The United Nations is examining Ireland this year under the Universal Periodic Review. This is a unique UN Human Rights Council mechanism, established in 2006, that reviews the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States every four and a half years.

Atheist Ireland has made the following submission to this process.

1. Introduction

About Atheist Ireland

Atheist Ireland is an independent Irish advocacy body with UN Special Consultative Status, and a participant in the Irish State dialogue process with faith and philosophical/non-confessional bodies under Article 17 of the EU Lisbon Treaty.

We promote atheism, reason, and an ethical secular state based on human rights principles. We regularly make submissions to and attend relevant UN human rights reviews of Ireland.

Recommendations

Discrimination

1. Amend the Equal Status Act to protect philosophical beliefs from discrimination in line with Article 18 of the ICCPR.

2. Amend the Equal Status and Employment Equality Acts to remove all forms of discrimination on the ground of religion.

3. Remove all discrimination against secular bodies introduced by the Civil Registration Amendment Act 2012.

4. Improve implementation of laws against discrimination for members of religious minority groups, particularly those with migrants and ethnic or racial minorities.

Freedom of Religion or Belief

5. Commit to holding a referendum to amend the Constitution to remove compulsory religious declarations for public office and replace them with a single neutral declaration compatible with freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief.

Education

6. Ensure that children and parents have real access to neutral and objective education, in accordance with General Comment 22 on Article 18 of the ICCPR, including through non-denominational schools and non-discriminatory exemptions from religious instruction/education.

2. Discrimination

Recommendation 1: Amend the Equal Status Act to protect philosophical beliefs from discrimination in line with Article 18 of the ICCPR.

Reasons: Ireland’s anti-discrimination laws do not protect philosophical beliefs, and nothing material has changed since the last UPR review.

Article 40.1 of the Constitution states that all citizens shall be held equal before the law. However, Section 3-2(e) of the Equal Status Act 2000 defines the religion ground only by reference to religious belief or the absence of religious belief:

“that one has a different religious belief from the other, or that one has a religious belief and the other has not (the “religion ground”),”

This does not expressly protect philosophical beliefs and is inconsistent with General Comment 22, which protects theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief. It is also inconsistent with General Comment 31 on Article 2 of the ICCPR.

The State has not amended the Equal Status Act to align it with this human rights standard.

Recommendation 2: Amend the Equal Status and Employment Equality Acts to remove all forms of discrimination on the ground of religion.

Reasons: Section 7 of the Equal Status Act allows publicly funded second-level schools with a religious ethos to prefer co-religionists. They can also refuse access where they believe and can prove a child will undermine their ethos.

Since the introduction of the Education Admissions to Schools Act 2018 most primary-level schools can no longer give preference to co-religionists. We welcome this. However, they can still refuse access where they believe and can prove a child would undermine their ethos.

Section 37 of the Employment Equality Act obliges teachers in publicly-funded schools to uphold the ethos of the patron:

“A religious, educational or medical institution which is under the direction or control of a body established for religious purposes … shall not be taken to discriminate against a person (if)…

(a) It gives more favourable treatment, on the religion ground, to an employee or a prospective employee over that person where it is reasonable to do so in order to maintain the religious ethos of the institution, or

(b) It takes action which is reasonably necessary to prevent an employee or a prospective employee from undermining the religious ethos of the institution.”

Most Irish schools are under religious patronage, mainly Catholic. Non-Catholic teachers from migrant backgrounds can face barriers accessing the teaching profession because they are obliged to uphold the ethos of the patron body.

Catholic schools may require teachers to hold a Certificate in Religious Studies, and they are obliged under contract to teach Catholic religious instruction.

Because racial and religious discrimination often overlap, this affects religious minorities as well as those with philosophical beliefs.

Recommendation 3: Remove all discrimination against secular bodies introduced in the Civil Registration Amendment Act 2012

Reasons: Irish law discriminates in the solemnisation of marriages, purportedly to protect the institution of marriage.

Under section 3 of the Civil Registration Amendment Act, a body qualifies as a secular body only if it has at least 50 members, has existed for at least five years, maintains a register of members, is a registered charity, does not promote a political cause, and has principal objects that are secular, ethical and humanist. None of these conditions applies to religious bodies.

