In this issue:

• News
• Upcoming Events
• Be a Follower

News

• On 3 May, Atheist Ireland attended a consultation at the Department of Foreign Affairs on the Draft Irish State Report to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights. We have also made a written submission that Government departments will consider as the State prepares its final report, and we will later make a Submission directly to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. Read more.
• On Thursday Geoff Lillis entertained Dublin Atheists in the pub with tales of his encounters with some of the city’s many street preachers. Watch the video here. For more background and some great articles, read Geoff’s blog.

Upcoming Events

• Tuesday 15 May, 7:00 pm, The Market Place Theatre, Armagh (map)
  Michael Nugent will be taking part in a panel discussion following a talk by Sir John Houghton on God, Science and Global Warming. Read more
• Saturday 19 May, 3:00 pm, The Cottage Bar, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal (map)
  Letterkenny Skeptics in the Pub. Facebook event page
• Monday 21 May, McSwiggans Bar and Restaurant, Woodquay, Galway (map)
  Galway Skeptics in the Pub 32 – Flight of the Pigasus. Facebook Event page
• Friday 25 May, 8:00 pm, Blackrock Castle Observatory, Cork (map)
  Cork Skeptics present John Duignan, an ex-Scientologist talking about his 22 years in Hollywood’s favourite cult. More details. Facebook event page
• 25-27 May, Cologne, Germany
  The European Atheist Convention, hosted by IBKA and Atheist Alliance International. Tickets are still available. Read more.
• Tuesday 5 June, National Concert Hall, Dublin 2 (map)
  Dublin Writers Festival presents: Richard Dawkins in Conversation. Tickets are sold out but a suitably motivated individual may be able to find some. Let us know if you’ve bought too many tickets and we’ll try to find a buyer. Learn more
• Wednesday 6 June, 8:00 pm, Liberty Hall, Dublin 1 (map)
  More from the Dublin Writers Festival. Alain de Botton will be discussing his controversial book Religion for Atheists. Tickets are €12/€10. Read more

Be a Follower

If you don’t do Twitter, you might think it’s all about celebrities opining on things they don’t understand, and strangers telling the world what they had for breakfast. And it can be, if that’s what you want. But it doesn’t have to be. It can be a news aggregator, an open-ended narrative, a forum for discussion and debate, a way to stay in touch with friends and a catalyst of revolution. Here’s a beginner’s guide.

Once you’re up and running you’ll need some people to follow. You should, of course, start with Atheist Ireland. You’ll get links to all our posts and news of any events. You can also follow our chairman Michael Nugent, our finance officer Stephen Duggan and yours truly.

Some other groups in Ireland worth following (depending on your location) are Dublin Skeptics in the Pub, UCD Humanist Society, Cork Skeptics, UCC Atheists, Letterkenny Skeptics and Belfast Skeptics.

And some of our members and friends: Aoife O’Riordan, Paul Moloney, Geoff Lillis, Abie Philbin Bowman, Buffy, David Robert Grimes, Conor P, Rebecca O’Neill

Most of the big names in international atheism, skepticism and secularism can be found on Twitter in some capacity:

PZ Myers is as prolific and outspoken on Twitter as you’d expect; Richard Dawkins seems to have people to tweet for him but they provide links to all the news on his site; Skepchick Rebecca Watson tweets frequently on skepticism, feminism and general nerdiness.

And a selection of the rest in no particular order: Sam Harris, Jerry Coyne, Ben Goldacre, Simon Singh, Stephen Fry, Peter Singer, Michael Shermer,  Steven Pinker, Brian Cox, Alain de Botton, Phil Plait, Penn and Teller, Tim Minchin, Derren Brown, Richard Wiseman, Maryam Namazie, Salman Rushdie, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Dara O Briain.

Undoubtedly there are some great tweeters missing from that list so let us know who you follow and why, and we’ll post a follow-up in coming issues.

That’s it for another week. As well as Twitter, we can be found on Facebook and YouTube.

Derek Walsh
Editor, Secular Sunday
Atheist Ireland
secularsunday@atheist.ie

Ireland is due up before the UN Human Rights Committee at the end of the year and, under Article 40 of the Covenant, has undertaken to submit State Reports every few years. At the meeting later this year, the Committee will examine how Ireland has made progress in implementing the concerns of the UN in 2008.

In their Concluding Observations in 2008, the UN Human Rights Committee raised concern about the human rights of secular parents in the Irish education system. They stated that denominational schools were private and had adopted a religious integrated curriculum which denied parents access to a secular education for their children. They also raised the issue of the requirement of judges to take a religious oath. The human rights that the UN referred to were the right to freedom of conscience, the right to be free from discrimination, the rights of the child and the right to equality before the law.

At the consultation on the 3rd of May, Atheist Ireland raised the issues of the Irish Education system and the failure of the State to protect Covenant rights. In particular we raised the issue of recent Report from the Ombudsman for Children. We pointed out that the Ombudsman’s Report shows clearly that the regulatory framework has failed to protect the human rights of parents and children under the Covenant. We also raised the issue of Blasphemy and the requirement to take Religious oaths under the Constitution.

Here is the full written submission that we have made to the Government on the draft State report:

Atheist Ireland submission on draft Irish State report to UN on Civil and Political Rights, May 2012

1. Introduction
2. Article 2 and 26 of the Covenant
3. Article 18 Freedom of Conscience
4. Article 19 Freedom of Expression
5. Constitutional Convention
6. Conclusion

1. Introduction

1.1 The Irish State maintains that the rights afforded under the Covenant on Civil & Political Rights various Council of Europe Conventions are guaranteed under the Irish Constitution and secured with the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003. This is simply not the case on the ground as the non-religious suffer discrimination and the abuse of their human rights.

