First things first:

TODAY at 2:00 pm, Atheist Ireland presents “Is Anything Sacred?”, a public discussion of Irish and international blasphemy laws. Our speakers are two world-class experts on blasphemy law: Austin Dacey, Ph.D. from New York, who represents the International Humanist and Ethical Union at the United Nations; and Professor David Nash of Oxford Brookes University in England, who is working with Atheist Ireland on our campaign to repeal the Irish blasphemy law. Join us in the O’Callaghan Alexander Hotel (map) from 2:00.

If you can’t make it in person, you can still be there in spirit, as (barring technical snafus or, ahem, acts of God) we will be live-streaming the event. Go to our UStream page to view and interact. It’s a good idea to do this well before the event starts to make sure everything works on your computer, especially if you haven’t used UStream before.

If you really can’t make it in any capacity – or if it’s already too late by the time you’re reading this – you should be able to watch the event on UStream anyway, and we hope to have it on our YouTube channel shortly.

Now that’s out of the way, here’s what’s in the rest of this issue:

• News
• Upcoming Events
• Building an Ethical Society

News

• This week is Catholic Schools Week in Ireland. Like every other week, it would seem. But this week sees a special effort by the Catholic Church to celebrate the role of state-funded schools in indoctrinating children, and has seen a reaffirmation by Cardinal Sean Brady of the policy of segregating children according to the religion of their parents.
  Fortunately there is opposition to this in government; Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD, a former school principal and vice-chairman of the Oireachtas Education Committee has publicly stated that “religious ethos has no place in the educational system of a modern republic”, and the Clontarf Report on “Illegal Religious Discrimination in National Schools in Ireland” has been adopted by the Dublin North Central Constituency Council of the Labour Party and widely circulated.
  Atheist Ireland has a website Teach, Don’t Preach with relevant news and resources. You can contact our Education Officer Jane Donnelly if you have any questions or can provide any help. We also have an Education and Children section on our discussion forum if you have a story to share or are looking for advice.
  This week is an ideal opportunity for individuals to lobby politicians and contact local media to highlight the discrimination inherent in the school system.
• There has been widespread concern about the introduction of new Internet copyright legislation, and its implications for free speech and the democratic process. Learn more about this law and the petition to stop it at Stop SOPA Ireland.

Upcoming Events

• Sunday 5 February, 4:00 pm, Buswells Hotel, Dublin 2 (map)
  This month’s Humanist Association of Ireland meeting will be a tribute to and discussion about the late Christopher Hitchens. This event will be co-ordinated by Maureen Meleady (member of HAI) and by Michael Nugent (chairperson of Atheist Ireland and member of HAI) All are welcome. I expect the bar will be well stocked with Johnny Walker Black Label. Details
• Tuesday 7 February, DIT Aungier Street, Dublin (map)
  Michael Nugent will be debating with Hamza Tzortzis of the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA). The topic will be “This house believes the world would be a better place without religion.” Michael and Hamza have previously debated with each other in NUI Galway, UCD and RCSI. Video extract from RCSI debate
• Thursday 9 February (tentative), Dublin
  Atheists in the Pub will be hosting our first speaker of the year, Vanessa Lacey from Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI). More details will be available soon.

Building an Ethical Society

The goals of Atheist Ireland are “building a rational, ethical and secular society free from superstition and supernaturalism.” Generally, we focus on the rational and secular aspects, and while we would probably all agree that the changes we push for would generally make society more ethical, there is obviously a lot more to an ethical society than simply teaching science and not unduly favouring religion.
We want to get your opinions on the subject: to what extent should Atheist Ireland take a stand on ethical issues not directly related to atheism and secularism? For example, should we have a position on gay rights, abortion rights, euthanasia or animal rights? Or free speech like the “Stop SOPA Ireland” campaign mentioned above? If so, what should those positions be? Should we campaign on any of these topics, or explicitly mention them in our constitution? How should we decide which issues to take a stand on? Should we just mention them from time to time so our members are informed, or should we ignore anything outside our primary aims? Add your voice to the discussion on our forum.

That’s all for this issue. If you can, try to come to one of our events.  And if not, you can still make your opinions count via our forum, Facebook page and group, and Twitter.

Till next Sunday,

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

In this issue:

• News
• Upcoming Events
• Young People These Days

News

• Five Steps to Civil Rights in a Secular Ireland
  Atheist Ireland wants a secular Irish State, where we each have the right to our religious or non-religious philosophical beliefs, and where the state remains neutral on these beliefs. To that end we have drafted a document to send to all TDs and Senators. Read the latest draft and join in the discussion on our forum.

