Atheism

1 January 2026

Is atheism a belief?

Is atheism a belief, but a different type of belief than religious faith? Or is it merely a lack of belief in gods, and nothing more? Let’s start with what ‘belief’ means: In everyday talk, ‘belief’ often means accepting a claim as true. In philosophy,...

15 April 2023

How Ireland privileges religious bodies over equality, diversity, and inclusion

In Ireland, organisations with religious privilege live in a bubble. They never have to change their ways, because they can get away with giving lip service to equality, diversity, and inclusion and get lauded for it. The right to freedom of conscience, religion and belief...

22 May 2022

Adam The Ape – A Book Review

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...

19 October 2021

Atheist Ireland asks Government to amend the Equality Acts to protect nonreligious beliefs

Atheist Ireland has made the following submission to the Department of Justice’s consultation on the review of the Equality Acts. You can make a submission yourself, before 29th November, after reading the details on the Department’s website. Please feel free to include points that we...

11 October 2021

The Frontline Workers Public Holiday should not be linked with religion

Atheist Ireland has sent the following letter to the Taoiseach and members of the Cabinet. The purpose of the new public holiday is to mark the efforts of frontline workers during the Covid pandemic. The most obvious way to do that is to call it...

19 August 2021

Atheist Ireland meets Lord Mayor of Dublin

Atheist Ireland this week became the first atheist group to meet with the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Alison Gilliland, as part of the traditional greeting meetings that take at the start of a new Lord Mayor’s term of office. Typically these meetings include the President,...

10 June 2021

Understanding the Right to Freedom of Thought – Atheist Ireland input to United Nations Report

Atheist Ireland has made the following submission about Freedom of Thought to Ahmed Shaheed, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief. Mr Shaheed had called for inputs to a report he is compiling for the UN General Assembly on the topic....

23 June 2020

Grania Spingies would have been fifty today

Grania Spingies, who died suddenly this month last year, would have been fifty today. She was a founding member and first secretary of Atheist Ireland, and a contributor to Jerry Coyne’s website Why Evolution is True. Grania was an intelligent and organised activist, a rational...

29 December 2019

Celebrating Nic Johnson

Our good friend Nic Johnson is nearing the end of his exceptional 85 years of life. He has spent most of those years promoting atheism, humanism, and secularism with passion and integrity. Before he moved to Ireland, he campaigned for abortion rights in America, during...

27 December 2017

Irish State must respect the rights of atheists to freedom of belief and association

Despite the recent positive statement by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar about respecting freedom of religion and association, when talking about Scientology, the Irish State purports to legally decide what is and is not a religious group and who may be members of a religion. For example,...