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Editorial
Curriculum Religious Education is Discrimination
 Curriculum Religious Education in Ireland breaches the Constitution. It aims to develop values in students from atheist and secular families to enable them to see the relevance of religion to their lives. This is religious discrimination, and everybody would realise this if a state course taught children from religious families the relevance of atheism to their lives.
In the High Court in 2011, Justice Hogan stated that: “There is thus no doubt at all but that parents have the constitutional right to raise their children by reference to their own religious and philosophical views.” But the state is ignoring the “philosophical views” element of that right, and only focusing on the the right to religious views.
The constitution says parents, not the state, are responsible for the religious education of their children. The state can choose to assist parents in providing for this religious education, including in schools. But if the state chooses to do this, it must equally assist atheist parents in the conscience-based philosophical education of their children.
Curriculum Religious Education is not an objective course about religions and beliefs. It undermines the constitutional rights of parents in relation to the religious and moral education of their children. If you would like to help Atheist Ireland campaign on this and other secular issues, please join 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
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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.
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Atheist Ireland News
Ireland was questioned this week by UN Human Rights Council member states at UPR39. Atheist Ireland, the Evangelical Alliance, and the Ahmadiyya Muslims have asked the UN to strengthen secularism in Ireland. Here is our joint submission to the UN sent earlier this year
Atheist Ireland, Evangelical Alliance, and Ahmadiyya Muslims ask UN to strengthen secularism in Ireland
 Ireland will be questioned this year by the United Nations Human Rights Council under a process called the Universal Periodic Review. Atheist Ireland, the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland, and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Ireland, have made this joint submission to UN on freedom of religion and belief in Ireland.Contents
1. Introduction
2. Recommendations
3. The Irish education system
3.1 Balancing of rights
3.2 Recent court case upholds rights of parents
3.3 Religion integrated into the curriculum
3.4 Education & Training Board schools
3.5 The Catholic Church’s position
3.6 No non-denominational schools or secular education
3.7 Junior Infants starting school this year
3.8 This system cannot respect everybody’s rights
3.9 The policy of parental choice is illusory
3.10 Admission to Schools without religious discrimination
3.11 Arrangements for pupils who do not attend religious instruction
3.12 Statutory Guidelines on the right to not attend religion classes
3.13 Religious ceremonies and prayers in schools
3.14 Types of religion classes
3.15 Education & Training Board schools at second level
3.16 Discrimination against minority teachers
4. Remove the obligatory religious oaths in the Constitution
5. Respect the right of asylum seekers to freedom of religion or belief
1. Introduction
1.1 Irish Atheists, Evangelicals and Ahmadiyya Muslims are united in a campaign for Secularism and Human Rights. We have very different world views, most notably in Ireland on issues such as abortion, but we all agree that each person should be treated with respect, our right to hold our beliefs should be treated with respect, and States should treat us all equally before the law by remaining neutral between religious and nonreligious beliefs.
1.2 Parts of our campaign are:
- We promote the fundamental human rights of freedom of conscience, religion and belief, equality before the law, and freedom from discrimination for all.
- We promote these human rights within Irish society and Irish political institutions, and at the United Nations, the Council of Europe and other international human rights bodies.
1.3 All points in this joint submission are made on behalf of our three groups unless otherwise stated. We previously made a joint submission and attended the UN Human Rights Committee when it was examining Pakistan under the ICCPR.
1.4 Atheist Ireland regularly takes part in sessions of UN Committees, and has successfully had human rights based recommendations made. In 2016 Atheist Ireland addressed the Human Rights Council at Ireland’s UPR, and raised three issues: the laws against blasphemy and abortion, obligatory religious oaths for high office, and religious discrimination in Irish schools.
1.5 Since then, Ireland has held referendums to end the laws against blasphemy and abortion. However, there have been only superficial plans to reduce religious discrimination in schools, no progress in removing obligatory religious oaths for high office, and an increasing problem with regard to respecting the freedom of religion or belief of asylum seekers.
2. Recommendations
2.1 Provide Access to non-denominational schools and secular education, consistently with the accepted recommendations 135.138 to 135.140 from UPR 2016, and with repeated recommendations from the UN Human Rights Committee.
