Parents have the right to not be put in a position that they must reveal their religious or philosophical beliefs to their children’s school or teachers. This is one of the human rights principles that the UK Supreme Court raised in the recent case regarding...
Some Christians including Peadar Tóibín TD want Dublin City Council’s Winter Lights to be renamed Christmas Lights. This is not about people changing a religious festival to a secular one. It is about some Christians trying to force a religious meaning onto a secular display...
The Supreme Court in the UK has found that the religious education course in Northern Ireland schools was indoctrination. Atheist Ireland has been using the word ‘indoctrination’ in relation to schools in Ireland for a long time. We get a lot of criticism for using...
The recent case at the UK Supreme Court, about withdrawing from religious education in schools, highlights the flaws in a WRC decision in Ireland three years ago. The UK case was based on the European Convention on Human Rights, which Ireland has ratified (European Convention...
In the case yesterday at the Supreme Court in the UK on the Northern Ireland education system, the court found that: The religious education course in Northern Ireland Schools was ‘indoctrination’. Northern Ireland was pursuing an aim of indoctrination by not ‘respecting’ parents’ philosophical beliefs....
A Supreme Court judgement in the UK today is of great relevance to the Irish education system, and reinforces the points made by Atheist Ireland in a recent article The right to an objective education goes beyond avoiding ‘faith formation‘. The UK Supreme Court case...
The Department of Education, school Patron bodies, TDs, the ETBs, and others often refer to ‘faith formation’ in schools, by which they typically mean religious instruction according to the rites of a particular religion. A consequence of this is that the Constitutional right of children...
Catholic schools often argue that they are inclusive, and that they do their best to make all children feel included. They are correct. They do want to make all children feel included, but by this they mean included in the Catholic religion, faith, and ethos....
Today, Ireland swears in yet another president in a ceremony that prevents a conscientious atheist from honestly taking office. Why? Because the Constitution requires them to swear a religious oath that begins “In the presence of Almighty God” and ends “May God direct and sustain...
The Department of Education is conducting a misleading and harmful survey of primary school parents and guardians, staff, and management board members. It misleadingly implies that parents are being given an option to choose non-religious schools, when in reality they are not. It harmfully implies...