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Editorial
The Constitutional rights of parents
Atheist Ireland continues to campaign to protect the constitutional rights of all families in the education system. Parents have positive inalienable rights regarding the education of their children, and nonreligious parents have the same positive rights as religious parents.
We are campaigning to ensure that the State recognises the judgements in the Supreme Court and the High Court in relation to the rights of parents and their children. At present the Department of Education ignores Supreme Court judgements despite the fact that they are binding authority.
We are also trying to get the Department of Education to recognise the Irish version of the Constitution. The Irish version of the Constitution takes legal precedence and is far more nuanced in relation to the rights of parents than the English version.
As always, you can help Atheist Ireland to continue our work on secular issues 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
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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
The constitutional rights of nonreligious parents in Irish schools
For years Atheist Ireland has been campaigning to protect the constitutional rights of all families in the education system. Parents have positive inalienable rights regarding the education of their children, and nonreligious parents have the same positive rights as religious parents.
These rights come under:
- Article 41.1 and 42.1 “The State recognises the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society… The State acknowledges that the primary and natural educator of the child is the Family and guarantees to respect the inalienable right and duty of parents…”
- Article 44.2.1 “Freedom of conscience and the free profession and practice of religion are, subject to public order and morality, guaranteed to every citizen.”
- Article 42.4 “The State shall provide for free primary education and shall endeavour to supplement and give reasonable aid to private and corporate educational initiative, and, when the public good requires it, provide other educational facilities or institutions with due regard, however, for the rights of parents, especially in the matter of religious and moral formation.”
- Article 44.2.4 “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.”
However, in practice, atheist and non religious families are discriminated against in the education system and treated as second class citizens. The State gives privilege to religious families and supports discrimination against atheist and non religious families.
We are also campaigning to ensure that the State recognises the judgements in the Supreme Court and the High Court in relation to the rights of parents and their children. At present the Department of Education ignores Supreme Court judgements despite the fact that they are binding authority.
The courts have defined the terms religious and moral Education (Article 42), religious and moral formation (Article 42.4) and religious instruction (Article 44.2.4). The Department of Education cannot define these rights according to their own understanding, which is what they are now doing.
We are also trying to get the Department of Education to recognise the Irish version of the Constitution. The Irish version of the Constitution takes legal precedence and is far more nuanced in relation to the rights of parents than the English version.
For example under Article 42.4 the English version obliges the state to have “with due regard, however, for the rights of parents, especially in the matter of religious and moral formation”. The Irish version translates directly into “as regards the formation of the mind in religious and moral affairs’.
The Irish version is far more nuanced than the English version and it means that the Department of Education and the NCCA have absolutely no right to decide for parents what is or is not suitable religious and moral formation and education for their children.
Here are some other relevant distinctions in the four Articles in the Constitution that impact on the rights of families in the education system. They are from ‘Bunreacht na hÉireann: a study of the Irish text’, written by Micheál Ó Cearúil and published in 1999 by All Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution.
Article 41.1 (inalienable rights of the family)
- ‘All positive law’ is expressed as ‘aon reacht daonna’ or ‘any human statute/law’.
• ‘Indispensable’ is expressed as ‘éigeantach’, usually translated as ‘compulsory’.
• ‘To protect’ is expressed as ‘a chaomhnú’, ‘to cherish’/‘to preserve’.
Article 42.1 (rights of parents in education)
- The word ‘educator’ is expressed as ‘múinteoir’, which means ‘teacher’.
- ‘To respect’ is expressed as ‘gan cur isteach ar’ (‘not to interfere with’).
The phrase ‘the religious and moral (etc) education of their children’ appears as ‘i gcúrsaí
creidimh, moráltachta (etc)’ which means ‘in religious, moral (etc) affairs’.
- ‘Religious’ and ‘moral’ are separated by a comma, therefore explicitly treated as separate
matters, in the Irish text.
- ‘Education’ appears as ‘Oideachas’. Dinneen’s entry under this headword includes
‘advice, instruction, teaching, education’. DIL translates ‘oidecht’ and ‘oides’ respectively
as ‘teaching, training’ and ‘teaching, instruction’.