2.2 Put in place human rights based Statutory Guidelines on the right to not attend religion classes which are not neutral and objective, and religion that is integrated in to other curriculum subjects, and offer an alternative timetabled subject, consistently with the linked legal opinion obtained by Atheist Ireland on this issue, and with recommendation 36 (CRC/c/IRL/co/3-4) 2016 of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
2.3 Hold a referendum to remove the obligatory religious oaths in the Constitution for President, Judges, and members of the Council of State which includes the Taoiseach and Tanaiste, and replace them with a single declaration that makes no reference to the person’s religion or beliefs, consistently with repeated recommendations from the UN Human Rights Committee.
2.4 Respect the right of asylum seekers to self determination on the basis of religion or belief, and ensure that asylum seekers have access to welfare and housing support as the Direct Provision centres are not suitable places for those fleeing persecution.
3. The Irish education system
3.1 The Irish Education system is unique. The State funds education mainly through private religious bodies known as Patrons. The State shows deference to the Catholic Church and its mission to evangelise through running schools. In theory, atheist or minority faith families have absolute rights but in practice we are discriminated against on the ground of religion with no effective remedy.
3.2 Under Article 42.1 of the Irish Constitution all parents have inalienable rights in relation to the education of their children. Under Article 44.2.4 the State must uphold the right of students to not attend religious teaching if that is against the wishes of their parents. This is a condition of the State funding of schools. Also the State must respect all parents’ convictions.
3.3 It is hard for parents to go to court in relation to the evangelising/discrimination of their children in schools, because of (a) prohibitive costs, (b) their children would have left school before the case made its way through the courts, and (c) Parents fear their child will be alienated and singled out as a trouble maker. This is even harder if you are an immigrant.
3.4 It is not possible to hold the Department of Education responsible under the Equal Status Act for their failure to put in place guidelines or balancing rights. Nor is it possible to take a case to the Ombudsman for children in relation to the content of religion classes or the integrated curriculum. Read more… or download submisison
Parents, not schools, must decide whether their children attend religious education
 Atheist Ireland has written to the Department of Education asking them to remove Circular Letter 0062/2018 in relation to Religious Education in ETB second level schools.
That Circular Letter states that there is no need for students to withdraw from curriculum Religious Education.
Given the Constitutional rights of parents, it is not up to the Department of Education to decide for parents whether any Religious Education course is suitable for their children.
Here is the letter we sent:
We are writing to ask you to withdraw Circular Letter 0062/218 as it is not in accordance with the Constitution and the findings of the Supreme Court.
The Department of Education cannot decide for parents what is or is not suitable for their children in relation to Religious Education or decide whether there is a need for parents to withdraw their children.
Circular Letter 0062/2018 states that:
“Religious Education, where it is offered by a school, must be delivered in the timetabled class periods without any religious instruction or worship of any religion forming any part of class activity. This means that any practice or material that would introduce religious instruction or worship cannot be used in the future. Religious Education will be subject to inspection including its delivery according to this circular. This clear separation of religious instruction from the NCCA Religious Education syllabus has the effect of ensuring that withdrawal does not arise for students studying the NCCA Religious Education syllabus where the school provides the subject as part of its normal range of subjects.”
Justice Barrington in the Supreme Court case Campaign to Separate Church and State v Minister for Education 1998 stated that:
“But the matter does not end there. Article 42 of the Constitution acknowledges that the primary and natural educator of the child is the family and guarantees to respect the inalienable right and duty of the parents to provide for the religious and moral, intellectual, physical and social education of their children. Article 42 S.2 prescribes that the parent shall be free to provide “this education” (i.e. religious moral intellectual physical and social education) in their homes or in private schools or “in schools recognised or established by the State”. In other words the Constitution contemplates children receiving religious education in schools recognised or established by the State but in accordance with the wishes of the parents.
