Human Rights Standards Archives

May 31, 2018 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Atheist Ireland, Evangelical Alliance, and Ahmadi Muslims welcome part and reject part of Schools Admissions Bill

Atheist Ireland, the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland, and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Ireland, welcome part and reject part of the Schools Admissions Bill passed by the Dail yesterday. Despite our different world views, we campaign together for a State-funded secular education system that respects equally everybody’s constitutional and human ...

May 14, 2018 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Catholic Church again tries to blur distinction between religious education and religious instruction

In a recent article by Emma O’Kelly from RTE, Fr Paul Connell has said that the recent directive to ETB secondary schools, issued by the Department, has mistakenly equated religious education with religious instruction. Fr. Connell, who is the head of the organisation representing religious-run secondary schools, also said that while the directive did ...

March 14, 2018 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Atheist Ireland response to Mater Dei/DCU appeal to talk about Religious Education

In an article in the Irish Times on the 11th March Dr. Sandra Cullen, Director of the Mater Dei's Irish Centre for Religious Education at DCU’s Institute of Education, suggests that “It’s time to talk about Religious Education.” Atheist Ireland has written to the Mater Dei/DCU seeking a meeting to ...

March 1, 2018 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

How the State Religious Education course disrespects the rights of atheist and secular families

The new Directive from the Department of Education gives practical application to the Constitutional right to opt out of religion. Parents can opt out their children from Religious education/instruction and worship in all publicly funded schools. One of the main aims of the State Religious Education course at second level ...

February 1, 2018 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Religious and racial discrimination in the education system

Atheist Ireland, the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland, and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Ireland, have made the following joint submission to Irish State's review process of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Religious Discrimination. We are focusing on the intersectionality of religious and racial discrimination in the Irish ...

November 30, 2017 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

New guidelines for Catholic ETBs must involve more than revising sectarian headcounts

Education & Training Boards schools and colleges are presented as the alternative to denominational schools in Ireland. The ETB sector is in competition with Educate Together for the patronage of new second level schools. But Atheist Ireland has discovered that many ETB schools have a Christian and Catholic ethos and ...

October 28, 2017 1 Comment Teach Dont Preach

Archbishop confirms that state-funded Irish schools are vital centres for Catholic evangelisation

In a speech last week to a conference on Catholic education, Archbishop Eamon Martin said that Catholic schools remain 'vital centres for evangelisation and catechesis'. Atheist Ireland has for years been pointing out this damning fact: that our publicly funded school system is part of the evangelising mission of the ...

October 23, 2017 1 Comment Teach Dont Preach

Education Minister responds to Atheist Ireland FOI documents; promises new guidelines on opting out of religion

Atheist Ireland has written to the Minister for Education seeking an input into the new guidelines that he has committed to issuing for children opting out of religion classes in State-run ETB schools. The Minister was responding to questions by RTE's Emma O'Kelly about documents that Atheist Ireland obtained under ...

October 13, 2017 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

NCCA relegates to a footnote “faith formation alongside teaching the State syllabus”

In a Background Paper and Brief for the Review of Junior Cycle Religious Education, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment has relegated one of the main human rights issues with regard to the State Religious Education course to a footnote on page 9 of a 47-page document. In that ...

September 21, 2017 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Irish schools breach parents’ human right to keep their religious or nonreligious convictions private

Michael Moriarty, General Secretary of Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI), has said that Irish schools are bound by decades-old rules around the teaching of religion that no longer reflect the reality of a rapidly-changing society. But one of the most fundamental breaches of human rights in our schools is ...