Upcoming Events

• Saturday 28 January, 6:30 pm, The Lord Edward, Dublin 8 (map)
  Skeptics in the Pub – New Year Edition
  The monthly meeting of Dublin Skeptics takes place upstairs in the lounge of the Lord Edward. Facebook page.
• Sunday 29 January, 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm, O’Callaghan Alexander Hotel, Dublin 2 (map)
  “Is Anything Sacred?” Austin Dacey Ph.D. and Professor David Nash will be speaking at a public discussion of Irish and international blasphemy laws. Facebook page.The event will be live streamed so if you can’t make it in person you can still get involved. And if you aren’t available at the time, you should be able to view it later on our Youtube channel.
• Sunday 5 February, 4:00 pm, Buswells Hotel, Dublin 2 (map)
  This month’s Humanist Association of Ireland meeting will be a tribute to and discussion about the late Christopher Hitchens. Details
• Tuesday 7 February, DIT Aungier Street, Dublin (map)
  Michael Nugent will be debating with Hamza Tzortzis of the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA). The topic will be “This house believes the world would be a better place without religion.” Michael and Hamza have previously debated with each other in NUI Galway, UCD and RCSI. Video extract from RCSI debate
• Thursday 9 February (tentative), Dublin
  Atheists in the Pub will be hosting our first speaker of the year, Vanessa Lacey from Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI). More details will be available soon.
• Friday 24th February 2012, 7:00 pm, Trinity College, Dublin 2
  The annual Darwin Day Lecture, as arranged by the Humanist Association of Ireland, will be given this year by Dr Stephen Oppenheimer, on the subject: “Tracking Migrations with DNA: relevance to Britain and Ireland”.
• February (date to be arranged), Galway
  Michael Nugent will be debating at the NUI Galway Law Society on a Wednesday to be arranged during February, and not on the tentative date of 25 January that we published last week. If you would like to talk to Michael and Jon Pierson before or after the debate, about helping to start a local Atheist Ireland group in Galway, please email us at secularsunday@atheist.ie.
• 25-27 May, Cologne, Germany
  The European Atheist Convention is a few months away but if you’re thinking of going, it might be time to start planning. Facebook page

Young People These Days

Two teenage atheist activists have appeared in the news recently, for standing up to religious oppression. Their passion, bravery and enthusiasm deserve commendation and remind us that people of any age can make a positive difference.

• Jessica Ahlquist, a 16-year-old from Rhode Island, USA won a legal battle to have a religious banner removed from her school. A court ruled that the banner violated the First Amendment. Jessica has since received death threats and was called “an evil little thing” by a state representative.
• Rhys Morgan, a 17-year-old from Wales, was threatened with violence and expulsion from school for posting a picture of webcomic Jesus and Mo on his Facebook page. Rhys has a history of upsetting purveyors of nonsense, having previously received legal threats from representatives of the Burzynski Clinic for highlighting the ineffectiveness of the clinic’s cancer treatment.

That’s it for this week. Remember, if you want to get involved at any level, just drop us a line. You don’t have to wait for a group to be formed in your area, you can help to set it up. And even if you find yourself an island of atheism in a sea of conservative Catholics, you can still help by keeping an eye on local media, and writing letters to newspapers or calling in to radio shows to give an atheist point of view. Even just letting us know when any relevant news happens in your area can help, and we can highlight it nationally if appropriate. Lobbying politicians is also something that can be done on an individual level and as we roll out campaigns we’ll need people to get in touch with their own TDs and local government. There’s a guide to lobbying on our website.

We’ll be back next week with more news and links. Till then, get the latest news on our website, Facebook and Twitter.

Take care,

Derek Walsh
Editor, Secular Sunday
Atheist Ireland

In this issue:

• News
• Upcoming Events
• Homegrown Talent
  

News

• Helen O’Shea has joined the Atheist Ireland committee as website coordinator. She will be managing content on our website and moderating our online discussion forum. Helen has a background in maths and marketing, is currently a full-time mother and is studying part-time for a degree in psychology. A founding member of Atheist Ireland, she has been an active and valued participant on the atheist.ie forum since way back in 2007 and has been a moderator since 2009.

