Atheist Ireland

Atheist Ireland

17 May 2015

The State is giving religious privilege to the Catholic Marriage Agency Accord

The Government has cut the funding of Accord, a Catholic Marriage Agency by €378,000 for pre-marriage courses. But despite this cut in funding, Accord will continue to receive State funding for their other services which are all based on the beliefs of one specific religion....

14 May 2015

Holy See approves new Irish Religious Education Curriculum for non-religious Irish families

The Republic of Ireland now has approval from the Holy See for a curriculum developed in a publicly funded Teacher Training College, for all children in publicly funded National schools. regardless of their religious or nonreligious beliefs. Saint Patrick’s Teacher Training College has announced this...

10 May 2015

Atheist Ireland to brief United Nations Committee in Geneva on breaches of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Next month, on 8th and 9th of June, Michael Nugent and Jane Donnelly will represent Atheist Ireland in Geneva, when the United Nations will be examining the Irish State about its human rights obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. We...

29 April 2015

Atheist Ireland to host Irish premier of ‘A Better Life: Joy & Meaning Without God’ on Friday 8 May

Next week, Atheist Ireland is hosting the Irish premier of the movie ‘A Better Life: An Exploration of Joy & Meaning in a World Without God’, followed by a Q&A with the director/producer Chris Johnson. It starts at 7.30pm on Friday 8 May, in the...

26 April 2015

Iona Institute makes U-turn by registering with SIPO Commission

The Iona Institute has made a significant U-turn by finally registering as a third party with the Standards in Public Office Commission, just seven weeks after they made a declaration to the Commission that they did not consider that they had to register, and less...

17 April 2015

The Catholic Church, the HAI and Iona have all failed to register their political activity with SIPO

Atheist Ireland has registered with SIPO, the Standards in Public Office Commission, as we are a body that seeks to influence public policy. We have also written to the Standards Commission asking them to ask the Catholic Church, the Humanist Association of Ireland, and the...

16 April 2015

How Religion Harms Education – Talk by Aron Ra next Tuesday, 21 April, at public meeting in Dublin

Aron Ra, Texas State Director of American Atheists, will be speaking in Dublin next Tuesday evening at a public meeting organised by Atheist Ireland, about how religion harms education. It will be Aron’s first talk for Atheist Ireland since our successful World Atheist Convention in...

16 April 2015

Conscience clauses in the Constitution

With all the talk about ‘conscience clauses’ and the same-sex marriage referendum we would like to remind Church and State that there is a ‘conscience clause’ in our Constitution regarding education that they ignore all the time. Article 42.3.1 of the Irish Constitution states that:-...

14 April 2015

Atheist Ireland tells UN that Irish Constitution is incompatible with human rights obligations

Atheist Ireland today sent this submission to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which will be examining Ireland in June about its human rights obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Atheist Ireland has already sent a submission...

13 April 2015

Why would same-sex marriage, but not divorce, cause the Catholic Church to withdraw from state weddings?

Atheist Ireland welcomes the threat by the Irish Catholic Bishops that the Church may no longer perform the civil aspects of weddings, if marriage is extended to same-sex couples. We believe a formal separation of the religious elements of a church marriage, and the civil...