It is in this context that one must read Article 44 “.2s.s.4 which prescribes that: Legislation providing State aid for schools shall not discriminate between schools under the management of different religious denominations, nor be such as to affect prejudicially the right of any child to attend a school receiving public money without attending religious instruction at that school.”(pages 25,26)
The Supreme Court found that the rights of parents in relation to the religious education of their children under Article 42.1 must be read in the context of Article 44.2.4 – the right to not attend religious instruction. The Department of Education has no right to decide for parents what is or is not suitable religious education for their children or whether there is the need for parents to withdraw their children from it. Read more…
Support Our Maternity Hospital #makenmhours – the campaign for the State to own and manage the new National Maternity Hospital – Please write to your TD supporting this campaign
Support the campaign for the State to own and manage the new National Maternity Hospital
 Atheist Ireland joined a meeting this week of women’s rights groups and secular groups that want the State to own and manage the new National Maternity Hospital. The meeting was convened by Jo Tully, chairperson of the Campaign Against Church Ownership of Women’s Healthcare.
This growing campaign has two demands:
- That the site of our new National Maternity Hospital (NMH) be publicly owned
- That the hospital be owned and managed on a secular basis by the State
You can get ongoing news about the campaign on Twitter and Facebook or by following the Twitter hashtag #MakeNMHOurs.
To date, due to public scrutiny and continued media attention, the Minister for Health has been forced to delay the signing off of the contracts which would gift the hospital and its management to the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group (SVHG).
SVHG is a private charity owned by the Religious Sisters of Charity. Its practices are run according to Catholic ethos dictated by The Vatican. These Directives prohibit access to abortion, IVF and gender affirming surgeries & treatments, but also directly influence the medical treatment of miscarriage and ectopic pregnancies.
In a democratic republic, the State should own and directly manage the National Maternity Hospital. It should not cede control over this essential public service to any private body, never mind to a charity associated with the Catholic church, which has an appalling record of human rights abuses and an ethos that opposes reproductive rights for women.
Atheist Ireland campaigns for a secular healthcare system based on compassion, human rights and the medical needs of patients. No religious values should be imposed on patients who do not share those religious beliefs. The State should remove, not reinforce, the traditional privileges that religious bodies have in our healthcare provision.
Scandalously, the government is planning to spend €800 million of public money on a project that requires the Sisters of Charity to obtain permission from the Vatican to agree to it. The Vatican is the headquarters of a global religion that poses as a quasi-State when it suits its purposes. Its primary aim is not to provide healthcare, but to evangelise people into Catholicism.
This issue is not just about access to reproductive healthcare, but also about the right to freedom of conscience. Those of us who seek a National Maternity Hospital free from religious influence do so on the basis of our constitutionally protected right to freedom of conscience. The reason that politicians don’t see this as an issue of conscience is because of the influence of the Catholic Church in relation to the definition of freedom of conscience, religion and belief. Read more…
Know your rights
 Curriculum Religious Education breaches the Constitution. Developing values in students from atheist and secular families to enable them to see the relevance of religion to their lives is religious discrimination. It is not an objective course about religions and beliefs and undermines the constitutional rights of parents in relation to the religious and moral education of their children.
Not attending Religious Instruction is the constitutional affair of the state (Article 44.2.4) not a religious denomination, it is a condition of the state funding of schools.
Putting in place statutory guidelines around the right to not attend religious instruction is not interfering in the constitutional right of religious denominations (Article 44.2.5) to manage their own affairs as not attending religious instruction is the constitutional affair of the state. Publicly funded schools cannot deny students their constitutional right to not attend religious instruction under Article 44.2.4.
The courts have linked Article 44.2.4 with the rights on parents under Article 42 of the Constitution. The courts have also linked Article 42 with Article 40 and 41 where the state guaranteed to protect the family in its constitution and authority.
Why are the Department of Education giving precedence to a sub section of Article 44 in relation to religious denominations managing their own affairs over the substantive rights of parents in the Constitution in relation to the religious, moral education and formation of their children, their right to freedom of conscience and their right to equality.
Atheist Ireland will continue to campaign for statutory guidelines on the right to not attend religious instruction.
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 gods‘ free (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 $34,650 to 1201 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 1882 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 4,086 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
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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
Irish Teacher: Morality shouldn’t come into relationship and sex education
By Jennifer Horgan
Consistency in a world gone mad. Do you remember the slogan? I think it was Beamish. Well, one thing I’m certain about is that Irish schools are maddeningly inconsistent. This idea of consistency and the lack of it, stuck me when I heard Simon Harris’ comment that our current system, “doesn’t teach students about financial literacy, digital skills, sex education or climate skills”. Read more…
Department of Education removes ‘homophobic’ teaching material.
