The Irish Times has published an article about this week’s Catholic Schools Week by Marie Griffin, chairperson of the Catholic Education Partnership. The article claims that Catholic Schools are places where everyone, of all faiths and none, is accepted and welcomed.
If Catholic Schools wanted to make everyone, of all faiths and none, accepted and welcomed in an inclusive environment, they could start by respecting the Constitutional right of children from atheist and minority faith families to not attend religious instruction classes.
Not only do they refuse to do this, they intensify their lack of respect for minorities by hosting a week that is clearly aimed at faith formation for children from Catholic families, and evangelising Catholicism to children from atheist and minority faith families.
As part of this, children must fill in a questionnaire on personal images of God, and survey each other about their different faiths or beliefs and represent the results in a pie chart. This is an unlawful breach of the human right to not reveal your personal beliefs and of GDPR regulations.

• The Catholic Bishops have told the NCCA that ‘the Catholic school exists to educate children in Catholic religious life and in Catholic religious beliefs which are normative for them’ and that ‘a pluralist approach to religion goes against the philosophical basis of Catholic religious education.’
• The Dublin Diocese told the NCCA that ‘denominational schools exist to educate children in religious life (and) beliefs that have been revealed by God. For Catholic schools, there is an express and implied duty that the children attending will be educated in the fullness of the faith.’

When Catholic schools say they are inclusive, they mean that they will include children from atheist and minority faith families within their Catholic ethos. That is not being inclusive. To be inclusive, the ethos of a school should not promote either religion or atheism.
Catholic Schools Week seeks to accelerate the evangelising of minorities into a Catholic way of life. It does not respect the constitutional and human rights of minorities. And the State has not put in place any guidelines to protect minorities from this evangelising in publicly funded schools.
The reality of Catholic Schools Week
The website of the Catholic Schools Partnership and the Association of Trustees of Catholic Schools makes clear the evangelising nature of Catholic Schools Week. Here are extracts from the resources for Catholic parishes, Catholic primary schools, and Catholic post primary schools.
Catholic Parish Resources
There is a set of resources for Catholic Parishes regarding Catholic Schools Week.
Parishes should arrange a meeting with the principals and teachers of primary and post-primary schools in the parish to discuss how to highlight and celebrate the work of each individual Catholic school as a community of faith and resilience.
The Mass on 23 January should include a prayer which includes: ‘Loving God … Help our school communities enable each person to … see themselves and others as made for loving and kind relationships with God … May we become more and more like your son Jesus … May your Holy Spirit guide us … We make this prayer through Christ our Lord.’
The parish newsletter should include a notice saying ‘During this week, we aim to celebrate the unique contribution that Catholic schools, both primary and post-primary, make to supporting each other and living out Jesus’ message of the Gospel.’
Where applicable, the school chaplain should visit as many classrooms as possible. The Catholic Schools Week resource will help offer the chaplain a theme for each day’s work.
Catholic Primary School Resources
The Primary School resources include themes and exercises that are clearly aimed at faith formation for children from Catholic families, and evangelising Catholicism to children from atheist and minority faith families.
The resources for Junior and Senior Infants include telling the children that God wants them to live as Jesus did and asking them how they could live like Jesus, singing the song ‘God’s Love is so Wonderful’, celebrating ‘the fact of God’s love for each ’, praying to God to take care of their grandparents, and seeing the world as part of God’s creation.
The resources for First and Second Classes include the above plus the story of the Prodigal Son, with the notes: ‘God will never stop loving us. Sometimes we make bad choices but we can always return to God and he will always welcome us back. God loves us and will always love us. Prayer helps us to talk to God, who always hears our prayers.’
The resources for Third and Fourth Classes include the children spending time reflecting on God’s love for them and how grateful they are for this love and for their life which is precious gift from God. Each day they should think of at least three things that they are grateful to God for and write them down and put them in a jar in ‘the sacred space’.
The resources for Fifth and Sixth Classes include asking children to invite God into their life, telling them that feelings of wonder and awe are the power of God working through their lives and through creation, and asking them to create replicas of the solar system and place them in ‘the sacred space’ and say a prayer together.
Catholic Post Primary School Resources
The Post Primary School resources also include themes and exercises that are clearly aimed at faith formation for children from Catholic families, and evangelising Catholicism to children from atheist and minority faith families.
The theme for Monday is Living Life to the Full With God. The Learning Intention is that students will explore images of God such as ‘God is perfect love’. It includes an exercise in which students fill in a questionnaire on personal images of God. This is an unlawful breach of the human right to not reveal your personal beliefs and of GDPR regulations.
The theme for Tuesday is Living Life to the Full Together. It includes an exercise in which students have to survey their class, find out the different faiths or beliefs of the students in their class, and represent the information on a pie chart/bar chart. This is an unlawful breach of the human right to not reveal your personal beliefs and of GDPR regulations.
The theme for Wednesday is Celebrating Being Together Again. It is about solidarity with older people in a Christian community. It includes an EWTN video about a ‘grandparents day’ dedicated to Joachim and Ann, the parents of the Biblical character Mary, and the earthly grandparents of Jesus, who ‘we can embrace as our spiritual grandparents.’
The theme for Thursday is Living Life in Wonder and Awe. It includes a song by a Christian musician who sees in the wonders of nature that God loves him. It asks students to respond to this quote from Pope Francis: ‘Christ is alive! He is our hope, and in a wonderful way he brings youth to our world, and everything he touches becomes young, new, full of life.’
The theme for Friday is Living Life and Facing the Future. It includes a song by a Christian musician the chorus of which is ‘if there’s anything good that happens in life, it’s from Jesus.’ It asks students to respond to the Bible quote: ‘All that we suffer in the present time is nothing in comparison with the glory which is destined to be disclosed for us.’
Summary
If Catholic Schools wanted to make everyone, of all faiths and none, accepted and welcomed in an inclusive environment, they could start by respecting the Constitutional right of children from atheist and minority faith families to not attend religious instruction classes.
Not only do they refuse to do this, they intensify their lack of respect for minorities by hosting a week that is clearly aimed at faith formation for children from Catholic families, and evangelising Catholicism to children from atheist and minority faith families.
They do this because it is the policy of the Catholic church that ‘The Catholic school exists to educate children in Catholic religious life and in Catholic religious beliefs’ and that ‘a pluralist approach to religion goes against the philosophical basis of Catholic religious education.’ Read online…