A key restriction is that a secular body that solemnises marriages cannot promote a political cause. This means that the Humanist Association of Ireland, because it can nominate solemnisers, can no longer promote political causes such as reform of the Constitution, equality law, or the education system.

Recommendation 4: Improve implementation of laws against discrimination for members of religious minority groups, particularly those with migrants and ethnic or racial minorities.

Reason: Articles 18, 26, and 27 of the ICCPR protect faith-based religious minorities through several overlapping guarantees. Articles 2 and 5 of CERD require the State to address overlapping racial or ethnic discrimination. Two such religious minorities in Ireland with migrant members are the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Ireland.

This recommendation is consistent with the last UPR’s recommendation 157.81 from the United States, which Ireland accepted.

Freedom of Religion or Belief

Recommendation 5: Commit to holding a referendum to amend the Constitution to remove compulsory religious declarations for public office and replace them with a single neutral declaration compatible with freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief.

Reason: Ireland’s Constitution requires religious oaths for the President, Judges, and members of the Council of State. These provisions discriminate against non-religious citizens, and against anyone whose conscience does not permit a religious declaration, by attaching religious conditions to public office.

Although Ireland’s UPR reviews have not yet addressed this directly, other UN human rights bodies have done so.

In Shortall & others v Ireland, decided by the European Court in 2021, the application failed because the applicants were not directly affected. However, the Court set out the issues involved and referred specifically to Ireland’s engagement with the UN Human Rights Committee on religious oaths in the Constitution.

Article 44 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of conscience and prohibits discrimination on the ground of religious belief. However, Articles 12, 31 and 34 require office-holders to make declarations beginning with “In the presence of Almighty God”, and in the case of the President and judges ending with “May God direct and sustain me.”

Because the Council of State includes the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Chief Justice, President of the Court of Appeal, President of the High Court, Ceann Comhairle, Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann, and Attorney General, these provisions affect a wide range of public offices.

Education

Recommendation 6: Ensure that children and parents have real access to neutral and objective education, in accordance with General Comment 22 on Article 18 of the ICCPR, including through non-denominational schools and non-discriminatory exemptions from religious instruction/education.

Reasons: At its last UPR, Ireland supported recommendation 157.129 from Czechia:

“Improve the system providing children and their parents a real opportunity to choose from among religious, multi-denominational or non-denominational types of schooling and curricula.”

Since then, Ireland has not opened non-denominational secular schools or ensured access to neutral and objective curricula. It continues to ignore repeated concluding observations over the years from the UN and Council of Europe human rights bodies.

• United Nations Concluding observations on the Irish education system
• Council of Europe Concluding observations on the Irish education system

A Convention on Education has recently been established. The State describes this as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to shape Ireland’s education system. However, no groups representing philosophical beliefs have been invited as stakeholders, despite longstanding UN concern about freedom of conscience, discrimination and equality in education.

The Department of Education and Youth’s Statement of Strategy 2025 – 2028 acknowledges its human rights and equality duties:

“Under Section 42.2 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014, the Department is required to set out in its Statement of Strategy an assessment of the human rights and equality issues that it believes to be relevant to its functions and purpose as well as the actions that it is currently taking or proposes to take to address those issues.”

However, the Department includes no goals in relation to the right to freedom of conscience of minorities in publicly funded schools.

The State ‘Provides For’ Education through Private Patron Bodies

Under Article 42.4 of the Constitution, the State ‘provides for’ rather than directly provides education:

“The State shall provide for free primary education and shall endeavour to supplement and give reasonable aid to private and corporate educational initiative, and, when the public good requires it, provide other educational facilities or institutions with due regard, however, for the rights of parents, especially in the matter of religious and moral formation.”

In practice, the State has chosen to do so through private patron bodies.

Section 8 of the Education Act 1998 reflects this position. Patron bodies are legally recognised and registered with the Department of Education as the patron of various schools at primary and second level.

There are no non-denominational schools with a secular ethos at either level.

Primary Level Schools

88.3% Catholic
6.2% Other religions, mainly Church of Ireland
5.5% Multi-denominational
0% Non-denominational

Second Level Schools

47% Catholic
29% Multi-denominational
20% Interdenominational
4% Other religions
0% Non-denominational

Patrons’ Programmes on Religion

Under Section 15-2(b) of the Education Act 1998, Boards of Management must uphold the ‘Characteristic Spirit’ (ethos) of the patron of the school.