• On Wednesday, some members in Cork met with Michael Nugent and Jon Pierson to set up a new Atheist Ireland Cork group. This group will lobby Cork politicians, monitor Cork media, and arrange events in Cork. If you would like to get involved, please email cork@atheist.ie
  If you’re based elsewhere in the country and are interested in setting up or getting involved a local group, let us know and we’ll provide advice and assistance.

• On Thursday BBC Northern Ireland broadcast a radio news report titled “Sacred or secular? The battle for the soul of modern Ireland”. It included opinions from Michael Nugent, Ivana Bacik, David Quinn and Vincent Twomey. You can read the print version of the report here.

• Journalist Mary Raftery died on Tuesday, following a battle with ovarian cancer. She was probably best known for her work in exposing the abuse suffered by children in state and church-run institutions, work that eventually led to the Ryan and Murphy reports. A courageous and tireless fighter for truth, she will be sadly missed.  Obituaries from The Irish Independent,  The Irish Times and RTÉ.

Upcoming events

• Thursday 19 January, 7:30 pm – closing time, MacTurcaill’s, Dublin 2 (map)
  Dublin Atheists in the Pub. No speaker this month, so come along for some stimulating conversation and cheap drink. Facebook page.

• Wednesday 25 January (tentative), Galway
  Michael Nugent may be speaking in Galway on this date. If he is, and if you live in Galway, and are interested in helping to start a local Atheist Ireland group in Galway, you may like to have an informal chat before or after the debate with Michael and Jon Pierson from the Atheist Ireland Committee. Please email us at secularsunday@atheist.ie and we can arrange it.

• Sunday 29 January, 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm, O’Callaghan Alexander Hotel, Dublin
 2 (map)
  “Is Anything Sacred?” Austin Dacey PhD and Professor David Nash will be speaking at a public discussion of Irish and international blasphemy laws. Facebook page.
  Through the wonders of modern technology this event will be live streamed so if you can’t make it in person you can still get involved. (If you haven’t used Ustream before, it’s a good idea to go to the site early to make sure your computer is set up correctly to watch streaming videos.)

See last week’s issue for details of more events taking place in the coming weeks and months. We’ll keep posting news and reminders of future events, and remember, if you know of a relevant event, drop us a line and we’ll include it.

Homegrown Talent

Here are a few recent choice posts from Irish bloggers. If you know of a blog or podcast that you think might be of interest to our readers, let us know and we may feature it in future issues.

• “Our tour starts on Grafton Street where, if you’re lucky, we’ll spot one or more Hare Krishnas. Normally dressed in distinctive orange or white flowing robes with incomplete headshaves, they can be hard to spot when they work the streets.” – After being mentioned here last week, Geoff explains to new readers what his blog is all about and gives us a guided tour of Dublin’s street preachers.

• “I have come across many who are deeply religious and who use this as the backdrop for living exemplary lives. These tend to be the religious people who do not attempt to persuade me to their way of thinking, and I’m more than happy to recognise that theirs is the solution to life’s complexity that works for them.” – Seamus McKenna on religion, certainty and Christopher Hitchens.

• “Having spent the past few years studying museums (and by extension society) I would argue that the ideals of skepticism can and should be applied to all aspects of human endeavour.” – Rebecca from Skeptic Ireland on The Skeptical Humanities

We’ve had a lot of positive feedback about our first issue. Thanks to all those who provided encouragement, suggestions and offers of help.

In this issue:

• Atheist Ireland News
• Upcoming Events
• Around the Web

Atheist Ireland News

• We have two new committee members:
  • June Caldwell, our new press officer.
    June has has written for the Guardian, the Observer, the Sunday Times, the Sunday Business Post, the Sunday Independent and many magazines. She co-wrote the book In Love with a Mad Dog with Jackie Robinson, who was the lover of the UDA’s Johnny Adair. She has also edited the Irish Writers Centre blog and organised training courses there for writers.
  • Derek Walsh (that’s me!), our new membership officer and editor of Secular Sunday.
    I’ve been involved with Atheist Ireland for almost three years, have written for the website and helped administer the Facebook and Twitter accounts. I’ve also assisted in the organising of various events and have spoken at a Dublin Atheists in the Pub event about online activism and my background as a former Jehovah’s Witness.
• The responses to the Interim Report of the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in Primary Schools are now available on the Department of Education’s website. Atheist Ireland’s response is available here.
• As of this week, we have over 2,500 likes on our Facebook page and almost the same number of followers on our Twitter account. If you do social media at all, they’re the best ways to get the latest news. We also have over 1,600 subscribers to our YouTube channel which has almost 100 videos uploaded.

