Secular Sunday #512 – The right to protection from discrimination as an atheist

This week’s Secular Sunday. To avoid missing out, sign up here to receive Secular Sunday by email


 

Editorial

The right to protection from discrimination as an atheist

 

Atheist Ireland has sent a submission to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission’s consultation for their Strategy Statement 2022-24. We have also taken part in a follow-up meeting about our submission.

We are asking the Commission to promote a change in our equality laws to change the category of ‘religion’ to ‘religion or belief’. As things stand, our equality laws protect only having a religious belief or not having one. But the Venice Commission, which advises Council of Europe member states on legal issues, has said about the phrase ‘religion or belief’ that:

“The ‘belief’ aspect typically pertains to deeply held conscientious beliefs that are fundamental about the human condition and the world. Thus atheism and agnosticism, for example, are generally held to be equally entitled to protection to religious beliefs. It is very common for legislation not to protect adequately (or to not refer at all) to rights of non-believers.”

Please help Atheist Ireland to highlight issues like this, and support our ongoing work promoting secular education and secular laws in Ireland, by joining Atheist Ireland as a member. We are a voluntary body with no paid staff, and we depend on our members to continue our work. You can join here.

– Secular Sunday Editorial Team

Éire Aindiach

Éire Aindiach

 

                                         
Chun ár gcuid feachtais a leathnú agus a neartú, tá sé beartaithe ag Éire Aindiach níos mó úsáid a bhaint as an Ghaeilge.
Ba mhaith linn meitheal a eagrú, chun cuidiú le:
  • Polasaithe agus feachtais Éire Aindiach a phlé ar an raidió nó ar an teilifís
  • Cuidiú le doiciméid ghaeilge a scríobh
  • Bualadh le polaiteoirí chun stocaireacht a dhéanamh
Táimid i mbun aistriúcháin a dhéanamh ar dhoiciméid polasaí faoi láthair, agus teastaíonn cabhair uainn le aistriúchán agus profáil.  Más maith leat bheith páirteach san iarracht seo, cur ríomhphost chugainn ag gaeilge@atheist.ie.
English translation:

To broaden and strengthen our campaigns, Atheist Ireland have undertaken to make more use of the Irish language.
We are looking to assemble a group of volunteers, to help with:

  • Discussing our policies and campaigns on radio or tv
  • Helping to write documents in Irish
  • Meeting with politicians to lobby them
We are in the process of translating policy documents at the moment, and we need some help with translating and proofreading.  If you would like to assist with this effort, please email us at gaeilge@atheist.ie.

Atheist Ireland News

Atheist Ireland sent this submission to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commissions consultation for their Strategy Statement 2022-24. We have also taken part in a follow-up meeting about our submission.
We are asking the Commission to protect the positive right to nonreligious philosophical beliefs, by promoting a change in our Equality Laws from the category of religion to religion and beliefs. Read the full submission at the link below

Atheist Ireland asks IHREC to protect the positive right to nonreligious philosophical beliefs

 

Atheist Ireland sent this submission to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission’s consultation for their Strategy Statement 2022-24. We have also taken part in a follow-up meeting about our submission. We are asking the Commission to protect the positive right to nonreligious philosophical beliefs, by promoting a change in our Equality Laws from the category of ‘religion’ to ‘religion and beliefs’.
Submission
Atheist Ireland is a Civil Society Organisation Our work relates primarily to the human rights area of religion or belief, equality before the law, freedom from discrimination, and the right to an effective remedy.
The ‘religion or belief’ option is described only as ‘religion’ in the check-list on the IHREC submission form for this consultation.
We understand that in the nine grounds for discrimination in the Equality Acts, this ground is phrased as ‘religion.’ But the check-list on this submission form goes beyond the descriptions in the Acts (e.g. elaborating on the word gender, and including housing assistance and poverty which are not in the Act) so you could have also explicitly clarified that this includes discrimination on the ground of nonreligious beliefs, as many people do not understand this.
Section 1: Context for the Commission’s work over the next three years
What is going well for you (and your community/constituency)?
What is going well is that the Irish population is no longer under the control of the Catholic church. Atheist Ireland has succeeded in one of our initial aims, which is to normalise the use of the word atheism in Irish public life. When we started out, the word was rarely heard in the Dáil, and only as
an insult or a joke. Now it is regularly used by TDs and senators, who are quoting from briefing documents that we have sent them about the impact of proposed laws on secularism.
In recent years, politicians and human rights bodies including Atheist Ireland have successfully reversed some of the knock-on effects of decades of institutionalised religious ethos against various groups in society, such as women (abortion), people who want to marry within the same sex (marriage equality) and unmarried or gay teachers (equality laws). We have also removed the medieval offence of blasphemy from the Irish Constitution.
What are the challenges and barriers that you (and your community/constituency) face, including intersectional challenges, please be specific?
We still face the challenge of direct, overt, unambiguous, institutionalised, religious discrimination against atheists. Because of the influence of the Catholic church on the Irish Constitution, our laws and public policy reflect an understanding of freedom of conscience, religion, and belief that is based on the theology of that church and not on human rights principles. The population has been desensitised by decades of a theocratically-influenced status quo to see this as normal. Because of this, politicians and even human rights bodies including IHREC do not prioritise challenging the direct, overt religious discrimination against atheists that is written into our Constitution, laws, and public policy in a way that they would if it was directed against any other group in society.