Patron bodies may design and implement their own course/programme in accordance with that ethos. Under Section 30-2-(d), time is left during the school day for instruction reflecting it. That time slot is about two hours per week.

The New Primary School Framework says the patron’s programme forms part of children’s learning experience. There is no State inspection of patron’s programmes.

The ethos is not confined to the patron’s programme. It can permeate the whole State curriculum and the general atmosphere of the school. There is no legal guarantee that the State curriculum will be neutral and objective and in accordance with human rights law.

Neither the State nor any patron body claims that its patron’s programme is neutral and objective and in line with human rights law (General Comment 22 on Article 18 ICCPR).

State Religious Education Course

At second level the State’s Religious Education course is not a neutral and objective course about religions and beliefs. Denominational schools may also integrate their own patron’s programme into that course and present it as suitable for all children.

Of religion and belief groups, only Christian groups were represented on the committee that developed the course.

Section 15-2(e) of the Education Act 1998 obliges school Boards of Management to respect and promote respect for the diversity of values, beliefs, traditions, languages and ways of life in society. However, there are no statutory guidelines on how schools must protect the rights of minorities in practice.

Louise O’Keeffe case at the European Court

The broader structure of the system was outlined by the European Court of Human Rights in Louise O’Keeffe v Ireland, where the Court held that the State could not avoid its Convention obligations by delegating them to private bodies or individuals.

IHREC has since told the Council of Europe nine times that the State has failed to implement this judgment through a redress scheme.

Also, the State not accepted equivalent responsibility for protecting the freedom of religion or belief of minority families compelled to use publicly funded schools under patron bodies.

Non-discriminatory Exemptions

Article 44.2.4 of the Constitution protects the right of a child to attend a publicly funded school without attending religious instruction:

“Legislation providing State aid for schools shall not discriminate between schools under the management of different religious denominations, nor be such as to affect prejudicially the right of any child to attend a school receiving public money without attending religious instruction at that school.”

Section 30(2)(e) of the Education Act 1998 reflects this principle for all schools:

“the Minister shall not require any student to attend instruction in any subject which is contrary to the conscience of the parent….”

Section 7 of the Intermediate Education (Ireland) Act 1878, states that no funds shall be given to schools if any child attends religious instruction that is against the conscience of the Parent. This only applies to second level schools.

Section 62-7(n) of the Education Admissions to schools Act 2018 requires schools to state in their admissions policies the arrangements for not attending religious instruction. However, there are no Statutory Guidelines to reflects this legislation.

The Minister leaves it up to each school to implement this legislation according to its own ethos. In practice, schools have refused to comply with this law and the State has ignored this issue.

All of this results in the following discriminatory treatment:

• No access to a neutral and objective studying environment.
• No inspection of patron’s religion or ethics programmes.
• Our children are left sitting in the religion class as no supervision is provided.
• No other subject is offered during this time and consequently our children get less teaching time because of our families’ conscientious objections.
• At second level our children receive fewer exam points, as Religion is an exam subject.
• Religion is integrated into the State curriculum.

The Department of Education survey that shows 40% of parents want multi-denominational schools is a distraction. Our human right to an objective education should not be subject to the preferences of our neighbours. Also, the survey was misleading, only giving parents an option to choose between two types of religious schools, with one type falsely implied to be non-religious. And the Minister has confirmed that, ultimately, it is the patron bodies that will have the final say.

Secular schools based on human rights should be the default in any neighbourhood. Any local child should have equal access, and have their rights respected, regardless of anybody’s religious or nonreligious beliefs. The school should teach objectively about all religions and beliefs, without promoting either religion or atheism. The UN has repeatedly told Ireland to open such schools.

This survey used the misleading question “Would you prefer your primary school to operate under a denominational (religious) patron or to operate under a multi-denominational (non-religious) patron?” But multi-denominational is not the same as non-religious.

The relevant issue is not the religious makeup of the patron body, but the ethos of the school. Multi-denominational schools can have a Catholic chaplain, religious worship, their own religion and ethics courses, and celebrate religious festivals.

The Forum on Patronage described non-denominational schools as under the patronage of a secular body which has an explicitly secular ethos. There are no such schools in Ireland, the option was not included in the survey, and the state has no plans to open any.

