Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

The blasphemy exhibition in the Oonagh Young Gallery continues until Saturday 27 February, and is open from 12 to 6pm every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It’s a fascinating show, and well worth a visit.

This Wednesday at 7pm there is a special screening of Rocky Road to Dublin and The Making of Rocky Road to Dublin, which should be watched by anyone interested in secularism and censorship in Ireland.

The full list of speakers is:
AC Grayling (UK)
Aroup Chatterjee (UK)
Brian Arly Jacobsen (DK)
Christer Sturmark (SE)
Dan Barker (US)
Gregory Paul (US)
Ivana Bacik (IRE)
Jens Morten Hansen (DK)
Lone Frank (DK)
Michael Nugent (IRE)
Mikael Rothstein (DK)
PZ Myers (US)
Paula Kirby (UK)
Per Bilde (DK)
Rebecca Goldstein (US)
Rebecca Watson (UK)
Richard Wiseman (UK)
Robin Ince (UK)
Simon Bressendorff (DK)
Taslima Nasrin (US)
Victor Stenger (US)

It would be great if some members of Atheist Ireland could attend this conference, as we can both get support from and give support to atheist activists and advocacy groups from other countries.

You can get further information at http://www.godsandpolitics.eu

Livestream here:

http://www.4fm.ie/listen_live.asp

Admission is free, and members of the public are welcome.

The theme will be the Atheist Ireland campaigns against the Irish blasphemy law, and for a secular constitution and a secular education system.

The following quote from PZ Myers about the desecration of communion hosts is among the 25 blasphemous quotes that Atheist published a month ago when the Irish blasphemy law became operational:

“You would not believe how many people are writing to me, insisting that these horrible little crackers (they look like flattened bits of styrofoam) are literally pieces of their god, and that this omnipotent being who created the universe can actually be seriously harmed by some third-rate liberal intellectual at a third-rate university… However, inspired by an old woodcut of Jews stabbing the host, I thought of a simple, quick thing to do: I pierced it with a rusty nail (I hope Jesus’s tetanus shots are up to date). And then I simply threw it in the trash, followed by the classic, decorative items of trash cans everywhere, old coffeegrounds and a banana peel.”

While in Ireland, PZ will also be speaking about science and creationism at UCD on Tuesday Feb 2nd, and at NUI Galway on Thursday February 4th, at meetings organised by the UCD Secular Humanist Society and the NUI Galway Skeptic Society and ZooSoc. You can get details on tickets for these events, subject to availability, by emailing ucdhumanistsociety@gmail.com or k.mcinerney3@nuigalway.ie

Atheists in the Pub will be hosted on Thursday 21st at 7.30pm in the Mont Clare Hotel, junction of Clare St. and Merrion Sq. We’ll be discussing ideas for the campaign to have the blasphemy law repealed and how to widen the campaign to take in the whole area of removing faith from the constitution. We have a constitution in which rather than us having the right to worship god, god has the right to be worshipped by us. So bring pen and paper so we can leave with a list of ideas and hopefully volunteers to carry those ideas out!

Recently, a friend of mine went to our principal and asked to leave religion class, which is compulsory in our school. I managed to get out at the beginning of the school year by pointing out that I’d never been baptised and that religion was wasting my valuable study time. My friend, however, was told that it is a Catholic school, therefore she must attend.
Our school is not catholic. It is funded by the state. We have a ‘catholic ethos’, a priest on the board of management and mass twice a year. But, none the less, we are a state school. They cannot refuse to admit children of other religions. But, religion classes are compulsory for the full five/six years of education. During these classes they preach about god and catholic meaning. Buddhism got mentioned once in 2nd year, evidently they come up short when compared to the ‘religious education’ and objective view of all world religions they once promised us. In our school, religion is a compulsory exam subject in the junior certificate. And last month our Irish (Irish, NOT religion) teacher gave out to the class for not saying our prayers.
So if you walked in the door, and saw a four foot man nailed to a cross staring down at you you’d probably think it was run by the church, right? Well it’s not; it is being paid for by the tax payer, the NON DENOMINATIONAL tax payer. I’ve found that this is the case in many schools around the country. “You pay, we pray”.
So I ask the reader, is it fair that as young people in Ireland we are still being subjected to the controlling, brain washing, backwards ways of the catholic church when we are supposedly being educated? Don’t get me wrong, Catholics can believe what they want, as can any religion, they can practice and pray until they’re blue in the face for all I care, but should they be allowed influence little children from the moment they step in the door? I don’t think so. We live in diverse and multi cultural society, a society full of people of different race, religion and sexual orientation. And yet, the majority of children still have no other option than to go to schools backed by a single religion, and that religion having openly stated its contempt for the LGBT community. Is this the kind of thing young people of today should be taught?
I live in a field, that field is in a bog, that bog is in a town land, that town land is in the sparsely populated, very wet, kind of green county of Mayo. Schooling wise, there aren’t many options. As far as I’m aware, there isn’t a single non denominational school within a 20 mile radius of my home. But there are six that have a ‘catholic ethos’. So I’ve come to the conclusion that if you’re a teenager, scratch that, if you’re a kid of any age in Ireland living outside of Dublin you’re pretty much stuck with the church. Sure, they won’t kick you out, if you’re lucky they won’t even force you into mass, but you’d better get used to being looked at as if everything you think is ridiculous.
When I was a kid my national school was Catholic school too. It was so close to the church, the 6th class kids used to play dares in the church bathroom. I was continuously scoffed at by teachers, the priest used to be left in our classroom for hours on end and tell us whatever he wanted. We were told all kinds of rubbish, dinosaurs didn’t exist, babies are gifts from god found in fields, every time you masturbate god kills a kitten, the usual. We couldn’t question it. He was the priest. End of story.
So what if I’d been Muslim? What if I was a Lesbian? Are kids today in that position? Do they feel that what they do/are makes them a bad person? And all because someone else’s superstition has been given a leading role in their education? I don’t think this is fair.
In countries like France and USA religion and state are kept separate, and people grow up being all the more accepting for it.
It’s the 21st century; it’s time for Ireland to realise that the minds of young people is no place to force varying superstitions as fact. It’s time we all had access to safe, open minded, religion free schools!

From: VoicesOfYouth with permission