Atheist Ireland | Secularism Archives

20/09/2020 No Comments Atheist Ireland

The moral case for assisted dying

Martin O’Reilly of Atheist Ireland argues that assisted dying is a moral good. Linking to relevant sources, he examines religious objections, passive and active assisted dying, safeguards against pressure, the slippery slope argument, whether palliative care is enough, and the increased quality of life that assisted dying enables. What is ...

03/09/2020 No Comments Atheist Ireland

Freedom of belief when seeking asylum in Ireland

Atheist Ireland has sent a Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee. Ireland is up before the Committee in October for the pre-session under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In our submission we raised the issue of freedom of belief when seeking asylum in Ireland as well ...

29/08/2020 No Comments Atheist Ireland

Atheist Ireland submission to UN Human Rights Committee

Atheist Ireland has made the following submission to the UN Human Rights Committee. It is about what questions the UN should ask Ireland during its next questioning under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 1. Introduction to Atheist Ireland 2. Recommended questions 3. Article 2, Article 26 — ...

16/08/2020 No Comments Atheist Ireland

Legal opinion on the Constitutional right to not attend religious instruction

Atheist Ireland has obtained a legal opinion from Barrister James Kane on the Constitutional right to not attend religious instruction under Article 44.2.4. The Irish Times has reported on it here. You can read the full Legal Opinion here. The legal opinion covers the right to not attend religious teaching, ...

15/08/2020 No Comments Atheist Ireland

Faithless Hijabi’s mental health programme

Faithless Hijabi, a support group for women who are questioning or leaving Islam, is starting a new online mental health programme. The support group was founded by Zara Kay, a Tanzanian-born ex-Muslim atheist based in London. Many of the women who they help come from Muslim-majority countries, where apostasy is ...

15/08/2020 No Comments Atheist Ireland

One secular oath for all

Can you imagine if the Irish Constitution favoured atheism in the same way as it currently favours religion? Imagine if the preamble began with the words “In the name of atheism, we the people, acknowledging the nonexistence of gods, do enact this constitution.” Imagine if our President and judges had ...

08/08/2020 No Comments Atheist Ireland

How a secular State protects us all

A secular State protects both atheists and religious people. It has practical advantages for society, and there is a pathway to it. Secularism is a force for good in three ways. Firstly, secularism protects everybody’s freedom of conscience and religion and belief by staying neutral between them. Religious States promote ...

07/08/2020 No Comments Atheist Ireland

Why secular schools are good

There are two reasons why State schools should be run on a secular basis. And a secular school is not the same thing as an atheist school. A religious school teaches that a god exists, an atheist school would teach that no gods exist, and a secular school is neutral ...

29/07/2020 No Comments Atheist Ireland

European Court again confirms the right to keep your beliefs private

There has been another case at the European Court in relation to freedom of religion and belief, this time about a note on a birth certificate that implied that a child had not been Christened, in the case Stavropoulos and Other v Greece. The European court again set out in its ...

23/07/2020 No Comments Atheist Ireland

One oath for all

The removal of religious oaths for people making affidavits is a welcome half step in the direction of removing all religious oaths from State activities in Ireland. The Law Society has correctly noted that these oaths are contrary to the right to privacy. But witnesses and jurors will still have ...