1.2 In their concluding observations in 2008 the UN Human Rights Committee noted that “unlike the European Convention on Human Rights, the Covenant is not directly applicable in the State party. In this regard, it reiterates that a number of Covenant rights go beyond the scope of the provisions of the European Convention of Human Rights. (art. 2). The State party should ensure that all rights protected under the Covenant are given full effect in domestic law. The State party should provide the Committee with a detailed account of how each Covenant right is protected by legislative or constitutional provisions.”

1.3 According to the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003, every organ of the state must perform its functions in a manner compatible with the European Convention. In order to seek an effective remedy under the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003, it is expected that a complainant should ask the courts to interpret statues in a Convention compliant manner and, if that was not possible, to make a declaration of incompatibility. A declaration of incompatibility is not obligatory on the State and places no legal obligation on the State to amend domestic law. Consequently the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003 does not provide an effective remedy to vindicate the rights of the non-religious in Ireland and it certainly does not protect the substance of the rights under the Covenant.

1.4 Ireland does not fulfil its legal obligation to protect and ensure an effective remedy to vindicate the rights guaranteed under the Covenant. General Comment No. 31 [80] Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant (26/05/2004) states:

“However the positive obligations on States Parties to ensure Covenant rights will only be fully discharged if individuals are protected by the State, not just against violations of Covenant rights by its agents, but also against acts committed by private persons or entities that would impair the enjoyment of Covenant rights in so far as they are amenable to application between private persons or entities. There may be circumstances in which a failure to ensure Covenant rights as required by article 2 would give rise to violations by States Parties of those rights, as a result of States Parties’ permitting or failing to take appropriate measures or to exercise due diligence to prevent, punish, investigate or redress the harm caused by such acts by private persons or entities. States are reminded of the interrelationship between the positive obligations imposed under article 2 and the need to provide effective remedies in the event of breach under article 2, paragraph 3. The Covenant itself envisages in some articles certain areas where there are positive obligations on States Parties to address the activities of private persons or entities. For example, the privacy-related guarantees of article 17 must be protected by law. It is also implicit in article 7 that States Parties have to take positive measures to ensure that private persons or entities do not inflict torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment on others within their power. In fields affecting basic aspects of ordinary life such as work or housing, individuals are to be protected from discrimination within the meaning of article 26.]”

1.5 In a Document submitted to the European Court of Human Rights Application No. 35810/09 Louise O’ Keeffe Applicant v Ireland the Irish Human Rights Commission states:

“In the context of the present application this line of reasoning was clearly followed, as recorded in the Statement of Facts, insofar as the possibility of a remedy in tort for breach of the Applicant’s right to bodily integrity and privacy was sufficient to dispose of her claim against the State. Therefore, the issue became one based on the narrow concept of vicarious liability, rather than the possibly broader duty of the State to vindicate the fundamental rights of a child (such as the rights to bodily integrity, education and to be free of inhuman and degrading treatment) in the public education system. This in turn raises the question whether in fact the law of torts as applied in the High Court and the Supreme Court was adequate to protect the substance of the Applicant’s rights under the Convention, to the extent that the substance of those rights is purported to be protected under the Constitution.”

1.6 It is clear that the Irish Constitution is incompatible with Article 2 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights as even the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003 does not protect the basic human rights guaranteed by the Covenant.

2. Article 2 – Discrimination/Right to an Effective Remedy
Article 26 – Equality before the law

2.1 Article 40.1 of the Irish Constitution: Equality is protected under Article 40.1 of the Irish Constitution, however it is inconsistent with the principle of non-discrimination. The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in their concluding observations in 2002 stated the following on Article 40.1:“16. The Committee regrets that the State party has not yet undertaken any measures with regard to the Committee’s 1999 recommendation concerning the inconsistency of article 40.1 of the Constitution on equality before the law with the principle of non-discrimination as set out in articles 2 and 3 of the Covenant.”

2.2 Article 40.1 of the Irish Constitution states: “All citizens shall, as human person, be held equal before the law. This shall not be held to mean that the State shall not in its enactment have due regard to differences of capacity, physical and moral, and of social function.”

2.3 The Irish Human Rights Commission in their Report to the UN under the UPR, recommends a Constitutional Referendum on Article 40.1 to proscribe discrimination.

2.4 The Constitutional Review Group Report 1995 recommended Constitutional change on discrimination to bring Ireland in line with international human rights instruments.

“A list of rights to be considered for express inclusion in the Constitution would include, in addition, to the un-enumerated rights already listed, the following which are contained in the international human rights instruments… A general right to non-discrimination on such grounds as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status (Articles 2 and 3 CCPR, Article 14 ECHR)… The General Right to non-discrimination should be contained in a revised Article 40.1.”

2.5 Since the Constitutional Review Group Report 1995 and the concluding observations of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, there has been no change to the Irish Constitution. Consequently there is no Constitutional guarantee of equality before the law with the principle of non-discrimination. This is incompatible with Article 2 and 26 of the Covenant and it undermines the right to freedom of conscience. There is no commitment to using the proposed Constitutional Convention to even examine this issue.

