Secular Sunday #530 – Equality Laws and Funding of Schools

Author Secular Sunday Published 20/02/2022

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Editorial

Equality Laws and Funding of Schools

The Department of Justice is reviewing the Irish equality laws. Atheist Ireland and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission have both recommended that the Equal Status Act should be amended to protect children of nonreligious parents in schools, and that the Employment Equality Act should be amended to protect atheist and minority faith teachers.

We have also both recommended that the category of ‘religion’ under the equality acts should be changed to ‘religion or beliefs,’ with ‘beliefs’ including positive philosophical convictions such as atheism. This would comply with EU law

As well as this, Atheist Ireland recently made a complaint to the Comptroller and Auditor General about the misuse of public funds regarding the teaching of religion in Irish schools. We have now written a follow-up letter regarding the implications of the the recent Burke case at the Supreme Court.

The Burke case judgment says that the Department of Education, in administering legislation and government policy, must respect the Constitutional rights of parents. However, the Department has not respected the right to attend State-funded schools without attending religious instruction, despite the fact that the funding of schools is dependent on these rights being vindicated.

As always, you can help us to continue this work by joining Atheist Ireland as a member, or by asking anybody who you think may be interested in joining us to do so. We are an entirely voluntary body with no paid staff, and we depend on our members to continue our work. You can join Atheist Ireland here.

– Secular Sunday Editorial Team

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

Protect nonreligious beliefs, say Atheist Ireland and IHREC

The Department of Justice is reviewing the Equal Status Act and the Employment Equality Acts. Atheist Ireland made a Submission which you can find here. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission also made a submission, which you can find here.
In the Venice Commission Guidelines for Legislative Reviews of Laws Affecting Religion or Belief it states that:

“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.”

Atheist Ireland’s recommendations include:

“Atheist Ireland recommends amending the category of ‘religion’ under the Equal Status Act and the Employment Equality Act (and any other relevant Acts) to ‘religion or beliefs,’ and clarifying that beliefs include positive philosophical convictions that are not based on religion.
Currently these Acts refer only to ‘religion’ and not to ‘religion or belief.’ The definitions include “…or one has a religious belief, background or outlook and the other has not.”
This discrimination undermines the right to freedom of conscience, as those of us with nonreligious beliefs or philosophical convictions are not treated equally.
Those of us with beliefs or philosophical convictions are defined in relation to ‘religion,’ and specifically as not having a religion, which puts us in a subordinate position. We are deprived of an equal position and equal protection, as people with positive philosophical convictions of our own, alongside those in the category of ‘religion’.”

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission’s recommendations include:
“Religion or belief

Section 6(2) of the EEA provides, amongst other things, for the grounds covered by the Framework Employment Directive. However, the religion ground in section 6(2) (e) refers to ‘religious belief’ as opposed to ‘religion or belief’ as provided for in the Directive.
Religious belief is defined at section 2(1) of the EEA as including ‘religious background or outlook’. It would appear that the ground of ‘religion or belief’ has not been adequately transposed to include beliefs not based on a recognised religion.

The Commission recommends that the religion ground be amended to the ‘religion or belief’ ground to comply with EU law.”

We hope that the Department will agree with these recommendations, and that the law will be changed to protect the right of atheists and people with other nonreligious philosophical convictions. Read online…

The misuse of public funds in administering the right to not attend religious instruction

Atheist Ireland recently made a complaint to the Irish Comptroller and Auditor General about the misuse of public funds regarding the teaching of religion in Irish schools. We have now written a follow-up letter regarding the implications of the the recent Burke case at the Supreme Court.
This is our letter to the Comptroller and Auditor General.
This is a follow-up to our complaint from December 2021, which you have sent to the unit responsible for the audit of the Department of Education and NCCA for consideration. On page 16 of our complaint we mentioned that the Burke case at the Court of Appeal had gone to the Supreme Court. We would like you to add this to our complaint now that this case has been decided. The Supreme Court judgment made a distinction between policy and the administration of that policy. It concluded:

“45… There is a vast gulf between formulating a policy and implementing it… Any such a scheme must abide by the Constitution. That is the over-arching jurisdiction under which every organ of the State must act…
“48… There was no decision of Government which has been demonstrated to show any clear disregard of the Constitution. What has been established is an excess of jurisdiction in the departmental scheme through an inadvertent disregard of the rights of the home-schooled under the Constitution.”