The Dept of Education and the NCCA are trying to redefine the Constitutional right to not attend religious instruction by claiming that it only refers to not attending religious classes in accordance with the rites of one religion. From our complaint to the Comptroller and Auditor General on the misuse of public funds.

Misuse of public funds regarding religious instruction in schools Part 3 of 3

Atheist Ireland has sent a major report to the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee. We are arguing that the Department of Education and the NCCA are misusing public funds by ignoring constitutional conditions about the right to not attend religious education in schools.
This is the third of three articles that include the content of this report. Here are links to all three articles:

• Executive Summary and Contents
• 1. The State has Funding Duties regarding not attending Religious Instruction
• 2. The State is Misusing Public Funds and not being Transparent or Accountable

2. The State is Misusing Public Funds and not being Transparent or Accountable
2.1 Overview
The Minister is obliged to leave reasonable instruction time for subjects relating to or arising from the characteristic spirit (ethos) of the school. In denominational schools these subjects are indisputably ‘Religious Instruction’ where the Constitutional right to not attend applies.
In 2000 the Department and the NCCA introduced Syllabus ‘Religious Education’ into the curriculum at second level. In addition the Department and the NCCA have also introduced into Community National Schools at Primary level a course called ‘Goodness Me Goodness You’ (GMGY) which includes elements of religious and moral education.
A significant amount of public funding was used to develop both these courses, and continues to be used each year.
The State has recently started to argue that these courses do not fall into the category of ‘Religious Instruction’ and therefore argues that the Constitutional right to not attend ‘does not arise’. However:

• To make this case, the State relies on new definitions that have no legal basis, and that are not consistent with the rulings of the Supreme Court and the High Court. Also, the specific arguments that the State uses to justify this have shifted over time, including within Circular Letters and answers to Oireachtas questions, so they are not based on a consistent foundation.
• Atheist, humanist, and secular parents object on the grounds of conscience to the content of these courses, and we have the same Constitutional rights of conscience as religious people.
• At primary level, the GMGY course is the patron’s programme. At second level, Syllabus ‘Religious Education’ is in practice integrated with the patron’s programme. It is not taught separately, as that would mean two separate Religion classes would be happening during the school day.

The State has introduced syllabus ‘Religious Education’ courses that teach morals through religion and not objectively and claim that they are not ‘Religious Instruction’ but ‘Religious Education’ or in the case of the GMGY course ‘Ethical Education’.
In 2019 Minister for Education Richard Bruton said that Syllabus ‘Religious Education’ is just like any other subject such as history or geography. However, unlike history or geography, the Department of Education and the NCCA developed the Syllabus ‘Religious Education’ course with the intention that the Catholic Church would use it to support their ‘faith formation’ or ‘catechetical’ requirements.
Also, in order to introduce syllabus ‘Religious Education’ and assessment at Junior and Leaving Certificate level the Department of Education needed to amend the Intermediate Education Act as that Act did not permit the holding of exams in Religious Instruction (see Section 1.3.3 of this document above).
The result of the above on the ground is that Catholic faith formation is integrated into Syllabus ‘Religious Education’ while the Department of Education, the NCCA, the Catholic Church and Education and Training Board schools claim that it is not ‘Religious Instruction’ but ‘Religious Education’ and the right to not attend ‘does not arise’. This is a significant claim to make and, as this document shows, it is not supported by the evidence.
2.2 The Department is trying to redefine key Constitutional terms
In 2000 the Department and the NCCA introduced Syllabus ‘Religious Education’ into the curriculum at second level. In addition the Department and the NCCA have also introduced into Community National Schools at Primary level called the Goodness Me Goodness You course.
In recent years the Department of Education has been trying to redefine the phrases ‘Religious Instruction’ and ‘Religious Education’. They then claim that Syllabus ‘Religious Education’ does not fall under the category of ‘Religious Instruction’ for the purposes of Article 44.2.4 of the Constitution, which includes funding duties.
But the redefinitions they are using have no basis in law, do not take due regard to the Constitutional rights of parents, and are inconsistent with the findings of the Supreme Court. Atheist Ireland obtained a legal opinion from James Kane, barrister-At-Law, about Article 44.2.4. Read more…