Upcoming Events

• Wednesday, 11 January, University College Cork
  Michael Nugent will be debating at the UCC Law Society with Dr Marie Keenan on the motion “That this house would refuse to confess”. We’ll publish further details on our website before Wednesday, or you can contact http://ucclawsociety.com/
  If you live in Cork, and are interested in helping to start a local Atheist Ireland group in Cork you may like to have an informal chat before or after the debate with Michael and Jon Pierson from the Atheist Ireland Committee. If so, please email us at secularsunday@atheist.ie and we will arrange it.
• Thursday 19 January, MacTurcaill’s, Dublin
  Dublin Atheists in the Pub is a monthly event for members of Atheist Ireland and anyone else who’s interested to meet up and socialise. There’s usually a speaker on a relevant topic. Full details of this month’s event will be in next week’s newsletter.
• Saturday 28 January (tentative), Dublin
  Dublin Skeptics in the Pub is a similar event organised by the Dublin Skeptics. They meet once a month for drinking and skeptical socialising. Check out their Facebook page for details.
• Sunday 29 January, Dublin (venue to be arranged)
  “Is Anything Sacred?” A public discussion of Irish and international blasphemy laws, organised by Atheist Ireland. We are pleased to present as our speakers two world-class experts on blasphemy law: Austin Dacey, Ph.D. from New York, who represents the International Humanist and Ethical Union at the United Nations; and Professor David Nash of Oxford Brookes University in England, who is working with Atheist Ireland on our campaign to repeal the Irish blasphemy law.
• Sunday 5 February, Buswells Hotel, Dublin
  The Humanist Association of Ireland meets at 4pm on the first Sunday of every month. Next month the meeting will be a tribute to and discussion about the late Christopher Hitchens. Further details will be provided closer to the date.
• 25-27 May, Cologne, Germany
  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 available now
  The new restructured Atheist Alliance International, which was founded at the World Atheist Convention in Dublin last year, will also be hosting three other regional conventions this year, in Melbourne Australia on 13-25 April, in Manila, Philippines on 21 April; and in Kamloops, Canada on 18-20 May. More details

Around the Web

• “Women. They are a complete mystery.” — Physicist Stephen Hawking celebrates his 70th birthday today. New Scientist Special
• “I have often been asked if Christopher defended me because he was my close friend. The truth is that he became my close friend because he wanted to defend me.” – Salman Rushdie’s personal tribute to his friend, the late great Christopher Hitchens
• “One Valentine’s day a friend dipped his spoon into a bowl of soup and found unexpected resistance. On further investigation he discovered a half-eaten bread roll lurking beneath the broth.” — Geoff reads and reviews Stephen C. Meyer’s Creationist book Signature in the Cell so you don’t have to. (Part 1, Part 2)
• Dublin Skeptic Rebecca O’Neill is on the Birmingham Skeptics’ podcast this week talking about about science, skepticism and religion in Ireland.

If you write an atheist blog, or do a podcast or just know of any events that might interest our members, drop us a line at secularsunday@atheist.ie and we’ll get the word out. Similarly, if you want to help out in any way and think you can be of some assistance, let us know.

Until next time, stay safe and stay secular.

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

Happy New Year, and welcome to Secular Sunday, the new weekly newsletter of Atheist Ireland. It will include details of events, activities, news items and other relevant topics. This first issue is devoted to a review of our main activities during 2011 and our plans for 2012.

In this issue:

1. Secular constitution and laws
2. Secular education system
3. Other activities
4. Our plans for 2012

1. Secular Constitution and Laws

We wrote to all candidates and parties in the General Election and Presidential Election asking their views on secular policy issues, and published the results to enable secular voters to take this into account when voting. We also published secular analyses of the manifestos of each political party.

We met with the Department of the Taoiseach to become a partner in the dialogue process with religious and philosophical groups, and specifically to discuss the impact of secular issues on laws and practices of the incoming coalition Government.

We made a policy submission to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review on Ireland’s human rights record with regard to secular issues. We also contributed to a joint submission made by several Irish human rights advocacy groups.

We attended the OSCE’s human rights implementation conference in Poland, where we spoke at the session on freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief. Read Jane Donnelly’s report here.

We continued our campaign to have the Irish blasphemy law repealed. We welcome the commitment in the Programme for Government to include this in a review of future Constitutional changes. Read more here.

