Department confirms to Atheist Ireland that students CAN opt out from NCCA religion course in ETB schools
10/10/2018 No Comments

Department confirms to Atheist Ireland that students CAN opt out from NCCA religion course in ETB schools

At a meeting today with Atheist Ireland, the Department of Education has confirmed that all students can still opt out of the NCCA State course in religious education in ETB schools, despite the recent Circular Letter suggesting the opposite. However, ETB schools will not be obliged to offer such students ...

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New Circular Letter for religion in ETB schools? Atheist Ireland to meet Department of Education
05/10/2018 No Comments

New Circular Letter for religion in ETB schools? Atheist Ireland to meet Department of Education

We were shocked to read a report in the Irish Times this morning that the Department of Education may be considering a new Circular Letter to ETB schools that would force students to attend the State course in Religious Education against their conscience, contrary to Section 30.2(e) of the Education ...

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What we must do to separate church and state – speech by Jane Donnelly in Waterford
22/09/2018 No Comments

What we must do to separate church and state – speech by Jane Donnelly in Waterford

Jane Donnelly, Human Rights Officer of Atheist Ireland, made the following speech today at the Be The Change conference in Waterford, organised by Waterford People Before Profit, on Saturday 22 September 2018. Ireland is becoming more secular, because the developed world is becoming more secular. Around the world, as people ...

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Atheist Ireland welcomes unopposed Blasphemy Referendum vote in Dail
18/09/2018 No Comments

Atheist Ireland welcomes unopposed Blasphemy Referendum vote in Dail

Atheist Ireland welcomes today’s unopposed vote in the Oireachtas to hold a referendum on 26th October to remove the offence of blasphemy from the Irish Constitution. We have been campaigning for a decade to get this referendum called, and we will campaign for the next six weeks for a Yes ...

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Solidarity proposed amendments for a wider secular referendum
18/09/2018 No Comments

Solidarity proposed amendments for a wider secular referendum

Solidarity today supported the Bill to hold a referendum to remove the offence of blasphemy from the Irish Constitution, and will be campaigning for a Yes vote in the referendum. Solidarity has formally proposed a removal of the blasphemy provision in their own Bill that they introduced in July 2017. ...

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Repeal the Blasphemy Law Public Meeting
04/09/2018 No Comments

Repeal the Blasphemy Law Public Meeting

Repeal the Blasphemy Law Public Meeting When September 15th 2018 Where Buswell's Hotel 23-27 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2, D02 DT80 Why The Irish Constitution, written in 1937, makes blasphemy an offence punishable by law. there will be a referendum on 26 October (along with the Presidential election) in which we ...

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As Pope Francis visits Dublin, Jane Donnelly calls for secular schools at People Before Profit public meeting
26/08/2018 No Comments

As Pope Francis visits Dublin, Jane Donnelly calls for secular schools at People Before Profit public meeting

While Pope Francis was speaking in Croke Park in Dublin, Jane Donnelly of Atheist Ireland was making the case for a secular education system free from Catholic Church influence. Jane was speaking at a public meeting convened by People Before Profit, about Separation of Church and State. Here is the ...

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Seven reasons to protest Pope Francis
19/08/2018 6 Comments

Seven reasons to protest Pope Francis

Six years ago, Atheist Ireland joined LGBT Noise in a small protest outside the Catholic Church’s Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, against the ongoing efforts by the Vatican to oppose equal civil rights for LGBT people. A lot has changed since then. This week Atheist Ireland will join a much larger ...

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Don’t tell him, Pike! Bishop Doran reveals intention to further evangelise during sex education
06/08/2018 No Comments

Don’t tell him, Pike! Bishop Doran reveals intention to further evangelise during sex education

In the sitcom Dad’s Army, Private Pike is famous for blurting out the truth at inconvenient times, to the annoyance of Captain Mainwaring. In one scene, a German U-Boat Captain asks Pike what his name is. Mainwaring interjects by barking: ‘Don’t tell him, Pike!’ Bishop Kevin Doran has created the ...

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Yet again, a Presidential election that excludes conscientious atheists
04/08/2018 1 Comment

Yet again, a Presidential election that excludes conscientious atheists

Yet again Ireland is to hold a Presidential election that excludes conscientious atheists as candidates, as in order to take office we would have to swear a religious oath that is in our Constitution. This would force us to dissemble about our beliefs, and breaches our human right to freedom ...

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