Be Honest in the Irish Census on Sunday 10 April. Think before you tick your answer to the religion question, and give an answer that matches your actual religious affiliation. If you still believe in God but you are no longer truly a Roman Catholic, please say so. If you are an atheist or agnostic or humanist and you have no religion, please tick the ‘No Religion’ box.
Atheist Ireland wants to see accurate answers to the question on religion. The last Census showed 3.7 million Roman Catholics (that’s about 87% of the population) and 186,000 people with no religion (that’s about 4% of the population). We believe the true figure for Roman Catholics is much lower than 87%, and the true figure for people with no religion is much higher than 4%.
We believe that this inaccuracy happens because many people tick their childhood religion out of habit, or tick a religion that they don’t really practice, or let somebody else fill in the answer for them. But you won’t write in your childhood home address unless you still live there. So don’t write in your childhood religion unless you still really practice it.
Why is this important?
The Census results are used to predict future demand for State services such as schools and hospitals, and other policies. If we get a falsely very high figure for Roman Catholics, and a falsely very low figure for people with no religion, it makes it more likely that the State will discriminate against people of other religions and nonreligious people when providing these services.
Also, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin says that it “does not make use of baptismal registers for calculating the Catholic population of the Archdiocese of Dublin. It relies solely on the data from the Central Statistics Office, obtained through the census, by which citizens themselves choose to record, or not, their religious affiliation.”
So careless answers to the question of religion will have an impact on the allocation of State resources, and on the political lobbying power of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. If you want a fair future based on accurate statistics, please answer this question honestly.
If you grew up as a Roman Catholic, and you still believe in God but you are no longer truly a Roman Catholic:
- Please don’t tick a religion you don’t actually practice.
- Please don’t tick your childhood religion out of habit.
- Please don’t let someone else fill in your answer.
- Please don’t ignore the question. Answer it honestly.
Instead, please answer whatever most accurately reflects your true religious affiliation. For example, you can write ‘Christian’ (or something else) in the ‘Other Religion’ box. Or you can tick the ‘No Religion’ box if you believe you are spiritual but not religious.
Obviously the same principles apply if you grew up as a member of any other religion that you no longer practice. We are focusing on Roman Catholicism because getting this figure accurate will have by far the most impact on the allocation of State services and other policies.
Please follow this link to see what the Census question will look like, and how the Roman Catholic figure has changed since the 1961 Census.
If you are an atheist or agnostic or humanist and you have no religion, please tick the box marked ‘No Religion’.
- Please don’t tick a religion you don’t actually practice.
- Please don’t tick your childhood religion out of habit.
- Please don’t let someone else fill in your answer.
- Please don’t write in ‘Atheist’. It’s not a religion.
- Please don’t write in anything that’s not a religion.
- Please don’t ignore the question. Answer it honestly.
Please follow this link to see what the Census question will look like, and how the ‘No Religion’ figure has changed since the 1961 Census.
Summary
Census figures for other religions may also be inaccurate in the Census, but the figures for ‘Roman Catholic’ and ‘No Religion’ are likely to have the most impact on the allocation of state services and other policies. They are the largest and second-largest answers for the religion question, and getting them right will have the most impact.
So be honest in the Irish Census on Sunday 10 April. Think before you tick your answer to the religion question, and give an answer that matches your actual religious affiliation. If you still believe in God but you are no longer a Roman Catholic, please say so. If you are an atheist or agnostic or humanist and you have no religion, please tick the ‘No Religion’ box.
What else can you do to help?
- Please let us know if you would like to help in any way.
- Please like whichever of the Facebook pages for the campaign that you identify with: Be Honest about Religion, Be Honest to God and Be Honest to Godless.
- We’ll be running a wider publicity campaign closer to the Census date, and we’ll need help with that in different parts of the country.
- If you are involved in any organisation that might support this campaign, please raise it at your next meeting.
- If you have any imaginative ideas for spreading the word, or if you would like to donate any funding for this campaign, please let us know.