Since last year Atheist Ireland has been raising the issue of the misuse of public funds in Irish schools that do not respect the constitutional condition of state funding that children have a right to not attend religious instruction. Following the Minister for Education’s recent...
Catholic Bishops lobbied the Government last June to change the law, so they could once again be allowed to discriminate against non-Catholic children in access to publicly funded primary schools. RTE’s Emma O’Kelly reported that the Bishops said their support for divesting a small number...
When protecting the right of children to not attend religious instruction in schools receiving public money, it is important to use the language in the Constitution. In particular, the right to “not attend” must not be conflated with “opting out” or “not participating”. These ambiguous...
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:...
Aideen Hamill, an Irish atheist in Secondary School, reviews Adam the Ape by Wolfgang Wambach Richard Dawkins is probably the most famous evolutionary biologist in the world today. I recently read his book ‘Outgrowing God’, which is aimed at a younger audience. Having really enjoyed...
There will be a rally outside the Dáil at 2pm this Saturday, 14 May, organised by the Our Maternity Hospital campaign, of which Atheist Ireland is a member. The very fact that the Government has to try so hard to reassure us that the hospital...
Atheist Ireland met with Department of Education and NCCA on 6 May 2022 to discuss the misuse of public funds with regard to the teaching of religion in Irish schools. This is the presentation that we made to that meeting. [pdf-embedder url="https://atheistireland.demoworkspace.info/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AI-Dept-Ed-Mtg-Slides.pdf" title="AI Dept Ed...
A new cross-border research survey supports the argument that Atheist Ireland has made for years: that non-religious teachers are hiding or suppressing their beliefs in schools with a religious ethos for fear of the impact on their careers. Chris Hind, Atheist Ireland Teachers Officer, says:...
Yesterday we reported on what we described as the rise in nonreligious marriages in Ireland since 2016. That is a fair description when you look at the percentages, as religious marriages have dropped from 67.4% to 56.7%, and nonreligious marriages have risen from 32.6% to...
In the five years since 2016, the percentage of religious marriages in Ireland has dropped from 67.4% to 56.7%, Roman Catholic marriages have dropped from 56.3% to 39%, and nonreligious marriages have risen from 32.6% to 43.3%. This shows the need for the State to...