For example, the Irish State is currently making the disgraceful argument at the European Court that obligatory religious oaths for high office are necessary in a democratic society. These oaths mean that conscientious atheists cannot become President, a judge, or a member of the Council of State which includes the Taoiseach and Tánaiste. If any other minority in society faced this overt breach of our human rights, it would be a very high priority for IHREC to consistently challenge it. Other examples, which we will detail below, include the failure of our equality laws to positively protect nonreligious philosophical convictions in the same way as they protect religious beliefs; the religious discrimination against atheists generally in the education system; the refusal in particular of the Government to vindicate the Constitutional right to attend publicly funded schools without attending religious instruction; and religious discrimination against atheists in the Charities Act, the Electoral Act, and the Civil Registration Act.
What do you (and your community/constituency) need to thrive – to have your human rights and equality protected?
We need to amend the category of ‘religion’ under the Equal Status Act and the Employment Equality Act. These Acts just refer to ‘religion’ not ‘religion or belief.’ The definitions include “…or one has a religious belief, background or outlook and the other has not.” This is not a reflection of the EU Equality Directive which refers specifically to ‘religion or belief’ in a way that equally respects the positive rights of atheists, secularists, and all those with nonreligious philosophical convictions. The European Court has already found that secularism is a philosophical conviction protected by Article 9 of the Convention, along with other convictions — see list on page 10 of the Guide on Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Venice Commission Guidelines for Legislative Reviews of Laws Affecting Religion or Belief includes:

“3. Religion or belief. International standards do not speak of religion in an isolated sense, but of “religion or belief.” The “belief” aspect typically pertains to deeply held conscientious beliefs that are fundamental about the human condition and the world. Thus atheism and agnosticism, for example, are generally held to be equally entitled to protection to religious beliefs. It is very common for legislation not to protect adequately (or to not refer at all) to rights of non-believers. Although not all beliefs are entitled to equal protection, legislation should be reviewed for discrimination against non-believers.”

The courts in Ireland have said that the State cannot discriminate under Article 44.2.3:

“If that were constitutionally possible it would enable the State to prefer religious to lay people or vice-versa, in a matter which is in no way concerned with the safeguarding or maintenance of the constitutional right to free practice of religion or freedom of conscience or of profession of religion. In my view, the State is not permitted by the Constitution to do this.” (Walsh J – Mulloy v Minister for Education)

In practice, the State’s religious discrimination against atheists is reflected in laws and policy where the State does not protect ‘beliefs’ on the grounds of conscience from discrimination. It promotes and protects religious beliefs, but does not protect non religious ‘beliefs’/philosophical convictions from discrimination. In fact it has put in place laws and policy that promote discrimination against those with nonreligious beliefs.
For example, in schools, our children do not get supervision outside the religious instruction class if they exercise their Constitutional right to ‘not attend’ religious instruction (Article 44.2.4). The State actively helps religious parents with religious beliefs but refuses to give practical application to the Constitutional right to ‘not attend’ religious instruction which is a subsection of the right to freedom of conscience. The State assists parents with the religious education of their children and does not assist parents with non religious beliefs/philosophical convictions with the moral education of their children.
In the education system, the State actively seeks to develop values in our children to enable them to see the relevance of religion to their lives. Successive Ministers for Education have insisted that curriculum religion is suitable for all religions and none. This policy is religious discrimination (Article 44.2.3) and undermines our right to Freedom of Conscience (Article 44.1) as well as parental rights (Article 42.1).
The failure to recognise and protect people holding ‘beliefs’ from discrimination has meant that teachers, schools and policy makers do not equally respect the rights of people holding nonreligious beliefs. They see ‘beliefs’ only as a negative right. This has an impact on admissions policies and on the delivery of education within the schools.
Our children do not have access to objective sex education because the vast majority of schools have a religious ethos and integrate that ethos into curriculum Social, Personal and Health Education. The State assists religious parents with the Social, Personal and Health education of their children, but does not assist parents with nonreligious beliefs with the Social, Personal and Health education of their children.
The State has put in place legislation that permits schools with a religious ethos to refuse access to a child if that child undermines their ethos. The State has failed to protect families with non religious beliefs/philosophical convictions from discrimination in access to education despite Article 44.2.3 of the Constitution. It has put in place legislation to protect and ensure that certain religious families can educate their children in an environment which promotes certain religious values. It has failed to protect the Constitutional rights of families with non religious beliefs and indeed minority religious beliefs to ensure that the teaching of their children is in conformity with their convictions (Article 42.1).
The Public Sector Duty to eliminate discrimination and protect human rights has failed to vindicate our rights. Public bodies simply ignore it or give it lip service as religious discrimination is embedded in bodies such as the Department of Education, the ETBs and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. Read more…