2.6 Article 44.2.3 of the Irish Constitution. Article 44.2.3 of the Irish Constitution obliges the state not to discriminate on the grounds of religious profession, belief, or status. This Article does not include philosophical convictions such as secularism.

2.7 Prof Gerry Whyte has stated that: “The primary purpose of the guarantee against discrimination is to ensure the freedom of practice of religion. Any law which by virtue of the generality of its application would by its effect restrict or prevent the free profession and practice of religion by any person or persons would be invalid having regard to the provisions of the Constitution, unless it contained provisions which saved from such restriction or prevention the practice of religion of the person or persons who would otherwise be so restricted or prevented.”

2.8 Despite the above and the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003 there is no commitment from the Irish State to ensure that the non-religious are equal before the law without discrimination and have the right to an effective remedy in practice and in law.

2.9 Recommendations:

• Give full effect to the human rights under the Covenant in domestic law.
• Amend Article 44, on Religion, to explicitly give equal protection without discrimination to religious and non-religious philosophical believers.
• Amend Article 40.1 on equality before the law with the principle of non discrimination.
• Remove the references to all authority coming from the Holy Trinity and our obligations to our divine Lord Jesus Christ (preamble); powers of government deriving under God from the people (6); the homage of public worship being due to Almighty God and the state holding his name in reverence (44); and the glory of God (closing line).

3. Article 18 – Freedom of Conscience

3.1 Religious Oaths – Under the Irish Constitution the President, judges and members of the Council of state are required to swear a religious oath. This is contrary to Article 18, Article 2 and Article 26. There is no option of taking a declaration. These religious oaths in the Irish Constitution are incompatible with the obligations of the State under the Covenant.

3.2 Recommendations:

• Remove the requirement for the President, judges and Council of State to swear a religious oath in the presence of Almighty God (Arts 12, 31, 34), and for the President and judges to ask God to direct and sustain them (12, 34).
• Replace these with a single neutral declaration that does not reveal any information about the person’s religious beliefs.

3.3 Education – Since the comments of the HRC in 2008 nothing has changed on the ground for minorities in the Irish education system. The Draft State Report does not deal with the comments of the Human Rights Committee in relation to the integrated curriculum and the failure of the state to protect the human rights of those parents seeking secular education for their children.

3.4 Opting out of religion in Irish schools is a theoretical illusion. The state has not put in place non-discriminatory exemptions or alternatives that would accommodate minorities. The state has no legal power to ensure that the state curriculum is delivered in and neutral and objective manner. In addition to this there is no access to an effective remedy to vindicate the human rights guaranteed under the Covenant.

3.5 Irish schools are not considered ‘organs of the state’ within the meaning of the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003. Therefore the Irish courts are not obliged to interpret rights in a manner consistent with the European Convention or any judgement at the European Court of Human Rights. There is no effective remedy in Ireland to vindicate the human rights under the covenant of those parents that seek secular education for their children.

3.6 The Irish State absolves itself of the responsibility to educate and delegates this responsibility to private bodies and institutions. In essence private bodies and institutions (the majority are religious bodies) have control over the practical application of the human rights of minorities in the Irish education system and are not accountable to the courts for those human rights.

3.7 Human Rights in Irish schools are a theoretical illusion as no practical application is given to them on the ground. The Education Act 1998 has failed to protect to rights of children and their parents from discrimination. The recent Report on School A from the Ombudsman for Children shows clearly that the Ombudsman and the Dept of Education have not got the legal power to protect the human rights of children and their parents.4

3.8 New VEC Community Schools - The Irish State has informed the UN that these schools are Interdenominational. Minorities are still responsible for the supervision of their children if they opt them out of religious formation and ceremonies.

3.9 The Dept of Education has confirmed that the education for Catholic children in these schools will be on a denominational basis and exactly the same as they received in denominational schools. There is no legal guarantee that the curriculum will be delivered in an objective, critical and pluralistic manner.

3.10 In a Submission to the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism the Principals of these VEC schools state “that the separation of one subject in the curriculum – religious education – from all others, allocating it to the beginning or end of the school day is, we believe, educationally and philosophically suspect in the context of primary education.”

3.11 The Government claims that these New VEC Schools respect all religions and none. This simply is not the case as a recent document released under the FOI Act clearly shows that the state is breaching the human rights under the Covenant of parents who seek secular education for their children.

3.12 These schools believe that the convictions of secular parents are philosophically suspect. That does not constitute respect under Article 18 of the Covenant and consequently parents cannot ensure that the teaching of their children is in conformity with their convictions.

3.13 Access to schools without religious discrimination – In Ireland over 90% of primary schools are private religious schools as under the Irish Constitution the state ‘provides for’ education as opposed to ‘provide education’. There is no parallel system of non-denominational state schools. The Equal Status Act 2004 permits religious discrimination in access to schools.

3.14 On 15th March at the UN under the UPR Ireland rejected a recommendation to eliminate religious discrimination in access to education. The State claimed that they were opening up more non-denominational schools in Ireland. As it stands now there are no non-denominational schools registered with the Dept of Education so it is difficult to understand how the State could be opening up more. The Report from the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism states that there are no non-denominational secular schools in Ireland. We do not understand why the Draft State Report to the UN Human Rights Committee is claiming that the state is opening up more non-denominational schools. No denominational involvement in the governance of a school does not necessarily mean that a school is non-denominational.

3.15 In the State Report to the UN it is claimed that “religious freedom is a core element in our system at primary and secondary level.” This is simply not the case as the religious integrated curriculum and the discrimination that minorities suffer in the education system undermines human rights. These rights are freedom of conscience, the right to be free from discrimination, the rights of the child and the right to equality before the law.