The process itself was also biased. Denominational patron bodies could email all parents encouraging them to prefer the status quo. Even given that, only 40% responded, so the true figure of those who want the status quo to continue is just under a quarter. But, to repeat, the Minister has confirmed that, ultimately, it is the patron bodies that will have the final say.

Atheist Ireland will continue to campaign for a secular state education system that respects human rights, regardless of the religious or nonreligious beliefs of parents, children, staff, or board members. Religious parents should of course be able to open their own schools as alternative options, but not as the core of a state-funded system.

Five years ago, the government proposed a new public holiday to mark the heroism of frontline workers during Covid, and to remember those who died during the pandemic. This was a welcome symbol of national grief, dedication, and resilience.

Instead, the idea morphed into a once-off public holiday in 2022 dedicated to the Covid workers, turning into an ongoing public holiday from 2023 dedicated to Saint Brigid and the Pagan Spring celebration of Imbolc which is associated with the earlier Pagan goddess Brigit.

There was no need to bring religion into this commemoration, never mind allow religion to hijack it. When the healthcare workers were protecting us from Covid, nobody was applauding Saint Brigid or the goddess Brigit. We were applauding the dedication and selflessness of human healthcare professionals.

Saint Brigid has a potent symbolism in Irish culture, which is Christian evangelism. She supposedly wove a Christian cross out of rushes to convert a Pagan chieftain into Christianity as he was dying. That is exactly the wrong message to convey about the Ireland of today.

This Christian conversion myth is particularly ironic in the context of the most recent Irish marriage figures. Four in ten Irish marriages are now secular. This is twice as many as twenty years ago. Just over a third of Irish marriages are now Christian. This is down from a massive eighty percent twenty years ago.

Most significantly, almost a quarter of Irish marriages are now some variation of Spiritualist, Pagan, or Celtic. This is up from zero twenty years ago. If this trend continues, it could overtake Christian marriages, and be the second most popular type behind secular.

Some supporters of the new holiday argue that Saint Brigid is female, and balances the male Saint Patrick’s Day. But adding a new saint does not balance an existing saint. It just reinforces the anachronistic idea that we all identify with mythological saints that are already over-represented on our calendar.

Remember, the government first proposed this as a public holiday to recognise frontline health workers. If they wanted to also celebrate a woman, they could have chosen, for example, Dublin physician Dorothy Stopford Price (1890-1954), a pioneer of the BCG vaccine that was central to the elimination of childhood Tuberculosis in Ireland.

Instead we have yet another religious holiday, around which state-funded schools teach children to make Saint Brigid’s crosses and bring them home to their families. But if state-funded schools forced even one Christian child to make an atheist symbol and bring it home, we would never hear the end of it.

This assists the overt mission of the Catholic church, as described by Pope Francis: “It is imperative to evangelise cultures in order to inculturate the Gospel.” It’s like our parliamentarians starting each day praying to the Christian God, and the free advert that RTE gives to the Catholic church each day in the form of the Angelus.

Ending this religious background noise is not as important as achieving secular education or removing the religious oath for President, Taoiseach, and Judges. But it remains on the agenda as something that needs to be changed to reflect the pluralist Ireland that we now inhabit.

Is atheism a belief, but a different type of belief than religious faith? Or is it merely a lack of belief in gods, and nothing more? Let’s start with what ‘belief’ means:

• In everyday talk, ‘belief’ often means accepting a claim as true.
• In philosophy, ‘belief’ can mean any position about a claim (belief, disbelief, suspension).
• In human rights law, ‘belief’ means a nonreligious philosophical conviction.

And then what ‘atheism’ means:

• In everyday talk and philosophically, ‘atheism’ can be anything on a spectrum from passively not believing in gods, to actively believing there are no gods.
• Under human rights law, ‘atheism’ is protected as a nonreligious philosophical conviction.

How did the word ‘atheism’ evolve?

The word ‘atheism’ was not introduced to counter the word ‘theism’. It was used long before the word ‘theism’ was formally used in Western languages.

It was first used in ancient Greece, combining the prefix ‘a’ (without) and the word ‘theos’ (god), so it meant without god, or godless. Note, not without ‘a belief in god’, but without ‘god’.

Most people assumed that gods existed, and gods were the source of morality, so atheists were godless, meaning impious or immoral, and without a connection with god.