The main relevance of this to our complaint is that the Constitution and legislation recognise the rights of parents for their children to attend State-funded schools without attending religious instruction. However, the Department of Education has given no practical effect to these rights in schools notwithstanding the fact that the funding of schools is dependent on these rights being vindicated and the fact that it is the Minister who is responsible. That is a misuse of public funds.
Based on the Supreme Court judgment in the Burke case, the Department has a duty to put in place an administrative scheme that respects Constitutional rights, and it cannot go outside that jurisdiction. However, in the case of our complaint, the Department has put in place no guidelines or regulations to do this, and leaves it up to schools to decide for themselves how they administer the rights on which their funding depends.
The White Paper on Education in 1994 envisioned that guidelines would be put in place. It said:

“A sensitive balance is required between the rights, obligations and choices of the majority of parents and students, who subscribe to the ethos of a school, and those in a minority, who may not subscribe to that ethos, but who do not have the option, for practical reasons, to select a school which reflects their particular choices. In very many instances, the concerns of the parents and students are dealt with successfully, but problems have arisen in some cases.
In this regard, the Report on the National Education Convention noted that: ‘The dilemmas and challenges posed for policymakers and school authorities require not only dialogue at school level but the development of ‘good practice’ guidelines by a suitably qualified and representative working party convened by the Department’ (p. 33). Such a working party will be convened in the near future.”

However, no guidelines were developed by the Department of Education in administering these Constitutional rights. Instead, at some stage after this, the Department of Education decided that it was up to each school how they administered the right to not attend religious instruction despite the fact that public funding of schools was dependent on these rights. The Introduction to the 1999 Primary School Curriculum simply refers to a school being flexible in relation to the constitutional right to not attend. It states that:

“It is the responsibility of the school to provide a religious education that is consonant with its ethos and at the same time to be flexible in making alternative organisational arrangements for those who do not wish to avail of the particular religious education it offers.”

The Education Act 1998 (Section 6 – a, l, m) obliges every person involved to give practical effect to the Constitutional rights of children, to enhance the accountability of the education system and to enhance transparency in the making of decisions in the education system both locally and nationally. Legislation reflects the fact that in order to administer a Constitutional right practical effect must be given to it. That is the obligation of the Department of Education because the Constitution says it is and so does the Education Act 1998 (Section 30-2(e)) which says that the Minister is responsible.
By contrast, the Department decided to put in place no guidelines in relation to ‘not attending’ religious instruction. Instead it tries to redefine the terms religious instruction, education, and formation in ways that contradict the Supreme Court in the Campaign case in1998. They have also decided for Atheist, Humanist and secular parents what is suitable religious and moral education and formation for their children despite the fact that the Supreme Court has said that this is the right of parents and that right must be viewed in the context on Article 44.2.4.
Here are relevant extracts from the Supreme Court judgment in the Burke case.

“6. What is clear is that there is a right derived from the Constitution, and stated in explicit terms, for parents to opt for education at home for their children. That is a simple right, put in simple language, as are all other rights declared in the fundamental law or in consequence thereof… The nature of a fundamental law is to state basic principles which legislation must not infringe; to declare the objectives or ideals which are paramount in guiding decisions that impact on national life; and to define the nature of a stated polity by reference to component parts of government and their interaction. As such, the Constitution of 1937 is simple in its terms but requires thought in its application. Hence, rights in the text may require elaboration and, in their application, are rarely, if ever, so absolute as to be permitted to override the public good or to undermine the true social order which is a core objective set out in the Preamble to our fundamental law.”