*|YOUTUBE: [$vid=EtGFtuvKTFc]|*

The Frontline Workers Public Holiday should not be linked with religion

 

Atheist Ireland has sent the following letter to the Taoiseach and members of the Cabinet.
The purpose of the new public holiday is to mark the efforts of frontline workers during the Covid pandemic. The most obvious way to do that is to call it the Frontline Workers Public Holiday, or the February (or November) Bank Holiday dedicated to the frontline workers during Covid.
Alongside this, some people are proposing that the public holiday should be dedicated to Saint Brigid. There is absolutely no need, and indeed it is a distraction, to add religion into this scenario. When the healthcare workers were protecting us from Covid, nobody was applauding Saint Brigid.
Saint Brigid has a very different symbolism, which is religious evangelisation. She supposedly wove a Christian cross out of rushes to convert a pagan chieftain into Christianity as he was dying. That is exactly the wrong message to convey about the multi-cultural Ireland of today.
Some people are suggesting that Saint Brigid would balance the public holiday named after the male Saint Patrick. That is a separate issue from the Frontline Workers Public Holiday. If you want to have a public holiday dedicated to Irish women, then you should do that separately and not entangle it with religion.
Even treating it as a separate issue, adding a new saint would not balance an existing saint. It would just reinforce the divisive and anachronistic idea that we all identify with mythological saints that are already over-represented on our calendar.
On that separate issue, a better balance to a male saint would be a women scientist. Here are two examples:
  • Physician Dorothy Stopford Price (1890-1954) from Dublin was central to the elimination of childhood Tuberculosis in Ireland.
  • Chemist Kathleen Lonsdale (1903-1971) from Kildare was the first woman president of the International Union of Crystallography.
Kathleen Lonsdale was born on 28 January, and Dorothy Stopford Price died on 30 January, so a public holiday dedicated to either or both of them could fall midway between New Year’s Day and Saint Patrick’s Day.
Dorothy Stopford Price
Physician Dorothy Stopford Price (1890-1954) from Dublin was central to the elimination of childhood Tuberculosis in Ireland. She studied social science while working with the Charitable Organisation Society before studying medicine at Trinity College Dublin. She tended to injured combatants in the War of Independence and the Civil War, and joined Cumann na mBan where she gave lectures on first aid.
She then worked as a house surgeon at St Ultan’s hospital in Dublin where she came into contact with mostly poor families suffering from Tuberculosis. She worked on TB testing and was a pioneer of the BCG vaccine that was central to eliminating TB from Ireland. She tried to set up an Irish Anti-Tuberculosis League in defiance of Archbishop John Charles McQuaid.
She was made head of the National Vaccination Programme in 1949, but had a stroke a year later and died in 1954. Her professional archives are in the library of Trinity College Dublin.
Kathleen Lonsdale
Chemist Kathleen Lonsdale (1903-1971) from Kildare was an Irish emigrant, scientist, pacifist, prisoner of conscience, prison reformer, author, and symbol of the closeness of the peoples of Ireland and Britain. She was born in Kildare, and her mother soon moved with to London with her children to escape a failed marriage.
As a scientist, Kathleen proved that the benzene ring is flat by using X-ray diffraction. She was the first woman tenured professor at University College London, and the first woman president of the International Union of Crystallography and the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
During the Second World War, she sheltered refugees, and spent a month in jail for refusing to register for civil defence duties. This led her to campaign for humane prison reform. She was also a pacifist anti-nuclear campaigner and author.
A plaque was erected on her family home in Newbridge in 2003, a hundred years after her birth. There are university buildings named after her in London, Limerick, and Dublin. NUI Maynooth awards a student prize named after her. Lonsdaleite, a rare form of diamond found in meteorites, was named in her honour.
Conclusion
The purpose of the new public holiday is to mark the efforts of frontline workers during the Covid pandemic. The most obvious way to do that is to call it the Frontline Workers Public Holiday, or the February (or November) Bank Holiday dedicated to the frontline workers during Covid.
If you want to have a public holiday dedicated to Irish women, then you should do that separately and not entangle it with religion. Even treating it as a separate issue, adding a new saint would not balance an existing saint. A better balance to a male saint would be a women scientist, such as Dorothy Stopford Price or Kathleen Lonsdale.
You could look at this separate idea after you establish the Frontline Workers Public Holiday. Read online…