‘Atheist’ also meant being without the official gods of an area and era. This included mostly people who believed in other gods, so many ancient Romans called early Christians atheists.

Some people who didn’t believe in gods later adopted it as a description of their own philosophical position.

Today, few people use the word atheism to mean impious or immoral, or to mean believing in a different god to the traditional one.

Today, most people use the word atheism to mean any of the following:

• Weak atheism: passively not believing that any gods exist (‘I don’t believe in gods’).
• Strong atheism: actively believing that no gods exist (‘I believe there are no gods’).
• Legal context: under ‘freedom of religion or belief,’ atheism is protected as a nonreligious philosophical conviction.

The arguments for atheism not being a belief

Here are arguments some atheists use to claim that atheism is not a belief, but merely a lack of belief in gods.

• Some argue (on etymological grounds): the word ‘atheism’ comes from the word ‘atheos’, which they take to mean ‘without belief in god’. They say that is all that atheists have in common, and anything else you add to that is not part of the meaning.
• Some say: A religious person says ‘I believe in God’. I respond: ‘Prove it. If you can’t prove it, I don’t believe you. I’m not making any claims myself, I’m just rejecting yours.’
• Some say: ‘A religious person says ‘atheism is a belief, just like religion is.’ I respond: ‘I’m not saying anything about my beliefs. I’m just saying that I don’t share that one particular belief of yours.’
• Some say: ‘A religious person says atheism is a religion’. I respond: ‘Atheism is a religion like bald is a hair colour, or like not collecting stamps is a hobby.’

One advantage for atheists of framing atheism as ‘lack of belief’ is that it places the burden of proof on the person making the god-claim. If you merely reject their claim, you don’t owe a full alternative theory. If you assert ‘no gods exist,’ you do owe reasons.

The arguments for atheism being a belief

Here are arguments some atheists use to claim that atheism is a belief, but a more reliable belief than faith-based beliefs.

• The word ‘atheos’ does not literally mean ‘without a belief in god’. It literally means ‘without god’. Its everyday meaning has evolved over time.
• There is nothing wrong with having and defending beliefs. The problem with religious beliefs is not that they are beliefs, but that they are based on faith.
• In ordinary language, everything you think about the truth or otherwise of a proposition is a belief. Even the belief that atheism is not a belief is itself a belief.
• In practice, atheists do have more in common than a lack of belief in gods. We have many different beliefs about reality and morality, but we live our lives on the basis that our reasons and standards of justification do not come from gods. This is a necessary consequence of atheism, not merely a correlation, and it is a significant position in a world where most people believe the opposite.

One disadvantage for atheists of this type of argument is that the atheist has some onus of proof for his or her position. However, we should be confident enough of our position to defend it by applying reason to evidence.

One advantage for atheists of this type of argument is that, when applied to international human rights law, it affords the same legal protection to atheists as to religious people under freedom of religion or belief.

Where does agnosticism fit in?

Many people believe agnosticism is an ‘I-don’t-know’ midway point between theism and atheism. However, atheism and theism are about what you believe, while agnosticism is about what you claim to be able to know.

So you can be:

• A gnostic atheist (I don’t believe in gods, and also claim to know that’s true)
• An agnostic atheist (I don’t believe in gods, but don’t claim to know that’s true)
• An agnostic theist (I believe in gods, but don’t claim to know that’s true)
• A gnostic theist (I believe in gods, and also claim to know that’s true)

An agnostic strong atheist might almost 100% actively believe there are no gods, based on applying reason to the best evidence, and lead his or her life based on that belief, but not claim to know there are no gods, because we are human and might be mistaken.

Atheism under human rights law

Words can mean different things in different contexts. Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights, guarantee the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

This is sometimes referred to as the right to freedom of religion or belief. The ‘or belief’ part refers to nonreligious philosophical convictions, which include atheism, humanism, secularism, veganism, pacifism, and others.

You have an absolute right to have, change, or reject a religion or belief. The law can limit your right to practice your religion or belief, if it is necessary in a democratic society and in pursuit of a legitimate aim.