Our comment: There is a right derived from the Constitution, and stated in explicit terms, for students to not attend religious instruction, it is a condition of state funding. That is a simple right, put in simple language. In addition to that the Supreme Court has said that the right of parents in relation to the education of their children under Article 42.1 and 42.2 must be read in the context of Article 44.2.4. This simple rights require elaboration through law and administration, although it it does not undermine the public good or to social order. Read more…

Amend Employment Equality Act, say Atheist Ireland and IHREC

Atheist Ireland’s recommendations include:

“Amend the Employment Equality Act 1998 and Equal Status Act 2000, which allow churches, schools and hospitals and training colleges to discriminate on the grounds of religion. This discrimination is not proportionate to its purpose of protecting freedom of religion.”

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission’s recommendations include:

“Section 37 on actions taken against employees to uphold ‘ethos’

The Commission acknowledges that the discriminatory potential of section 37 of the EEA was restricted by the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015. However, the Commission remains concerned that this provision may still not be sufficiently narrow to ensure it does not permit unlawful discrimination.

The exclusion of religious institutions from the application of section 37(1A), (1B) and (1C) does not appear to be in conformity with Article 4(2) of the Framework Employment Directive. Similarly, the exclusion of institutions which do not receive any public funding does not appear to be in conformity with the Framework Employment Directive as the CJEU has upheld that Article 4(2) applies to public and private organisations.

Furthermore, the provision could be narrowed further by the inclusion of a definition of ‘religious ethos’ and the provision of a precise list of relevant institutions that may rely on this section. A further requirement that any ‘undermining’ by an employee within the meaning of this provision must be ‘active and significant’ would limit reliance on this exemption to only where it is absolutely necessary.

The Commission recommends that section 37 of the Employment Equality Acts is amended to ensure it complies with the Framework Employment Directive.

The Commission recommends that section 37 should include a definition of ‘religious ethos’ and provide a precise list of relevant institutions that may rely on its provisions.

The Commission recommends the amendment of section 37(1) (b) so that, for the purposes of taking action under that section, an employer must demonstrate that the employee has engaged in ‘active and significant undermining’ of the institution’s ethos or religious belief.”

We hope that the Department will agree with these recommendations, and that the law will be changed to protect the right of atheist teachers, and teachers with other nonreligious philosophical convictions, to work in State-funded schools without discrimination.Read online…

Amend Equal Status Act, say Atheist Ireland and IHREC

The Department of Justice is reviewing the Equal Status Act and the Employment Equality Acts. Atheist Ireland made a Submission which you can find here. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission also made a submission, which you can find here.
Under the Equal Status Act schools can refuse access to a child if they believe that the child will undermine their ethos. Many parents are frightened by this Section of the Act which is written into all Admission Policies in schools with a religious ethos.
It is impossible for any child to undermine the religious ethos of a school. How can a five year old challenge the free practice of religion of other five year olds? It doesn’t make any sense and is simply religious discrimination.
Atheist Ireland’s recommendations include:

“Amend the Employment Equality Act 1998 and Equal Status Act 2000, which allow churches, schools and hospitals and training colleges to discriminate on the grounds of religion. This discrimination is not proportionate to its purpose of protecting freedom of religion.”

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission’s recommendations include:

“The Commission believes that the paramount concern in balancing the rights of individual children with the rights of institutions, such as religious patrons, must be the right of children to an education under reasonable conditions and without discrimination.

The Commission recommends that section 7(3) of the Equal Status Acts be reviewed to ensure there is appropriate balancing between the right to equal treatment and the right to free practice of religion.

In the immediate term, section 7(3)(ca) should be amended to provide a definition of ‘ethos’ and to define precisely what would be required in order to establish that a refusal was ‘essential’ to maintain the ethos of the school.”