3.16 Forum on Patronage and Pluralism – In the State Report (para 161 page 51) the Government refer to the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism. The Interim Report from the Forum was issued on the 17th of Nov 2011. Unfortunately this Report will not change anything on the ground for minorities as it did not deal with the failings of the Irish Constitution. It speaks about introducing protocols and non-statutory guidelines when secular parents want access to their human rights in practice and in law and the right to an effective remedy to vindicate their rights under the Covenant.

3.17 Recommendations

• Remove Section 7 3 (c) of the Equal Status Act 2000 to ensure that children have a guaranteed access to educational establishments without discrimination of any kind.
• Remove Section 12.4 and 37.1 of the Equality Acts which permit schools and hospitals to discriminate on the grounds of religion.
• Ensure that all children have equal access to a basic moral, intellectual and social education in schools (Art 42.3.2) and not one just permeated by religious values.
• Amend Section 15 of the Education Act 1998 to ensure that the curriculum in all schools is delivered in an objective, critical and pluralistic manner. Ensure that the rights of those parents seeking secular education for their children are recognised.
• Enact legislation to ensure that a common ethics course is an integral part of all B.Ed and Graduate Diploma programmes in the colleges for student teachers based on human rights and equality and also in accordance with the Toledo Guiding Principles.
• Reform the Governance of state funded teacher training colleges to remove the authority of religious bodies.
• Amend Section 40 of the Teaching Council Act 2001 to ensure that teacher education and training complies with Ireland’s obligations under the European Convention and the FCPNM.

4. Article 19 – Freedom of Expression – Blasphemy

4.1 Part V of the Defamation Act 2009 establishes a criminal offence which includes a prohibition of publishing or uttering blasphemous matter. Ireland introduced this law despite having informed the Venice Commission in 2007 that in general the legislation already in place provided adequately for these matters.5 The Council of Europe Commission on Democracy through Law (“Venice Commission”) called upon COE member states in 2008 to repeal their respective legislation on Blasphemy and that the offence of blasphemy should be abolished (which is already the case in most European States) and should not be introduced.

4.2 The UNHRC in their General Comment No. 34 stated that Blasphemy laws are incompatible with Article 19 of the Covenant. Despite this Ireland introduced a Blasphemy law in a country where the non-religious are second class citizens and do not enjoy the right to equality before the law without discrimination or the right to an effective remedy to vindicate their human rights.

4.4 The following information on Blasphemy was written by Prof David Nash of Oxford Brookes University for inclusion in Atheist Ireland’s submission.

Part V of the Defamation Act 2009 is a new law which defies almost all past precedent. It does not incorporate principles of English Common Law nor does it incorporate conventional hate crimes legislation. Therefore Ireland cannot claim margin of appreciation in seeking to maintain this law. Blasphemy law is a species of libel with no real rules of evidence or proof. Likewise it is an offence for which the Mens Rea assumptions of guilt are, and always have been very difficult to establish. An inclusive blasphemy law, which Ireland’s law seeks to be, is inadequate for protecting religions in conflict with one another, or apostates from more established forms of religion.

Blasphemy laws are arguably against Article 14 of the ECHR.This was recognised by the UK House of Lords Select Committee on Religious Offences (2003.) The legal criterion for recognition as a religious group is problematic and poorly defined. It is not inconceivable that an extended blasphemy law potentially enshrines religious protection for the act of blasphemy and does not protect society from its ramifications.

Particular Problems with the Blasphemy Provisions of the Defamation Act of 2009 include wording that is citing elements of degree to enact the offence, and the attempt to establish legitimate defences contain poorly defined concepts. The law of is substantially unwanted (there was no demand for it before its introduction), poorly drafted and contains innumerable legal and procedural problems. Ireland’s stance on the matter runs counter to what is occurring in other western countries and how its own actions no longer occur in isolation and convey signals to the rest of the world. This opinion is shared by the United Nations special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief (Prof Heiner Beilefeldt).

4.5 Recommendations

• Irish Constitution: Amend Article 40.6.1 to remove the offence of blasphemy.
• Remove Section 36 and 37 of the Defamation Act 2009 (blasphemy offence).

5. Constitutional Convention

5.1 The Government has announced a Constitutional convention for Ireland. It has been
announced that the initial issues that this Convention will deal with are as follows: Review of the Dail electoral system; Giving citizens the right to vote at Irish embassies in Presidential elections; Provision for same-sex marriage; Amending the clause on the role of women in the home and encouraging greater participation of women in public life; Increasing the participation of women in politics; Removing blasphemy from our Constitution.

5.2 The Government does not intend to include civil society bodies in the Convention. It is unclear what, if any, subsequent topics will be selected for this Convention. It is clear that the State is not rushing to ensure that the basic human right to equality and non discrimination is enshrined in the Irish Constitution. The Constitutional Review Group Report in 1995 recommended change in Article 40.1 to bring it into line with our international obligations but this is not on the agenda of the Convention. The Irish State will continue to discriminate against the non-religious and treat us as second class citizens and deny access to an effective remedy to vindicate our human rights under the Covenant.

6. Conclusion

6.1 In Ireland equality before the law and equal protection of the law without religious discrimination is not guaranteed to the non-religious. There is no effective remedy to vindicate the human rights guaranteed under the Covenant. The Irish Constitution does not protect the non-religious from discrimination on the grounds of religion. This religious discrimination has undermined the basic right to freedom of conscience for the non-religious.