 

Know your rights

Article 44.2.4 of Constitution states clearly that students have a right to not attend religious instruction.

If schools accept state funding then students have a right to attend the school & not attend religious instruction.

International standards recognise that atheism and agnosticism are held to be equally entitled to protection to religious beliefs.
In Ireland the state Religious Education course seeks to develop values in students to enable them to see the relevance of religion to their lives and relationships, the Department of Education claims that this course is suitable for all religions and those with no religion. Why does the Dept of Education and the Minister Norma Foley want to evangelise our children.
The Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of conscience and the right of parents in relation to the education of their children but non religious families are discriminated against on the grounds of religion and their rights are undermined by the state.

The courts have found that the constitutional rights of parents in relation to the religious education of their children must be read in the context of the right of students to not attend religious instruction under Article 44.2.4.

It is not up to the Department of Education, schools or teachers to decide for parents what is or is not suitable religious education for their children.

In the High Court in 2011, Justice Hogan stated that there was no doubt at all but that parents had the Constitutional right to raise their children according to their own religious or philosophical views.
Despite this the Department of Education claims that curriculum Religious Education is suitable for all religions and those with no religion.
The main aim of curriculum religious education is to develop values in students to enable them to see the relevance of religion to their lives, relationships and the wider world.
Why is the Irish state evangelising families with non religious philosophical convictions when it is contrary to the constitution.


Calling concerned teachers

If you are a teacher and concerned about unwanted religious influence contact Chris at teachers@atheist.ie

List of Atheist Ireland Submissions


Buy this book “Is My Family Odd About Gods?”

**Schools Special Offer**
Atheist Ireland are offering the book ‘Is my family odd about godsfree (excluding postage and packaging).  This means that you can get this book for the total price of 10 euro. This offer is aimed at families with school going children, who would like to read this book. This offer is limited to one book per family unit and for postage within Ireland only. Read more…

Have you noticed that your school and your teachers may tell you one thing about religion, while some of your friends and family may have different ideas about god?
If you think that this is a little odd, then this book is for you. Buy this book here.

Lessons about Atheism

Atheist Ireland has published a set of free lesson plans about atheism for children aged 8 and up. We welcome feedback, which we will use to develop the lessons. You can download the lesson plans here


Be Good without Gods

Atheist Ireland ‘Good Without Gods’ Kiva team members have made loans of  $34,425 to 1192 entrepreneurs in the developing world. You can join the team here. Before you chose a loan, make sure you do not support religious groups. You can check the loan partner’s social and secular rating here.

Notme.ie

Atheist Ireland’s ‘notme.ie‘ is a place where people can publicly renounce the religion of their childhood. Currently there are 1880 symbolic defections. Many share their reasons for making a public symbolic defection which you can read here

Petition on Schools Equality PACT 

Atheist Ireland currently runs one petition – The Schools Equality PACT. This seeks to reform religious discrimination in state-funded schools. Currently this stands at 4,085 Help us reach it’s target of 5000. Please sign and share this petition if you haven’t already done so. Thank you.

Tell us what you think

Have you any feedback that you would like to give us on the Secular Sunday newsletter. What are we getting right? What could we improve on? Is there something you would like to see included? Drop us an email at secularsunday@atheist.ie.


Please consider joining or re-joining Atheist Ireland

Atheist Ireland is an entirely volunteer run organisation. We receive no grants or government funding to continue our campaign work. We rely entirely on membership fess and donations.

Annual membership is nominal; €25 waged, €10 unwaged/student and €40 for family membership. Please consider becoming a member. Membership means:

  • You can help to build an ethical and secular Ireland.
  • You have a say in determining policy and electing officers.
  • You can attend members meetings and our AGM.
  • You will have access to our members only Facebook group
  • Your membership fee will go towards supporting our many campaigns.

 
You can join Atheist Ireland here.