We hope that the Department will agree with these recommendations, and that the law will be changed to protect the right of children from atheist and other nonreligious families to attend school without discrimination. Read online…

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 $35,650 to 1239 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 1907 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 4,109 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

President condemns segregation in NI schools as shameful

By Freya McClements

The President has condemned as shameful the segregation of education in the North during a speech in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh. Michael D Higgins said integrated education was both needed and “overwhelmingly wanted” and it was a “key element to a successful, inclusive and harmonious future in Northern Ireland.” Read online…

Higgins’s remarks about North’s ‘segregated’ schools spark anger

By Brian Hutton

President Michael D Higgins has provoked the ire of churches and politicians on both sides of the sectarian divide in Northern Ireland for denouncing the North’s segregated education system as dangerous and shameful. Read online…

Many Dublin churches built in McQuaid’s time may be demolished

By Patsy McGarry

The symbolism, though hardly intended, is inescapable. Many of the larger churches opened in Dublin during the long episcopacy of Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, from 1940 to 1971, seem headed for demolition. Read online…

Removal of ‘baptism barrier’ for school places contributing to fewer Christenings in Ireland

By Humanists UK

Trends in the Republic of Ireland appear to demonstrate a link between the removal of required religious practice for school admissions, and the number of people engaging in that practice. Ireland removed the so-called ‘baptism barrier’ – whereby unbaptised children were sometimes ineligible for admission to certain Catholic schools – and a reduction in the number of baptisms then followed. Read more…

International

Losing My Religion in Slovakia

By Nina Hrabovska Francelova

Slovakia is traditionally viewed as the more religious part of the one-time common Czecho-Slovak state. Yet the latest census shows the country is becoming more atheist and this shift will likely be irreversible. Read more…

FFRF thwarts ‘serve God’ mission by Michigan city

By the Freedom From Religion Foundation

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has ensured that a Michigan city is sending a secular welcoming message to all of its citizens in its mission statement.
A concerned resident had reported to the state/church watchdog that the city of Hudsonville had endorsed religion through its official mission statement. Read online…

Atheist group sues West Virginia school district over ‘mandated’ Christian assembly

By Mark A. Kellner

A lawsuit seeking to stop a West Virginia school district from sponsoring in-school religious assemblies was filed Thursday by attorneys representing the Freedom From Religion Foundation and 11 parents and students at the school. Read online…

Reducing bishops in House of Lords ‘inevitable’, says CofE paper

By The National Secular Society

The Church of England is open to reducing the number of bishops in a reformed House of Lords but not scrapping them entirely, a briefing suggests. The confidential briefing paper, published in Church Times, says there is a consensus among bishops in the House of Lords that reform of the House is “inevitable” and that the CofE “should seek to shape” reforms that will “impinge” on bishops. Read more…

Activists convicted of ‘falsely accusing’ Greek bishop of hate speech

By Helena Smith

An Athens court has handed two prominent human rights defenders prison sentences, suspended for three years, after finding the pair guilty of “falsely accusing” a Greek Orthodox bishop of racist hate speech. The three-member tribunal sentenced the activists to 12-month jail terms after acquitting the bishop, Seraphim, the Metropolitan of Piraeus, of antisemitic rhetoric. Read online…

Greece: humanists sentenced to one-year suspended jail term

By Humanists International

Humanists International is deeply concerned to learn that prominent human rights defenders and members of the Humanist Union of Greece were convicted of filing a “false complaint” and sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for three years.
Human rights defender Panayote Dimitras. Read more…

‘I’m not going to waste my time on prayers’: how secular teachers navigate working in religious schools

By Ilana Finefter-Rosenbluh

The recent case of a Christian school in Queensland asking parents to sign a contract, stating, among other things, homosexuality is immoral and their children will only identify as their birth gender, sparked a furore across the country. It also highlighted an ethical issue many staff face: what action to take if their school’s values conflict with their own. 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