Article 42.4 (due regard for rights of parents when funding schools)
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• ‘Endeavour’ is expressed as ‘iarracht a dhéanamh’, ‘make an effort’.
- ‘Corporate’ is expressed as ‘cumannta’, ‘communal’.
- ‘In the matter of religious and moral formation’ is expressed as ‘maidir le múnlú na haigne i
gcúrsaí creidimh is moráltachta’ (‘as regards the formation of the mind in religious and moral
affairs’).
Article 44.2.4 (right to not attend religious instruction when funding schools)
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‘Legislation .. shall not discriminate’ is expressed as ‘ní cead’, or ‘it is not permitted to’.
- ‘To affect prejudicially’ is expressed as ‘dhéanamh dochair do’, or ‘do harm to’.
- ‘Attend’ is expressed as ‘A fhreastal’. Ó Dónaill cites ‘an scoil a fhreastal, to attend school’ and ‘freastal ar léachtaí, to attend lectures’ as examples of ‘freastail’, ‘attend’, in the sense of ‘be present at’.
- ‘Religious Instruction’ is expressed as ‘Teagasc creidimh’. ‘Teagasc’ is translated as ‘teaching, instruction’ by Ó Dónaill, who cites ‘teagasc ábhair, teaching of a subject’.
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
Be Good without Gods
Atheist Ireland ‘Good Without Gods’ Kiva team members have made loans of $36,650 to 1280 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 1923 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 4,111 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
The article below is a good article but there are some points that are not correct.
Catholic Schools can and do require teachers to have the Catholic Certificate in Religious Studies to gain employment in their schools. This is still permitted under Section 37 of the Employment Equality Act.
Minority students are still discriminated against in schools with a catholic ethos. Second level schools with a catholic ethos can still give preference to co religionists in access and all schools can still refuse access if they believe a child will undermine their ethos.
Students from minority backgrounds don’t get the same amount of teaching time as students from catholic families, that is discrimination.
Religion is integrated into secular subjects and students cannot opt out of an ethos, that is also discrimination.
Some teachers discriminate against minority students and have absolutely no issue with that. They also force students to take religion classes.
A few years ago when the Dept of Education told the ETBs to give students another subject if they exercised their right to not attend religious instruct, it was teachers who lobbied against this and got it removed.
Teachers are afraid to speak out about religion in schools
By Aoife Cassidy
I had an overwhelming response to my recent Irish Examiner article on taking faith formation and sacrament preparation out of schools. I wasn’t surprised by the huge reaction from parents. What did surprise me though was the sheer volume of messages I received from teachers, and the content of those messages. Teachers told me they are afraid to speak out. Read more…
We’re missing opportunity to separate church and State: Cork GP says many not reassured over NMH
By Darragh Bermingham
A Cork GP has raised concerns about the National Maternity Hospital (NMH) site ownership, saying that reassurances from the Government are not enough for the people of Ireland who remember the role of the church and nuns in the healthcare of women in the past. Read more…
Religion and property right – Letter to the Irish Times
By Anthony O’Leary
Sir, – Your headline over Breda O’Brien’s column is seriously incorrect (“All the Sisters of Charity achieved was ramping up anti-Catholicism“, Opinion & Analysis, May 21st). Many of us who were baptised as Catholics as babies, but have since moved on to agnosticism on religion, know many kind-hearted practising Catholics, lay and clerical, and appreciate their contribution to society Read online…
The Gist: Exit, Voice and Loyalty
By Simon McGarr
The NMH debate revealed the most valued behaviour in a political system devoted to protecting groupthink. By Monday, the Taoiseach had had enough. The National Maternity Hospital decision had been postponed for two weeks to explain its virtues to the public before the Government confirmed its go-ahead. But over that fortnight the Government had found itself losing the room. A poll over the weekend saw FG losing 5% of their support and 60% of the public had declared themselves against it. Read more…
International
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