Thank you for your continued support

Atheist Ireland Committee

Join

Opinion and Media

Material on atheism, secularism, human rights,politics,science etc. collected from media and the blogosphere from Ireland and beyond; used without permission, compensation, liability, guarantee or implied endorsement. We aim to include a variety of diverse opinions and viewpoints.

 

Blogs & Opinions

 

National

 

Are we failing non-Roman Catholic children in our primary schools?

By Jennifer Horgan

 

Living abroad, he walked tall. He laughed a lot, had a certain ease about him. Within weeks of moving back to Ireland, he began to keep his head down. He kept his coat on, fully zipped up. He got sad. Aged eight, my boy started his life in Ireland in Communion year in the local Catholic school. He spent up to an hour a day at the back of the class whilst the rest of the students prepared for the sacrament. Read more…

NI Secretary of State failed to comply with duties over lack of abortion services, judge rules

By Press Association

 

NORTHERN IRELAND SECRETARY of State Brandon Lewis has said that he is “profoundly disappointed” after a High Court judge ruled that he failed to comply with his duties by not expeditiously ensuring provision for full abortion services for women in the region. Read more…

The murder of David Amess MP

By Michael Nugent

 

Eight years ago David Amess MP and I were on opposing sides at a debate in the Oxford Union. I argued that religion harms society, and David defended religion from his perspective as a Catholic. We disagreed fundamentally, but we did so peacefully and respectfully. After the debate, Jane Donnelly and I had a friendly discussion with David about religion, society, and politics. He was a likeable, decent, and honourable man, who supported animal welfare and energy conservation as well as opposing abortion. Read onlilne…

Two in three voters back calls for assisted dying

By Stephen O’Brien, Patrick O’Donoghue

 

Two out of three Irish voters are in favour of legalising assisted dying to spare people with terminal illnesses from suffering, according to a new Behaviour & Attitudes poll for The Sunday Times. Following the collapse of proposed legislation in the Dail earlier this year, seven out of ten people (71 per cent) said they would be opposed to the state prosecuting someone for assisting a terminally ill person to end their life, while just 12 per cent said they would support a prosecution and the rest did not express an opinion. Read more…

 

An Open Letter To The Information Commissioner

By John Hamill from the Free Thought Prophet

 

Dear Commissioner, Thank you for the correspondence from your Office dated 7th October 2021, relating to my Freedom of Information (FoI) request towards the Department of Education (DoE). I am grateful for the opportunity to comment on the current position of the DoE, and the initial conclusions that have been arrived at by your Investigator during my ongoing appeal to your Office. Read more…

International

Further delays in court proceedings are a blow to the quest for justice for Mubarak Bala

By Humanists International

 

A hearing of the case of Mubarak Bala before the Kano State High Court was postponed today. According to Bala’s legal team, the hearing was postponed owing to the ill-health of the judge presiding. A new court date has been set for December. Read online…

NSS calls for transparency over discriminatory school admissions

By The National Secular Society

 

The National Secular Society has urged the new schools’ minister to increase transparency over school admissions. The NSS has written to the minister responsible for faith schools, Diana Barran, calling for information about whether schools have religiously selective oversubscription criteria to be included on a government database. Read more…

Religion shouldn’t frustrate assisted dying reform

By Stephen Evans

 

Ahead of parliament’s first consideration of assisted dying for six years, Stephen Evans calls on secularists to help ensure that religious objections don’t stand in the way of necessary reform. Later this month peers will debate a new Assisted Dying Bill. The bill, tabled by Molly Meacher, would legalise assisted dying as a choice for terminally ill, mentally competent adults in their final months of life. Read more…

If you are a blogger or vlogger writing or talking about atheism, secularism, ethics, skepticism, human rights etc. and would like us to include your work here please email the link to secularsunday@atheist.ie
 

Podcasts, Videos and Interviews

Ireland

Do you host an Irish-based podcast on atheism, secularism, science, skepticism, human rights etc.? Let us know and we will link to it here.

Michael Nugent on RTE1’s Drivetime – Should Ireland’s New Bank Holiday be on St. Brigid’s Day?

International

 

Freethought Radio – Secular America
National Secular Society Podcast – Schools should be liberated from the compulsion of worship
The Friendly Atheist Podcast – The Beatification of John Paul I Makes No Sense

Media Watch

News and views from Ireland and around the world. Sharing is not an endorsement. 

Ireland

International

Join

Please consider joining Atheist Ireland and support our continued work

 

Website
Website

Email
Email

Facebook
Facebook

Twitter
Twitter

YouTube
YouTube

 

Secular Sunday