthwhile, ever, and should probably just go back to bed and stay there forever because it’s not like there’s any point in you having gotten up in the first place. – Aoife battles the “Jerkbrain”.