The policy issues that we have raised generally with these various bodies include religious oaths for officeholders, religious oaths in court, the blasphemy law, legalised religious discrimination in employment and equality laws, and the right to a secular education based on international human rights law.

2. Secular education system

We made detailed policy submissions to, and we met with, the Department of Education’s forum on patronage and pluralism in the primary education system. This forum should by now have reported to the Minister for Education Ruari Quinn. Read more here.

We launched a new campaign website Teach, Don’t Preach to coordinate our campaign for a secular Irish education system. This website includes information on how to opt your child out of religious education classes and other resources for parents.

We made comprehensive submissions on secular education to the Irish Human Rights Commission, the United Nations Committee for Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and the United Nations Universal Periodic Review on Ireland’s human rights record.

We highlighted the issue of discrimination against nonreligious parents who cannot opt their child out of religious instruction in Catholic primary schools, with a high profile media campaign led by Jane Donnelly and Martijn Leenheer. See them both on TV3′s Morning Ireland here.

We lobbied the outgoing Government against proposals for new VEC primary schools that would include faith formation within school hours. We want these schools defined as ‘organs of the State’ so that parents can challenge a board of management which chose to operate the integrated curriculum based upon a religious ethos.

3. Other activities

We held the World Atheist Convention in Dublin in June. Speakers included Richard Dawkins and PZ Myers, and the new Atheist Alliance International was launched. At the convention, we and other atheists from around the world launched the Dublin Declaration on Secularism and the Place of Religion in Public Life. This covers personal freedoms, secular democracy, secular education, and one law for all.

We hosted AC Grayling in the first of a series of Internet-streamed talks in Ireland by prominent international atheists.

We ran a campaign asking people to be honest about religion in the 2011 census. We asked people to answer based on their actual beliefs about religion now, not on the basis of their childhood religion.

Michael Nugent wrote a series of five articles for the Irish Times Rite and Reason column, on atheism and its relationship to reality, morality, faith and Jesus. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

We have continued to take part in public debates, media interviews, etc. on issues relevant to Atheist Ireland and our agenda.

4. Our plans for 2012

During 2012 we plan to continue the work that we are already doing on all of the above issues.

We will be writing a New Year’s letter to every TD and Senator asking them to support the Dublin Declaration on Secularism, and to support a series of five steps to a secular Ireland that will include a secular constitution, education system, lawmaking, government and courts.

We will be campaigning to ensure that the new Government’s proposed constitutional convention takes place on schedule, and that it focuses on the need for a secular constitution without references to gods and religious oaths.

We will be strengthening Atheist Ireland organisationally, including through this Secular Sunday newsletter, regular members meetings and social events, and by setting up local Atheist Ireland groups around the country.

Please get involved and help us to build an ethical and secular Ireland. If you would like to volunteer to spend a few hours a week helping with the above campaigns or with local events in your area, please email us at the address below. Any feedback or suggestions about this newsletter or the organisation in general are welcome.

Until next Sunday, be good and be godless.

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

We also welcome that seven in every ten Irish people want religious education to focus on teaching students about different religions rather than promoting one set of religious beliefs, and that less than two in every ten disagree that this should happen.

It is a fundamental test of democracy that the Government stays strictly neutral on questions of religious and nonreligious philosophical beliefs, thus protecting equally the right of every citizen to freedom of conscience.

We The Citizens is calling for a national Citizens’ Assembly to give ordinary Irish people a structured direct say in our political decisions. You can read the full report on the We The Citizens website.

Atheist Ireland has responded to the interim report of the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism. The Forum is to send its final report to the Minister for Education by the end of December.

We have four overriding recommendations for the final report.

* To comply with your terms of reference, your advice must be stronger and must be enforceable. You are mandated to advise on how best to “ensure” that certain outcomes can happen, not simply on how best to make those outcomes more likely.

* The final report must include effective remedies that enable parents and students to vindicate in practice and law their right to ensure that the education of their children is in conformity with their convictions, as enshrined in Human Rights treaties and based on rulings of the European Court of Human Rights.

* Whatever their model of patronage, the State must ensure that all schools convey all parts of the curriculum in an “objective, critical and pluralistic manner”, as recommended by the Irish Human Rights Commission, as enshrined in the Toledo Guiding Principles, and as ruled on by the ECHR.

* Ensuring “a sufficiently diverse number and range of primary schools catering for all religions and none” must in practice ensure that secular non-denominational schools are widely available in all regions of the State, as noted by the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

We also make other specific recommendations throughout the response, including on ERB, opting out, the right to private and family life and access to schools.

