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Editorial
Why we need statutory guidelines on not attending religious instruction
 The right to not attend religious instruction in Irish schools is supported by both the Irish Constitution and the United Nations. Atheist Ireland uses both of these sources in our campaign to ensure that this right is vindicated.
With regard to the Constitution, Article 44.2.4 says: “Legislation providing State aid for schools shall not discriminate between schools under the management of different religious denominations, nor be such as to affect prejudicially the right of any child to attend a school receiving public money without attending religious instruction at that school.”
Article 15.2.1 states that: “The sole and exclusive power of making laws for the State is hereby vested in the Oireachtas: no other legislative authority has power to make laws for the State.”
The oireachtas, not the Government or the Department of Education or schools, is responsible for regulating the Constitutional right to not attend religious instruction in schools. That is why statutory guidelines are needed, passed by the Oireachtas, not just Government policies, or circular letters from the Department, or abdication of responsibility to individual schools.
With regard to the United Nations, we asked the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child last month to tell Ireland to put in place statutory guidelines on the right to not attend religious instruction. The UN Committee told Ireland to do this in its concluding observations.
Having statutory guidelines on the right to not attend religious instruction, passed by the Oireachtas, would give practical application on the ground to the human and constitutional right to not attend religious instruction.
As always, you can help us to campaign on secular issues by joining Atheist Ireland as a member, or by asking anybody who you think may be interested in joining us to do so. We are an entirely voluntary body with no paid staff, and we depend on our members to continue our work. You can join Atheist Ireland here.
- Secular Sunday Editorial Team
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Atheist Ireland News
The Oireachtas, not the Government, must regulate the Constitutional right to not attend religious instruction
The oireachtas, not the Government or the Department of Education or schools, is responsible for regulating the Constitutional right to not attend religious instruction in schools. That is why statutory guidelines are needed, passed by the Oireachtas, not just Government policies, or circular letters from the Department, or abdication of responsibility to individual schools. We asked the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to tell the Irish State to do this, and they included it in their concluding observations earlier this month.
In an Article in the Irish Times on Tuesday 14th February, Fintan O’Toole referred to Article 15.2.1 of the Constitution in relation to the nursing home controversy. The issue around Article 15.2.1 and the nursing homes involves the separation of powers under the Constitution.
In 1976 the Department of Health had told Regional Health Boards to charge residents in nursing homes that had medical cards, with fees. This was despite the fact the Health Act 1970 stated that they should not be charged.
Under the Constitution, the Department of Health had not got any power to do this. If they wanted to charge medical card holders nursing homes fees, they needed to amend the Health Act 1970. They should have gone back to the Oireachtas to do this, not just ignore the Act.
This is the exact same Constitutional principle that we are using to try to get the Oireachtas to take responsibility for their duty under Article 44.2.4 to ensure that state aid does not affect prejudicially the right of any student to attend a school receiving public money without attending religious instruction.
Article 15.2.1 states that: The sole and exclusive power of making laws for the State is hereby vested in the Oireachtas: no other legislative authority has power to make laws for the State.
The very same principle in relation to the separation of powers applies in relation to Article 44.2.4 of the Irish Constitution. Article 44.2.4 states that:
Legislation providing State aid for schools shall not discriminate between schools under the management of different religious denominations, nor be such as to affect prejudicially the right of any child to attend a school receiving public money without attending religious instruction at that school.”
Read Full Article Online
Schools, rights and religious instruction - Letter by Atheist Ireland in the Irish Times
 Atheist Ireland welcomes the concluding observations about Ireland from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. We were in Geneva last month when the committee questioned Ireland, and the committee has made all of the recommendations we asked for.
The UN has urged Ireland to remove all exceptions based on religion or ethos to children attending any school; to establish statutory guidelines to ensure children’s right not to attend religious classes; and to establish non-denominational schools as well as multi-denominational schools. Atheist Ireland made these recommendations along with our colleagues in the Evangelical Alliance and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Ireland.
The UN Committee has also urged Ireland to to eliminate discrimination against children of minority faith or non-faith backgrounds; to ensure access of adolescent girls to free and safe abortion; and to integrate evidence-based sex education into mandatory school curriculums and teacher training.
