Religion

26 December 2021

Misuse of public funds regarding religious instruction in schools Part 1 of 3

Atheist Ireland has sent a major report to the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee. We are arguing that the Department of Education and the NCCA are misusing public funds by ignoring constitutional conditions about the right to not attend religious...

7 November 2021

Support the campaign for the State to own and manage the new National Maternity Hospital

Atheist Ireland joined a meeting this week of women’s rights groups and secular groups that want the State to own and manage the new National Maternity Hospital. The meeting was convened by Jo Tully, chairperson of the Campaign Against Church Ownership of Women’s Healthcare. This...

19 September 2021

International funding of political campaigns against sexual and reproductive rights

This article covers: Part 1 — Funding of Political Campaigns of Religious Bodies Part 2 — EPF Report on International Funding of Religious Bodies Part 3 — EPF Report on Agenda Europe Discussion Document Part 4 — Protecting Democracy from Big Money Between Elections Part...

22 August 2021

The implications for parents’ rights of the anti-abortion video shown in Tipperary school

Atheist Ireland has written the following letter to the Oireachtas joint committee on Education, about not attending Religious Instruction in schools, and the recent anti-abortion video shown in a school. We would like the Committee to take the following into account when it reaches the...

11 July 2021

Debutante film to premiere online at Galway Film Fleadh

Debutante, a short film about religious control and coming-of-age in a hostile environment, will have its online premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh on 24th July. Atheist Ireland are official partners of the film by Kamila Dydyna, a Polish filmmaker based in Dublin. In Debutante,...

8 July 2021

The Broadcasting Authority should not enforce respect for unethical religious beliefs

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has released its report about the RTE comedy sketch on New Year’s Eve, in which the police arrest the Christian god for sexual harassment against Mary, and the courts find him guilty but release him. The BAI Committee found that...

22 June 2021

The State should own and directly run the national maternity hospital

In a democratic republic, the State should own and directly run the national maternity hospital. It should not cede control over this essential public service to any private body, never mind to a charity associated with the Catholic church, which has an appalling record of...

12 June 2021

How the State uses misleading language to hide the purpose of religious ethos in schools

The Minister for Education, Norma Foley and the Department of Education are trying to control the language around Relationship and Sexuality Education in order to hide the influence that a catholic ethos has on the teaching of the subject. The Minister and the Department use...

30 May 2021

Another court judgment that supports the rights of atheist and secular parents

In Ireland parents have a constitutional right to raise their children in accordance with their philosophical convictions. The State is constitutionally obliged to respect that right in the education system. Despite this Church and State continue to ignore the findings of the courts in Ireland...

24 May 2021

NCCA removes names of Religious Education Reference Group members from its website

The syllabus Religious Education Course was updated in 2019. The NCCA recently removed from its website the names of the Religious Education Reference Group members who shaped the course. In the interests of transparency, we have published their names below. This Religious Education Reference Group...