You can read our full response here.

It’s on our campaign website for a secular education, TeachDontPreach.ie.

Atheist Ireland submission to Department of Education on school enrolment

Mary Davis is the first candidate to respond. If you want to help us to establish the other six candidates’ positions on these issues, here are the questions that we have asked them and to the candidates’ postal addresses, email addresses and phone numbers.

Please contact them and remind them to respond to the questions as soon as possible, so that we can make an informed decision when we vote for our next President.

The five questions that we have asked the candidates

1. If elected President, what specifically will you do to ensure that you and the institutions of the State treat atheists and agnostics as equal citizens? What specifically will you do to make atheist and agnostic citizens feel welcome and included under your Presidency?

2. Do you personally agree that, as a President elected by the people, many of whom do not believe in a god, you should be required to publicly ask a god to “direct” you in your work as our President?

3. Are you comfortable with the fact that you are running in an election that excludes many conscientious Irish citizens simply because they do not believe in a god? If elected President, what specifically will you do to try to change this situation?

4. Are you comfortable with the fact that as President your Council of State must exclude many conscientious Irish citizens simply because they do not believe in a god? If elected President, what specifically will you do to try to change this situation?

5. If elected President, will you seek to address the Houses of the Oireachtas and the Nation under Article 13.2 of the Constitution about the following matter of national and public importance: that the Irish State should treat atheist, agnostic and religious citizens and organisations as equal under the law.

How you can remind the candidates to reply

The questions were sent two weeks ago, and were followed up with reminders. The campaigns have each told us that they will reply, but only one has done so to date. In fairness, from the tone of the follow-up contacts, it seems to be because they are busy and not because they are unwilling to reply.

That is why we are now asking other people to remind them, in order to focus their attention on it. Ideally we want to publish the responses together but if there is much more of a delay we will publish those which we have received.

Please ask them to reply either to the postal address on the letter that they received from Atheist Ireland, or by email to chair (at) atheist.ie

You can contact them at:

Sean Gallagher
14 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2
together@seangallagher.com
085-8831155

Michael D Higgins
17 Ely Place, Dublin 2
info@michaeldhiggins.ie
01-6784710

Martin McGuinness
101-102 Capel Street, Dublin 1
admin@thepeoplespresident.ie
01-8740194

Gay Mitchell
Fine Gael, 51 Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2
gay.mitchell@europarl.europa.eu
finegael@finegael.com
01-6198444

Senator David Norris
Seanad Éireann, Kildare Street, Dublin 2
david.norris@oireachtas.ie
01-6183104

Dana Rosemary Scallon
c/o Lindsey Holmes Publicity,
The Rere, 6 Cullenwood Park, Dublin 6
lindsey@lhpublicity.ie
01-4970313

Some background information on the questions

In the 2006 census, almost a quarter of a million people either ticked the ‘No Religion’ box or else did not answer the Religion question. In the 2011 census we believe that figure will be considerably higher.

Yet the Irish State discriminates against atheists and agnostics in many ways. This discrimination includes imposing religious declarations on the President, Judges and members of the Council of State; failing to provide a secular education system that respects the right to freedom of conscience of atheist and agnostic citizens; explicitly allowing religious organisations but not nonreligious philosophical organisations to opt out of equality, employment and taxation laws; and passing a blasphemy law that treats religious beliefs with more respect than nonreligious philosophical beliefs.

Two of these matters relate directly to the role of President.

Under Article 12.8 of the Constitution, the President must, in order to take office, take and subscribe publicly a declaration that begins with the words “In the presence of Almighty God…” and that ends with the words “May God direct and sustain me.” This religious oath effectively prevents Irish citizens who are conscientious atheists or agnostics from becoming President. It is the equivalent of requiring a religious citizen to swear an oath that begins with the words “In the absence of Almighty God…” This requirement runs contrary to case law in the European Court of Human Rights. The State should not require a citizen, even indirectly, to reveal information about their religious beliefs in this way.

Under Article 31 of the Constitution, the President is aided by a Council of State, consisting of certain serving and former politicians and judges, and up to seven other persons appointed at the absolute discretion of the President. The members of the Council of State must, at their first meeting, take and subscribe publicly a declaration that begins with the words “In the presence of Almighty God…” This religious oath effectively prevents Irish citizens who are conscientious atheists or agnostics from serving as members of the Council of State, and it prevents the President from appointing such persons as they would be unable to accept the appointment.