Specifically, the UN committee has urged Ireland to guarantee the right of all children to practise freely their religion or belief, including by:
(a) Amending the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 and the Equal Status Acts to remove any exceptions to ensuring a child’s right to education in all primary and secondary schools based on religious or “ethos” grounds and to establish statutory guidelines to ensure children’s right not to attend religious classes;
(b) Developing a time-bound strategy, with adequate resources, for meeting its targets for increasing the availability of multi-denominational schools by 2030, and setting a target with a time-bound strategy and adequate resources for increasing the availability of non-denominational schools.
This report is another step towards equality in religion and belief in Irish schools.
Read Full Letter Online
Sample Atheist Ireland tweets this week
Atheists need not apply. Under Art31 of Constitution, Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Chief Justice, President of Court of Appeal, President of High Court, Chairman of Dáil Éireann, Chairman of Seanad Éireann, & Attorney General are members of Council of State & must take a religious oath Read Tweet Online with Graphic
This is Admission policy of an ETB school. The reference to Religious instruction v Religious education has no legal basis. Schools do not have power to change the constitution or legislation. They are redefining constitutional rights & duties when that is duty of the Oireachtas Read Tweet Online with Graphic
Venice Comm said it must be possible to criticise religious ideas. Insults to principles or dogma or to a representative of a religion does not necessarily amount to an insult to a person who believes in that religion. Criticism of doctrine is not an attack on religious beliefs Read Tweet Online with Graphic
Nearly all second level Admission policies inform parents that curriculum Religious Education is not Religious instruction & therefore not protected by Article 44.2.4 of Constitution. Church & state have just made this up, it has no legal basis & it undermines rights of parents Read Tweet Online with Graphic
Under Article 15.2.1 of Constitution only Oireachtas can make legislation. Art44.2.4 puts a duty on Oireachtas to ensure that any state aid given to schools does not affect prejudicially right of a child to attend schools in receipt of state aid & not attend religious instruction Read Tweet Online with Graphic
Calling concerned teachers
If you are a teacher and concerned about unwanted religious influence contact Chris at teachers@atheist.ie
List of Atheist Ireland Submissions
Atheist Ireland book "Is My Family Odd About Gods?"
Have you noticed your school and teachers may tell you one thing about religion, while some friends and family may have different ideas about god? If you think that this is a little odd, then this book is for you. You can buy it here.
The book costs €10 plus postage and packaging of €10 within Ireland. F or a limited period within Ireland, we are offering the book free (excluding postage and packaging). This means you get the book for the total price of €10.
This offer is aimed at families with school going children, who would like to read this book. The offer is limited to one book per family unit and for postage within Ireland only. If you live outside Ireland please email secretary@atheist.ie for details.
Atheist Ireland Lessons about Atheism
Atheist Ireland has published a set of free lesson plans about atheism for children aged 8 and up. We welcome feedback, which we will use to develop the lessons. You can download the lesson plans here.
 Be Good without Gods
Atheist Ireland's 'Good Without Gods' Kiva team members have made loans of $39,475 to 1,384 entrepreneurs in the developing world. You can join the team here. Before you chose a loan, make sure you are supporting secular groups. You can check the loan partner's social and secular rating here.
Not Me
Atheist Ireland's 'notme.ie' is a place where people can publicly renounce the religion of their childhood. Currently there are 1,975 symbolic defections. Many share their reasons for making a public symbolic defection which you can read here.
Petition on Schools Equality PACT
Atheist Ireland currently runs one petition - The Schools Equality PACT. This seeks to reform religious discrimination in state-funded schools. Currently this stands at 4,131 Help us reach our target of 5000. Please sign and share this petition if you haven't already done so. Thank you.
Tell us what you think
Have you any feedback that you would like to give us on the Secular Sunday newsletter. What are we getting right? What could we improve on? Is there something you would like to see included? Drop us an email at secularsunday@atheist.ie.
Please consider joining or re-joining Atheist Ireland
Atheist Ireland is an entirely volunteer run organisation. We receive no grants or government funding to continue our campaign work. We rely entirely on membership fess and donations.
Annual membership is nominal; €25 waged, €10 unwaged/student and €40 for family membership. Please consider becoming a member. Membership means:
- You can help to build an ethical and secular Ireland.
- You have a say in determining policy and electing officers.
- You can attend members meetings and our AGM.
- You will have access to our members only Facebook group
- Your membership fee will go towards supporting our many campaigns.
You can join Atheist Ireland here.