6.2 Ireland has failed to take measures to secure the human rights of the non-religious despite having agreed to guarantee human rights to all within its territory. It is clear that the Irish Constitution is incompatible with the human rights guaranteed under the Covenant and the rights guaranteed under the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Human rights in Ireland are a theoretical illusion and not realizable in practice as the state is not committed to taking measures to ensure that these basic human rights are enjoyed by all.

In this issue:

• News
• Upcoming Events
• Oireachtas Report

News

• Last week the Ombudsman for Children issued a report on the actions of “School A”, which has since been identified as St. Joseph’s College, Borrisoleigh, County Tipperary. The school had refused access to a student, initially on the grounds that she was pregnant, and later that she was a single mother. The rationale for refusing to enrol this young person was the school ethos. The patron of the school (also its owner and principal) stated that it was his “duty to protect the honourable majority of [his] pupils”. He also stated that it was “not a school for single mothers”.
  On Thursday 3 May, Atheist Ireland attended a Consultation with the Department of Foreign Affairs on the State Report to the UN under the International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights. We raised the issue of the Ombudsman for Children’s report on St. Joseph’s College and we highlighted the failure of the State to protect the human rights of this family under the Covenant. We made reference to Article 26 of the Covenant: the right to equality before the law and equal protection of the law without discrimination of any kind. We’ll have more on this in next week’s Secular Sunday.
• On Tuesday, Atheist Ireland attended a seminar organised by ENAR Ireland. The aims of the seminar were to improve understanding of issues related to freedom of religion and belief and religious diversity in contemporary Ireland, to identify what is needed to improve the situation, and to network with members of like-minded groups. Read our report here.

Upcoming Events

• Thursday 10 May, 7:30 pm, The Bankers, Dublin 2 (map)
  Atheists in the Pub. Geoff, of Geoff’s Shorts, will be talking about his encounters with street preachers and what we can learn from them. Facebook event page
• Tuesday 15 May, The Market Place Theatre, Armagh (map)
  Michael Nugent will be taking part in a panel discussion following a talk by Sir John Houghton on God, Science and Global Warming.  More details and ticket information
• 25-27 May, Cologne, Germany
  There are less than three weeks to go until the European Atheist Convention, hosted by IBKA and Atheist Alliance International and the schedule is now available.
• Tuesday 5 June, National Concert Hall, Dublin 2 (map)
  Dublin Writers Festival presents: Richard Dawkins in Conversation. Tickets are sold out but it may be worth checking for cancellations. If anyone has a spare ticket let us know and we should be able to find a buyer. Learn more
• Wednesday 6 June, 8:00 pm, Liberty Hall, Dublin 1 (map)
  If you couldn’t get tickets for Richard Dawkins or find him too “militant” Alain de Botton will be providing a different perspective and discussing his latest book Religion for Atheists. Read more

Oireachtas Report

• A private member’s bill proposed by Senator Ivana Bacik has paved the way for civil wedding ceremonies to be performed by Humanist celebrants. As the law stands only civil registrants and members of religious bodies can perform a legally binding wedding ceremony. This means that non-religious people who want more than the standard fare offered by the HSE, or just want to get married on the weekend have to have a separate legal ceremony.
• Senator Averil Power has proposed an amendment to employment equality legislation removing an exception that allows some institutions under the control of religious bodies to discriminate against employees – or potential employees – based on gender, civil status, family status and sexual orientation.
• Fine Gael TD Eoghan Murphy has asked the Central Statistics Office for information on the number of people who claimed their religion was that of ‘Jedi knight’ in last year’s Census. We’ve been looking for the same information and we’ll let you know if and when we get it.

Until next week, may the force be with you.

Derek Walsh
Editor, Secular Sunday
Atheist Ireland

The seminar was chaired by Anastasia Crickley of NUI Maynooth, who is a member of the United Nations committee on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination. Atheist Ireland has recently met with and made written submissions to this committee regarding its monitoring of Ireland’s human rights record in this area.

The Department of Foreign Affairs was represented by Colin Wrafter, who is head of the department’s human rights and United Nations units. He said that freedom of religion and belief includes the freedom to practice, change, or not to have a religion or belief. He said that this rise was challenged by intolerance and violence and legal restrictions in many parts of the world. He cited examples where minorities face discrimination and attacks in the Middle East, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Iran, Nigeria, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere. He said that Ireland, as chair of the OSCE this year, will be hosting a day on freedom of religion and belief in the autumn.

Malcolm Evans

The keynote speaker was Malcolm Evans, professor of public international law at the University of Bristol, who is a member of the OSCE’s advisory Council on freedom of religion or belief, and is chair of the United Nations subcommittee for prevention of torture.

He outlined some of the background to international legal treaties on freedom of religion. He said that the end of World War I, with the risk of anti-Semitism, there were treaties in several countries to protect religious minorities. That expanded into the concept of protecting all religious groups, and then into protecting races as well. Difficulties in agreeing on racial freedom definitions resulted in both concepts being dropped.

At the end of World War II, a different approach centred on the fundamental rights of individuals not groups, with the emphasis on opposing discrimination on the basis of religion, more so than on promoting positive freedom of religion. The relationship with other freedoms, such as freedom of expression, caused some people to see religious freedom as a stumbling block to the vindication of other rights and freedoms.