Census on April the 3rd – Be honest to Godless

You  can find these graphics on our campaign page Honest to Godless. Please download them and share on socail media.

Catholic schools are not inclusive. Inclusive to them means they will include you in their religion!

State-funded Catholic schools fundamentally object to teaching religious pluralism

In Ireland one of the key issues in the Primary school Curriculum is pluralism. The Curriculum says it has a responsibility to promote tolerance and respect for diversity, in both the school and the community. Despite this, State-funded schools with a Catholic ethos fundamentally object to teaching religious pluralism within schools.
The first thing to note here is that the pluralism referred to in the Primary school curriculum includes religious pluralism. There are over 126 different religions in Ireland, and the State claims that it equally recognises their beliefs, values and aspirations. The State does not go so far as to equally recognise non-religious world views. The Primary School Curriculum reflects this (see page 58).
It is bad enough that State-funded schools are allowed to give priority to religious beliefs over nonreligious beliefs. However, State-funded schools with a Catholic ethos are not even happy with that level of privilege. They have made this clear in their response to the proposed new State course about Religions, beliefs and Ethics.
The Catholic Bishops object to promoting even pluralism among religious beliefs within schools, as they believe that it goes against the philosophical basis of Catholic religious education. The Church accepts that freedom of religion is the bedrock of western democracies, but insists that promoting pluralism within schools is against their ethos.
What the Primary School Curriculum says

“The curriculum has a particular responsibility in promoting tolerance and respect for diversity in both the school and the community. Children come from a diversity of cultural, religious, social, environmental and ethnic backgrounds, and these engender their own beliefs, values, and aspirations. The curriculum acknowledges the centrality of the Christian heritage and tradition in the Irish experience and the Christian identity shared by the majority of Irish people. It equally recognises the diversity of beliefs, values and aspirations of all religious and cultural groups in society.”

What the Catholic Bishops say
In a recent Submission to the National Council of Curriculum & Assessment, the Catholic Bishops said:

“2. Pluralism and freedom of religion
The principle of freedom of religion is part of the bedrock upon which western democracies are constructed.”
“These approaches require teachers to adopt and promote a pluralist approach to religion. This is an approach to religion that goes against the philosophical basis of Catholic religious education. Such a contradiction would place teachers in a very difficult position where conflicting philosophical approaches to religious education would have the potential to create significant confusion.”

For many parents, this means that the State ‘provides for’ the education of their children in publicly funded schools that see pluralism as something that undermines their ethos.
Over half of the primary schools in the country are what the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism referred to as ‘Stand Alone Schools’. This means that all of the children in particular areas attend the only local school. This, of course, is a publicly funded National School with a Catholic ethos.
It is impossible to see how this respects the inalienable right of parents under Article 42 of the Constitution. The State then gives exemptions in equality legislation, that permit publicly funded schools to discriminate on the grounds of religion while still claiming that they promote pluralism.
Conclusion
In Ireland, the commitment to pluralism (a bedrock of western democracy) is promoted by segregating small children according to the religious affiliation of their parents. The larger religious groups in society attract state funding, and the smaller groups are left sending their children to schools that see pluralism as something that undermines their ethos.
If you are an atheist, please join Atheist Ireland and help us to challenge these breaches of fundamental human rights.
If you are religious, please support the joint campaign by Atheist Ireland, the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Ireland for a secular State education system that respects everybody’s rights equally and gives no privilege to any religious belief or institution. Read online…

Know your rights

In all regions of the world people cite religious justification for the preservation or impositions of laws that discriminate against women, girls and LGBT persons.

Catholic Schools Week

Asking students to reveal their religious or philosophical convictions during syllabus Religious Education classes breaches the right to freedom of religion and belief.

Putting students in a position where they are obliged directly or indirectly to reveal their religious or philosophical convictions breaches the right to freedom of religion and belief.

A resource for Catholic Schools week published by the Catholic Bishops for breaches the right to freedom of religion and belief of students. This resource is to be used during syllabus Religious Education. Students will be asked to reveal their religious or philosophical convictions in a survey.

Calling concerned teachers