Articles Archives | Teach Dont Preach

March 22, 2020 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Take care of yourself and others during the Covid-19 pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed how we live until further notice. The best way to take care of yourself and others is to act on reliable, evidence-based information. Within Ireland, the HSE website has reliable information including symptoms and causes, protecting yourself and others, specific hospital information, and minding your mental ...

February 27, 2020 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

The gift of the Holy Spirit in the NCCA draft primary curriculum framework

The NCCA has published a draft Primary Curriculum Framework for consultation. Atheist Ireland will soon be publishing our response to this document. But first, we want to highlight an example of how the Catholic Church infiltrates its theological language into secular documents like this. What the NCCA document says The ...

December 15, 2019 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

ETB schools pay €9.8 million to chaplains, but deny doing religious instruction

The Department of Education spends €9.8 million per year on 156 Chaplains in ETB schools, which are supposed to be the State-run alternative to denominational schools, even though the ETBs claim that there is no religious instruction in the schools. The €9.8 million is paid to help Catholic and Church of ...

December 11, 2019 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Catholic school guidelines on inclusion deny the rights of secularists

The Joint Managerial Body (JMB) for second level Religious schools has issued revised Guidelines for the ‘Inclusion of Other Beliefs in Catholic Secondary Schools’. These revised Guidelines undermine the rights of minorities. They are based on fear and control dressed up in the language of inclusion. The Catholic Church is ...

December 2, 2019 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Time to rebalance Constitutional rights to protect religious minorities in Irish schools

In Ireland children have a Constitutional Right to not attend any religious teaching or activities. The Constitution obliges the State to respect the inalienable right of parents to ensure that the teaching of their children is in conformity with their convictions. The Constitution also guarantees that all citizens are equal ...

November 14, 2019 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Atheist Ireland tells NCCA that Education Act must be amended for objective sex education

The NCCA is reviewing the state courses on relationship and sex education in schools. It has already issued a Draft Report. Unfortunately, this Draft Report does not follow through on its commitment to human rights standards in the delivery of RSE in Irish schools, and it does not recommend amending ...

November 7, 2019 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

The right of the child to freedom of conscience, religion and belief

In a speech called “The future of Ireland Human rights and children’s rights”, the former President Mary McAleese said that she wanted to come to the debate over education in a different way from the usual arguments about integrated education, reduction of Catholic school patronage, or how to provide opt-outs ...

November 5, 2019 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

European Court says opting out of religion class must not place an undue burden on parents

Last week the European Court found that the exemption procedure from a Religion class in Greek schools placed an undue burden on parents with a risk of exposure of sensitive aspects of their private life. The Court went on to say that the potential for conflict was likely to deter ...

November 5, 2019 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Government blocking Objective Sex Education Bill and 50 others

The Government is using a procedure called a Money Message to block over 50 Bills that have been passed in the Dail by opposition parties, including Solidarity’s Bill to provide Objective Sex Education without interference by a school’s religious ethos. Solidarity and People Before Profit will be proposing a new ...

October 16, 2019 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Schools teach relevance of religion, as relevance of religion declines

A new specification for religious education in Irish schools aims to teach all children about the relevance of religion to their lives, just as the number of couples choosing a religious marriage is consistently decreasing year on year. Last September, a new specification for NCCA Religious Education was introduced in ...