He distinguished between internal and external freedoms of belief and religion. Internal freedoms, such as thought and conscience and religion, can in principle be unlimited. However, external freedoms, based on the manifestation of religious or other beliefs, are subject to limitations in order to protect the rights of other people.

He said that the concept of secularism being neutral assumes that religion or belief is an optional concept, that can be limited to the private space. But he said that this is not the experience of many religious people, for whom their religion is a central part of their identity, and who want their religious beliefs and lives to impact on the communities in which they live.

In response to questions from Atheist Ireland, Malcolm Evans said that he believes it is possible for states to lean towards preferring certain religious beliefs, as long as they do so while protecting the religious and other beliefs of all citizens. He also said that there was surprise and consternation internationally when Ireland passed a new blasphemy law. He said that the international expectation had been that blasphemy laws were going only in one direction: that they were being repealed where they existed, rather than being reintroduced.

Workshops

The seminar then broke into three workshops, covering crime and Justice, services and goods, and education and training.

The crime and Justice workshop concluded that religious and racial discrimination and targeting exist and that recording systems need improvement; that there is not enough information provided to staff in prisons and other public service locations about religious and cultural needs of people they are dealing with; and that the requirement of judges to believe in God and to swear a religious oath should be removed.

The services and goods workshop concluded that the state should guarantee in practice that the rights of people of different religious belief groups are respected; that regulatory bodies should be given the resources to be able to vindicate these rights; and that staff should be trained properly about the religious and cultural needs of people they are dealing with.

The education and training workshop concluded that there is a need for regulations to celebrate, and not merely tolerate, diversity; that there is a need to recognise that the definition of Irishness has to change to recognise that we are now a pluralist society; and that barriers to accessing education and training on religious and cultural grounds must be removed.

Conclusion

The Irish Network Against Racism will publish a full report on the seminar later in the year. The group is also known as ENAR Ireland, as it is the Irish coordination group for the European Network Against Racism.

This was a useful seminar for atheist Ireland to attend, both in terms of the content of the discussions and the contacts that we have made, and are continuing to make, with people from other like-minded organisations.

In this issue:

• News
• Upcoming Events
• Sundries

News

• All the videos of Michael Nugent’s recent debate with Sami Zaatari are now available to watch here. If you haven’t done so already, check out our YouTube channel for a growing back catalogue of debates and lectures.
• Atheist Ireland will be taking part in a seminar on Tuesday organised by ENAR Ireland on the topic Freedom of Religion and Belief: Implications for Contemporary Ireland. The keynote speaker is Professor Malcolm Evans OBE of the University of Bristol. We’ll have a report on the seminar for next week’s newsletter.

Upcoming Events

• Tuesday 1 May, 10:35 pm, BBC1 NI
  The Shame of the Catholic Church: Decades of clerical abuse and cover up have left the Catholic church in Ireland at breaking point. Now Darragh MacIntyre reveals new evidence of a scandal that goes to the very top of the Irish church. Check the programme page for other broadcast times.
• Sunday 6 May, 4:00 pm, Buswell’s Hotel, Dublin 2 (map)
  The monthly meeting of the Humanist Association of Ireland. All are welcome to attend.
• Thursday 10 May, 7:30 pm, The Bankers, Dublin 2 (date and location tentative)
  Atheists in the Pub. Geoff, of Geoff’s Shorts, will be talking about his encounters with street preachers and what we can learn from them.
• Tuesday 15 May, The Market Place Theatre, Armagh (map)
  Michael Nugent will be taking part in a panel discussion following a talk by Sir John Houghton on God, Science and Global Warming. The panel discussion is chaired by Mark Carruthers of the BBC and also includes Fr. Timothy Bartlett and Professor Valerie Hall. The event is the inaugural event of the Faith and Science Partnership, whose patrons are the leaders of the Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist churches in Ireland. More details and ticket information
• 25-27 May, Cologne, Germany
  There is less than a month to go until the European Atheist Convention, hosted by IBKA and Atheist Alliance International. Speakers include PZ Myers, Annie Laurie Gaylor, Dan Barker, Taslima Nasrin, Michael Nugent and Rebecca Watson. Tickets are still available.

Sundries

No real theme here, just some links worth looking at.

• We left out a couple of groups in last week’s roundup, both from across the border: Atheism Northern Ireland and the Belfast Humanists.
• Aoife of Consider the Tea Cosy shares her personal reflections of a Catholic funeral.
• Kylie Sturgess “Kind Of Got Kidnapped By Richard Dawkins And Ayaan Hirsi Ali At The Global Atheist Convention“
• Jesse Smith, Andy Smith and Som Meaden have created a great printable poster about logical fallacies.

That’s it for another week. We’ll be back as usual next Sunday. In the meantime satisfy your lust for knowledge and association on our website, Facebook and Twitter.

Derek Walsh
Editor, Secular Sunday
Atheist Ireland
secularsunday@atheist.ie

We have a packed issue this week so clear some space in your schedule and settle down with the beverage of your choice.

In this issue:

• News
• Upcoming Events
• Atheists Down Under
• Remembering Hitch
• Beyond the Pale

News

• Michael Nugent debated Sami Zataari in London last Thursday. The opening statements of the debate are now available to watch and the rest will be online soon.
• We have (finally) enabled an RSS feed on the Atheist Ireland website. This means you don’t need to keep clicking Refresh on our homepage to make sure you’re not missing anything but can get everything we post delivered to the device of your choice. Subscribe. (Learn more about RSS here.)

