Our Advocacy Work

Our Advocacy Work

8 August 2020

The State religion course disrespects atheists and humanists

The state Religious Education course developed by the NCCA disrespects atheists and humanists. The course was recently updated and introduced into second-level schools in September 2019. Despite superficial changes, the updated version is no better than the previous one. It is not an objective course...

8 August 2020

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...

7 August 2020

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...

29 July 2020

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...

23 July 2020

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...

8 July 2020

Atheist Freethinkers defend Canadian secularism law

Atheist Freethinkers/Libres Penseurs Athées of Montreal is trying to protect Bill 21, a new law that promotes separation of Church and State in Quebec. David Rand, President of Atheist Freethinkers, says: “As secularists, we have a duty to do everything in our power to ensure...

5 July 2020

The Rights of the Child in Irish schools

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child will soon be questioning Ireland again. Atheist Ireland, the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland, and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Ireland have sent this joint submission to the UN Committee. Contents Introduction Summary of Questions Cluster...

25 June 2020

Humanists at Risk Action Report 2020

Atheist Ireland is a member of Humanists International, who today published the Humanists at Risk Action Report 2020. It exposes discrimination against atheists, humanists, and nonreligious people in eight countries: Colombia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. These States limit the...

21 June 2020

Protect Humanists at Risk 2020

Many atheists and humanists across the world cannot live freely in accordance with their values. As well as campaigning politically in Ireland, Atheist Ireland campaigns as a member of Humanists International to protect people at risk of persecution around the world. When we led the...

16 June 2020

How secular is the Programme for Government?

This is Atheist Ireland’s initial response to the proposed Programme for Government agreed jointly by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and the Green Party. While it is weak on explicit secular policies, some of its commitments would lead to secular specifics if they are implemented while...