By Jack Power
The Department of Education removed online teaching material criticised as “homophobic,” which asked secondary school students to discuss a number of statements, including whether “all gays molest children”. The material was included in online teaching resources provided by the department for social, personal and health education (SPHE) classes at Junior Cycle level until recent months. Read more…
‘I was a Tuam baby’: Boston man appeals for records detailing his past
By Sarah Burns
Michael Byrne clutches a black book full of old photographs, letters and documents, which he calls his “bible”. Michael (64), who was born in the Tuam mother and baby home, has spent much of the last five years piecing together his past. Read more…
Discrimination Is Rife in Irish Schools: The Government Must End It Now
By David Graham
Recent marriage figures reveal a quiet revolution in how we are tying the knot. Last year, non-religious marriages overtook Catholic ones for the first time. With couples enjoying freedom of conscience on their big day, why are they denied it when their children start school? A growing number of parents have had enough – and are calling for urgent change. Read more…
An €800m jackpot: The master plan for the ownership and control of the new maternity hospital
By Marie O’Connor
The latest proposals from St Vincent’s Healthcare Group represent a last-ditch attempt to push through their plans for the new maternity hospital at Elm Park. Legal and other documents expose the architecture of control over the hospital devised by the Religious Sisters of Charity and their advisers. Read more…
International
Three quarters of Poles want abortion law softened amid protests over pregnant woman’s death
By Daniel Tillies
A large majority of people in Poland want the country’s abortion law – which is one of the most restrictive in Europe – to be liberalised, a new poll has found. The findings follow similar results in previous surveys. They come amid mass protests over the death of a pregnant woman in hospital, which many have blamed on last year’s introduction of a near-total ban on abortion. Some conservatives, however, have argued that the tragedy resulted from medical malpractice and was unrelated to the abortion law. Read more…
Countering the claims that being spiritual means being religious
By Meredith Doig
As the number of Australians identifying as “spiritual but not religious” (SBNR) has grown in recent times, so too have attempts to add such people in with counts of the religious. Organisations like Christian survey firm McCrindle Research have publicly attempted to “appropriate” SBNRs to the religious side of the national equation, implying that these people are really religious but just missing in action. Read more…
The welcome spread of assisted dying
By The Economist – Leaders
In 1995 Australia’s Northern Territory enacted the world’s first law explicitly allowing assisted dying. It said that terminally ill, mentally competent adults who wanted to die could ask a doctor for help, using lethal drugs. The law sparked outrage. Within months the federal government had overturned it. Yet today five of Australia’s six states have assisted-dying laws. Read more…
Secularism defined: a tale of two courts
By Haldun Gülalp
In May 2021, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs issued an order to lower the volume of mosque loudspeakers and use them only for calls to prayer, rather than to broadcast full sermons. Faced with a conservative backlash, the minister explained that the decision was in response to complaints from citizens.In Turkey, the coverage of this news caused some excitement. Read more…
Is being religious more arrogant than being an atheist?
By Charles Webster
I was recently taken to coffee by an older man (a medical doctor who also holds a Master’s degree in apologetics) who has been trying to re-convert me to Christianity for some time. He is a nice man with good intentions. He also told me with a straight face that I should “first believe in Jesus and then I would know that Christianity is true”. Read more…
‘Inclusive language’ in the army is meaningless without inclusive culture
By Megan Mason
The Armed Forces must dismantle their institutional Christian privilege if they are truly committed to inclusivity, says Megan Manson. The Ministry of Defence has recently released an ‘Inclusive Language Guide’(pictured). The guide promotes “using words that refer to everyone and avoiding words that exclude or offend”. Read more…
Inclusive Assemblies Bill passes latest stage in the Lords
By Humanists UK
A Bill seeking to replace Christian worship in schools without a religious character with inclusive assemblies moved one step closer to becoming law today. It passed the committee stage in the House of Lords, the second major stage. Humanists UK has long called for changes to the law on compulsory school worship. Today it said it was ‘extremely encouraged’ by the news. The introduction of assemblies that are suitable for all children would be ‘a major advancement for inclusive education’. 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
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