Upcoming Events

• Monday 23 April, 8:30 pm,  McSwiggans Bar And Restaurant, Galway (map)
  Galway Skeptics are meeting to talk about science. Facebook event page
• Wednesday 25 April, 9:00 pm, BBC Four television
  Beautiful Minds: Professor Richard Dawkins reveals how he came to write The Selfish Gene, and explores how this set him on the path to becoming an outspoken spokesman for atheism. Read more
• Sunday 29 April, 12:00 noon, The Galway Bay Hotel, Salthill, Co. Galway (map)
  The monthly meeting of Humanists West, a Galway-based humanist group. Facebook event page

Atheists Down Under

The Global Atheist Convention 2012 took place in Melbourne, Australia last weekend. Many of the biggest names in atheism were there. Richard Dawkins got off to an early start with a debate with Cardinal George Pell and a perhaps more productive discussion with Lawrence Krauss.

You can watch the opening video of the convention here. The main events don’t seem to be available yet, but they will undoubtedly appear first on the AFA’s Youtube channel.

YouTube user David Ingram has compiled a playlist of videos featuring the crowds, the protesters (Muslim and Christian) and some of the impromptu debates that took place outside the main events.

Bruce Everett has done a great job of reviewing the whole convention.

And of course PZ Myers had plenty to say. But you knew that already. Here’s his quick review anyway.

Let us know if we’ve missed anything unmissable. We’ll post more videos and reviews as they become available.

Remembering Hitch

A confluence of recent events means we have a number of tributes to Christopher Hitchens to share with you. Prepare to emote.

• 13 April would have been Christopher Hitchens’ sixty-third birthday. To mark the occasion, American talk show The Charlie Rose Show featured a discussion about his life and work with his friends and fellow authors Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis, James Fenton & Ian McEwan. Watch it here.
• Hitchens had been scheduled to appear at last week’s Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne. It was always an optimistic booking given his condition. The organisers honoured his memory with a video tribute. Watch it here.
• On 20 April, a memorial service was held in New York for Hitchens. It featured a eulogy from his closest friend Martin Amis and contributions from James Fenton, Lawrence Krauss, Salman Rushdie, Stephen Fry, Ian McEwan and many more. Watch it here.

Beyond the Pale

Invariably, when we announce an event in Dublin, some of the responses are from people outside the capital expressing a desire for similar events in their area. The reality is that due to demographics and population density, Dublin is the best place in the country to meet other atheists. But don’t despair, we are commited to growing, supporting and publicising regional groups.

Our new Cork group is headed by Joe O’Regan who can be contacted by email or phone on 089-4113099. And they have a Facebook page which is a little quiet at the moment, but the more people who show an interest, the more active it is likely to become.

We also have nascent groups in Galway, Limerick and Sligo. Email us if you’re interested in being part of any of these groups. If you find you’re still too far from a group, get in contact with us telling us where you live, where you’d be willing to travel to and whether you’d be willing to lead a group (there’s not much more to it than picking a pub and sending a few emails).

As well as Atheist Ireland, there are a number of other similar groups that regularly meet around the country, and are likely to be of interest to our readers. Below is as complete a listing as we can find. If anybody knows of any others, let us know and we’ll publicise them.

• Cork Skeptics is a group dedicated to promoting skepticism, science, and rational thinking. They meet monthly in Blackrock Castle Observatory.
  
• Cork Humanists are associated with the HAI, and meet around once a month on a Sunday afternoon. They have also recently formed a book club.
  
• UCC Atheists or, to give it its full name, the “University College Cork Atheists Agnostics Secularists and Humanists Society”,  is primarily geared towards students at UCC but may sometimes host publicly accessible events.
  
• Mid-West Humanists serve Limerick, Clare and Tipperary. They meet once a month.
• Humanists West, Galway meet on the last Sunday of every month.
  
• Galway Skeptics meet in a pub around twice a month. (Obviously quite hardened thinkers.)
  
• NUI Galway Skeptic Society doesn’t seem to be exceptionally active at the moment but is certainly worth contacting if you’re a student in NUIG.
  
• Letterkenny Skeptics is a brand new group and had their first meeting just over a week ago.
  

And across the border:

• Humani is the Humanist Association of Northern Ireland and meet in Belfast on the second Thursday of the month.
  
• Belfast Skeptics meet on a monthly basis at a central location in Belfast.
  
• There is at least one Belfast Atheist and the UK Atheists are looking for more.

That should keep you busy till next week. If you see, hear, read or do something that you think will interest other readers, let us know and we’ll try to include it.

Till next time,

Derek Walsh
Editor, Secular Sunday
Atheist Ireland
secularsunday@atheist.ie

Here are Sami and Michael’s opening contributions to the debate.

And here is the rest of the debate, including three rounds of rebuttals by each speaker, questions from the audience, and summaries from both speakers.

First round of rebuttals by Sami and Michael (12 minutes each)

Second round of rebuttals by Sami and Michael (8 minutes each)

Third round of rebuttals by Sami and Michael (4 minutes each)

Sami and Michael answer questions from the audience (14 minutes each)

Summaries by Sami and Michael (4 minutes each)

In this issue:

• News
• Upcoming Events
• International Blasphemy News

News

• Last Tuesday the Minister for Education & Skills released the Report from the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism. (Press Release. Report.)
  Over the next few weeks Atheist Ireland will be examining the report in detail and seeking clarification on various recommendations. A preliminary response from our Education Officer Jane Donnelly can be found here.
• The Global Atheist Convention 2012 has been taking place this weekend in Melbourne, Australia. Pretend you were there by watching all the YouTube videos of the event, or read Bruce Everett’s report. We’ll be looking at the various videos and reports of the event and highlighting the best ones in coming issues. If you were lucky enough to really be there, let us know.

