Religion teachers are undermining the rights of atheist and minority faith families
The Irish Times has reported that religion teachers have complained about Catholic students being bullied because they are different. They are correct to raise this issue. No student should be treated differently because of their religious beliefs or those of their parents. But the empathy of religion teachers for people ...
How Irish schools breach the Constitutional rights of atheist and minority faith families
In Ireland, freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief means that if you belong to a religious or nonreligious minority, your rights are suspended in order to guarantee freedom of religion for the religious majority. This breaches the rights of parents and children under the Irish Constitution. This article examines ...
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 and evangelise all children into ...
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 was heavily influenced by religious ...
Comprehensive School with Minister for Education as Patron discriminates on the ground of religion
A Comprehensive school where the Minister for Education is part Patron discriminates on religious grounds against atheist and minority faith families. St. Columba’s Comprehensive School in Glenties, Co. Donegal, discriminates in access by giving preference to children from Catholic backgrounds. It also makes religion mandatory, and claims there is no ...
Parents in Cork want objective sex education, not the Catholic Flourish course
A group of parents in Cork are organising to challenge the Catholic Bishops sex education course ‘Flourish’ in their children’s Primary schools. The Catholic Bishops plan to teach their new course alongside syllabus Social, Personal and Health education in schools. The parents say: “We're a group of concerned parents in ...
Atheist Ireland asks Minister to respect parents’ rights in education system after Burke case
Atheist Ireland has written to the Minister for Education and all of the political party Education spokespersons, to seek meetings to discuss the recent decision of the Court of Appeal in the Burke case (Burke v Minister for Education 9.3.21). We believe that this case vindicates our Constitutional right to ensure ...
Atheist Ireland, Evangelical Alliance, and Ahmadiyya Muslims ask UN to strengthen secularism in Ireland
Ireland will be questioned this year by the United Nations Human Rights Council under a process called the Universal Periodic Review. Atheist Ireland, the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland, and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Ireland, have made this joint submission to UN on freedom of religion and belief in Ireland. ...
Draft letter for parents to send to TDs seeking Statutory Guidelines on religion in schools
Here is a draft letter to send to your TDs seeking Statutory Guidelines on religion in schools. You can copy and paste the text and add in any information that you want about your own circumstances. The letter explains why this is topical at the moment. If you get a ...
Religious discrimination in the hiring of Chaplains in ETB schools
Atheist Ireland, the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland, and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Ireland have jointly written to the Minister for Education about religious discrimination in the hiring of Chaplains in ETB schools. The WRC found in a recent case that a Designated ETB Community College could not rely on Section 7 ...