Thank you for your continued support
Atheist Ireland Committee
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Opinion and Media
Links to material on atheism, secularism, human rights, politics, science etc. curated from media and the blogosphere from Ireland and beyond. We have attributed the writers and included short extracts based on fair usage to enable readers to follow links to articles they find interesting. We aim to include a variety of diverse opinions and viewpoints.
Blogs, Opinions & News
National
Who invented Christianity? Jesus never met the first Christian.
By Barry Purcell on OnlySky
The standard Christian interpretation of the New Testament is that God lived among us as a man. He came back from the dead, and now we can all bask in the glow of his sacrificial act. Consequently, Jesus set up a religion more open than Judaism called Christianity. But apart from a few scattered quotes, this view isn’t supported by the gospels. Read more
Sarah Harte: Modern sex education is our best weapon to combat gender-based violence
By Irish Examiner
Sex education in schools is a crucial part of a more complicated societal picture, but it seems clear that the state has difficult choices to make. The results of a newly published extensive online relationship quiz are disturbing. They have further exposed “the extent of coercive control, sexual pressure, and violence in young people’s” relationships. Red lights should be flashing everywhere. Read more
Priest pays settlement to Traveller ‘barred’ from Holy Communion for wearing ‘short skirt’
By Irish Times
An outspoken north Clare parish priest has made an undisclosed payout arising from a court action taken by a Traveller woman concerning a First Holy Communion dispute eight years ago. The court actions by Ms Sherlock arose from the alleged refusal by Fr Cummins to allow her attend the Church in Ennistymon for her niece and nephew’s First Communion on May 23rd, 2015. Read more
International
Prevent review calls for greater focus on ‘blasphemy’ accusations
By National Secular Society, UK
A review of the UK's Prevent counter-terrorism programme has called for increased efforts to tackle "so-called blasphemy narratives". The independent review, led by William Shawcross, highlighted the "violence associated with accusations of blasphemy and apostasy" as an area of particular importance in countering extremism. Read more
FFRF continues to keep religion out of schools in Chino Valley
By Freedom From Religion Foundation, USA
The Freedom From Religion Foundation commends the Chino Valley school district in California for acknowledging a recent First Amendment violation by a board member — and working to correct it. School board member James Na distributed Christmas cards with a religious message to employees, which were printed and delivered to teachers’ boxes using school resources. The card included a poem advancing Christianity. Read more
Independent commission finds Catholic clergy in Portugal abused nearly 5,000 children since 1950
By The Journal
Catholic clergy in Portugal have abused nearly 5,000 children since 1950, an independent commission said today after hearing hundreds of victims’ accounts. Thousands of reports of paedophilia within the Catholic Church have surfaced around the world and Pope Francis is under pressure to tackle the scandal. Read more
If you are a blogger or vlogger writing or talking about atheism, secularism, ethics, skepticism, human rights etc. and would like us to include your work here please email the link to secularsunday@atheist.ie
Podcasts
Do you host a podcast on atheism, secularism, science, skepticism, human rights etc.? Let us know and we will link to it here.
Media Watch
News and views from Ireland and around the world. Sharing is not an endorsement.
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Éire Aindiach
Éire Aindiach
Chun ár gcuid feachtais a leathnú agus a neartú, tá sé beartaithe ag Éire Aindiach níos mó úsáid a bhaint as an Ghaeilge.
Ba mhaith linn meitheal a eagrú, chun cuidiú le:
- Polasaithe agus feachtais Éire Aindiach a phlé ar an raidió nó ar an teilifís
- Cuidiú le doiciméid ghaeilge a scríobh
- Bualadh le polaiteoirí chun stocaireacht a dhéanamh
Táimid i mbun aistriúcháin a dhéanamh ar dhoiciméid polasaí faoi láthair, agus teastaíonn cabhair uainn le aistriúchán agus profáil. Más maith leat bheith páirteach san iarracht seo, cur ríomhphost chugainn ag gaeilge@atheist.ie.
English translation:
To broaden and strengthen our campaigns, Atheist Ireland have undertaken to make more use of the Irish language.
We are looking to assemble a group of volunteers, to help with:
- Discussing our policies and campaigns on radio or tv
- Helping to write documents in Irish
- Meeting with politicians to lobby them
We are in the process of translating policy documents at the moment, and we need some help with translating and proofreading. If you would like to assist with this effort, please email us at gaeilge@atheist.ie.
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