Religious Education Archives | Teach Dont Preach

July 22, 2020 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

The WRC report on the ‘Homework passes for Masses’ discrimination case

The Workplace Relations Commission has published the recent case that found Yellow Furze National School in Meath had discriminated on religious grounds against a family. You can find the case here The school is under Catholic patronage, and it gave homework passes to children who attended Catholic religious services. But ...

July 18, 2020 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Catholic education undermines the Constitutional rights of parents

Catholic education undermines the Constitutional rights of parents to respect for their philosophical convictions. The vast majority of schools in Ireland have a Catholic ethos. This includes ETB schools. The Irish Constitution (Article 42.1) recognises the inalienable right of parents to respect for their convictions. Regardless of this right, minority ...

April 29, 2020 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Catholic schools defying new law by not including opt-out details in admissions policies

The Catholic Church is still trying to undermine the right of parents to opt their children out of religion classes. They are now trying to ensure that the arrangements for opting out are kept secret and that parents are not consulted. This is contrary to the Education (Admissions to Schools) ...

March 10, 2020 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Any religious teaching is an optional subject, regardless of what schools might say

In Irish schools, religious teaching is an optional subject. It doesn’t matter whether it is the NCCA Religious Education course or a Patron’s Programme such as Catholic Religious Education. They are both optional subjects. It doesn't matter if the school says that it is compulsory or a core subject. It ...

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 ...

November 24, 2019 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Religion should not, and can not, be made compulsory in Irish schools

Michael Nugent was on Newstalk Radio this week, debating whether religion should be made compulsory in Irish schools. Alan Whelan of the Catholic Secondary Schools Parents Partnership argued that it should be. Religion should not be compulsory in Irish schools, because it would be a bad idea, and it can ...

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 ...

October 15, 2019 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

Catholic School lesson plan promotes sexist, violent, antisemitic, forged Bible passage

A lesson plan in the Catholic Grow in Love series, for sixth class students, has the students acting out the Bible story about “the woman caught in adultery." This will be taught in about 90% of State-funded primary schools in Ireland, and teachers who want a job in these schools ...

October 8, 2019 No Comments Teach Dont Preach

State pays €9.8m a year for chaplains in State ETB schools

According to a recent Parliamentary response to a question by Ruth Coppinger, there are 156 Chaplains working in ETB schools, at a cost of €9.8 million to the State. Over half of second level schools are denominational, and most of the rest are defined as multi-denominational State schools with the ...