The ethos of Education and Training Board schools at primary and second level does not respect equally the philosophical beliefs of atheists and secularists. ETB schools and colleges are presented by the Department of Education as the alternative to denominational schools. But they are not...
The Department of Education in Northern Ireland is reviewing the core Religious Education syllabus. It has also issued Guidelines on withdrawal from Religious Education. The Review follows the recent UK Supreme Court judgment in relation to JR87. That found that the current religious education syllabus...
Five years ago, the government proposed a new public holiday to mark the heroism of frontline workers during Covid, and to remember those who died during the pandemic. This was a welcome commemoration of national grief, dedication, and resilience. Instead, the idea morphed into a...
A Northern Ireland primary teacher has used a little-known law to withdraw from delivering Religious Education. The teacher, Javed Love, is now partnering with Northern Ireland Humanists to guide other teachers in how to do the same. But the situation is different in the Republic...
The Irish government has a duty under the Good Friday Agreement to take “comparable steps” to strengthen human-rights protection in Ireland, in line with developments in Northern Ireland. A recent UK Supreme Court case found that religious education arrangements in Northern Ireland schools breached the...
In a recent Irish Times article, Mary McAleese argues that infant baptism undermines the human rights of children. Specifically, she argues that: “It restricts children’s rights as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948 and United Nations Convention on the...
Here are ten important points about the right to not attend religious instruction in Irish schools. This right is enshrined in Article 44.2.4 of the Irish Constitution. Its purpose was and is to protect religious minorities in the education system. Constitutional rights are not worth...
Is atheism a belief, but a different type of belief than religious faith? Or is it merely a lack of belief in gods, and nothing more? Let’s start with what ‘belief’ means: In everyday talk, ‘belief’ often means accepting a claim as true. In philosophy,...