Upcoming Events

• Thursday 19 April, 6:30 pm, Friends House, 173-77 Euston Road, London, England. (map)
  Michael Nugent will be debating with Sami Zaatari of the Muslim Debate Initiative on the topic: “Is religion less relevant to modern society?”. Admission is free so if you happen to be in the London area on Thursday, do drop in.
• Thursday 19 April, 7:30 pm, The Bankers, Trinity St., Dublin 2. (map)
  Atheists in the Pub. Stephen Duggan will be discussing religiosity in rural Ireland. Steve hails from Craggy Achill Island and so has first-hand experience of the weirdness of life beyond the Pale. Facebook event page
• Sunday 29 April, 12:00 noon, The Galway Bay Hotel, Salthill, Co. Galway (map)
  The monthly meeting of Humanists West, a Galway-based humanist group. Facebook event page

International Blasphemy News

Like Ireland, a lot of countries have laws against blasphemy. Unlike in Ireland, however, not everybody regards these laws as embarrassing and archaic. The following is a sample of recent blasphemy-related news from around the world.

• On 10 March, Sanal Edamaruku, President of Rationalist International, flew to Mumbai at the request of a TV channel, to investigate a “miracle” in a Catholic Church. He discovered that a “weeping” crucifix was in fact merely a consequence of faulty drainage and capillary action. Rather than thanking him and calling a plumber, the Catholic Church has demanded his arrest on the charge of blasphemy and he may be arrested at any moment. Further details and updates available from Rationalist International.
• In Pakistan, an elderly man, acquitted on blasphemy charges due to lack of evidence was shot dead by his accuser. Read more
• Earlier this week, the Kuwaiti parliament voted in favour of a legal amendment which could make blasphemy – already illegal – a capital offence. Read more.
• Meanwhile in Indonesia, Alexander Aan, arrested in February for “insulting” Islam by stating that he is an atheist, is still in prison. He  is in the early stages of his trial. Read the latest update on his case here.

While our own blasphemy law is merely an object of ridicule and unlikely ever to be enforced, it helps enable these sorts of behaviour by supporting the case that blasphemy is a serious crime that should be punished by the state. Atheist Ireland will continue our efforts to push for a referendum to remove the requirement for a blasphemy law from the constitution.

Until next Sunday, take care,

Derek Walsh
Editor, Secular Sunday
Atheist Ireland

http://www.education.ie/home/home.jsp?maincat=&pcategory=10861&ecategory=10876&sectionpage=12251&language=EN&link=link001&page=1&doc=56996

The Minister for Education & Skills has asked that the interested parties examine the report and take time to reflect on and digest the recommendations. The Minister will outline his official response in May. In the next few weeks Atheist Ireland will be examining the Report in detail and seeking clarification on various Recommendations.

This Report could be a significant contribution to the future of Irish schools, and we want to ensure that we have considered it fully before we respond formally to it. In the meantime, here are some initial observations on some of the contents.

“The terms of reference of the Forum did not require the Advisory Group to draw up a new design for primary schooling but, rather, to recommend adaptations to the existing system so that it might achieve a better balancing of rights with greater inclusivity and diversity.”

The Report has confirmed that there are no secular non-denominational schools in Ireland. In the past, regulations and the attitudes of officialdom inhibited the establishment of such schools. The Dept of Education has stated that there are no longer objections to establishing such schools.  It now seems clear that there has never been a Constitutional objection to establishing such schools, just prejudice.

The Report refers to the Constitutional Review Group Report (1996) which stated that:-

“In summary, therefore, the present reality of the denominational character of the school system does not accord with Article 44.2.4. The situation is clearly unsatisfactory. Either article 44.2.4 should be changed or the school system must change to accommodate the requirement of Article 44.2.4.”

There is no Recommendation in the Report to amend Article 44.2.4 of the Irish Constitution. It seems clear therefore that the Recommendations in the Report are intended to change the school system  to accommodate the requirements of Article 44.2.4. In other words, the Report recognises that minorities have Constitutional and Human Rights in denominational schools.

One Recommendation is that “equitable enrolment policies are essential for achieving fairness and diversity”.  Access to a local school without religious discrimination is part of the basic human right to education.  The only way of guaranteeing access to a Stand Alone school without religious discrimination is to amend Section 7 3 (c) of the Equal Status Act. Failure to amend the Act will simply undermine the whole Report.

One of the main concerns of Atheist Ireland is the right to access an effective remedy in practice and in law. Article 13 of the European Convention states that:-

Right to an effective remedy

“Everyone whose rights and freedoms as set forth in this Convention are violated shall have an effective remedy before a national authority notwithstanding that the violation has been committed by persons acting in an official capacity.”

Human Rights mean nothing on the ground if there is no effective remedy to vindicate those rights. It is still not clear from the Report whether or not schools in Ireland are considered ‘organs of the state’ within the meaning of the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003.

We have seen various Reports and Recommendations over the years that changed nothing on the ground.  In a way the Report from the Forum is an indictment of the failure of successive governments to protect the Constitutional and Human Rights of minorities in the Irish Education System. We must make sure that this does not happen again and the only way to achieve this is to ensure that all parents in Ireland have the right to access an effective remedy in practice and in law to vindicate their human rights.