For a ‘belief’ to be protected under human rights law, it must:

• Be genuinely held
• Relate to a weighty aspect of life
• Have a high degree of cogency/seriousness/cohesion
• Be worthy of respect in a democratic society
• Be more than a mere opinion or viewpoint

Conclusion

Ultimately, the word ‘atheism’ has a range of possible meanings, and there is no official uncontested definition. The fairest definition would be something like:

In ordinary language, ‘atheism’ is used in two common ways: (1) not believing that any gods exist, and (2) believing that no gods exist. In the context of human rights law, atheism is protected as a nonreligious philosophical conviction.

There is no advantage to atheists, holding any of these positions, arguing that ours is the only official uncontested definition. That won’t change the reality that different beliefs about the meaning of the word ‘atheism’ exist.

Whichever beliefs we hold about reality and morality, we can agree that atheism removes one obstacle to rational thinking and morality. It removes the distorting factor, based on faith and dogma, of believing that our understanding of reality is revealed by gods and that our morality is dictated by gods.

Some atheists will fall back on secular faiths and dogmas, from communism and fascism to market fundamentalism, and some will just act opportunistically for selfish reasons. But atheism does free us up to some extent to pursue truth and morality more reliably.

The goal of this article isn’t to police labels, but to clarify what people mean, so we can argue about substance instead of semantics.

We should try to be the opposite of arrogant in our beliefs. We should recognise that we might be mistaken, and we should be open to new evidence and rational arguments, including robust debate.

Yesterday, a publication posted a video on X of asylum seekers outside the Dail on International Human Rights Day. It said they were demanding Irish passports, and the clip was captioned to suggest the crowd was chanting: ‘We want passports!’ The replies were, predictably, angry and abusive.

The problem is, the chant doesn’t sound like ‘We want passports’. It’s more like one of those misheard-lyrics routines, where a comedian tells you what he hears and suddenly you can’t un-hear it. Think of ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen’, with ‘young and sweet, only seventeen’ turning into ‘young and sweet, only seven teeth’.

The audio on this video is poor. I couldn’t clearly make out what the crowd was chanting. But it seemed unlikely that asylum seekers would be publicly demanding passports in this way. I slowed it down, and it sounded even less distinct. Yet sixty thousand had already seen the post, and hundreds were angrily commenting on the assumption that of course that’s what being said.

So I looked for context. The Irish Times report on the rally said a group called End Direct Provision Ireland was seeking an amnesty for 1,500 asylum seekers who have been in the process for longer than six months. They were asking for what’s called Stamp 4 temporary permission to live and work in Ireland.

With that in mind, I listened again. Even given the poor-quality audio, it now seemed overwhelmingly likely that the chant was ‘We want stamp 4’. The context fits perfectly. By contrast, the ‘passports’ caption seemed to be generating false outrage rather than conveying truth or understanding.

So what is a stamp 4? It allows certain non-EEA nationals to live and work in Ireland without a work permit. It is typically granted for two years, and can be renewed if the person continues to meet the criteria, which can include refugee or subsidiary protection status.

The Irish Times report quotes the organisers as saying their members deserved the opportunity to live without constant fear of deportation and to demonstrate their societal value: ‘We’re asking for a chance now to get out of limbo. To have the chance to contribute to the society that we now call home.’

Could I be fooling myself with my own confirmation bias? I checked further. I found a Facebook update from Honore Kamegni, former Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork, who was at the rally. His update begins: ‘Stop deportation! We want stamp 4!’ That surely settled the issue of what the chant was.

Seeking a stamp 4 is very different from demanding ‘We want passports!’ The post on X turned a request for a specific existing temporary permission into an unreasonable demand for citizenship now. Predictably, this provoked anger in people already inclined to be angry.

In real life, on all sides of most issues, most people are promoting what they sincerely believe to be best for society, whether they are correct or mistaken. Online discourse can create the opposite impression, as social media algorithms push the loudest and angriest voices to the top.

Whatever you think about the level of migration to Ireland, the difference between migration and asylum, and the impact of both on society, we should be able to discuss these questions with reason and empathy for everybody. This means focusing on how to resolve real problems, and refusing to abuse people simply because they see things differently from us.

Seamus McKenna, an early member of Atheist Ireland, has had hundreds of short letters published in the Irish Times over nearly fifty years. He has now compiled them in a fascinating book, the Reconstitution of Ireland. You can buy it at Amazon.

Seamus is a principled contrarian with a snappy writing style. He starts each section with a memoir-style introduction about how he experienced life in a changing Ireland. For authenticity, some letters are printed as images, as they appeared in the paper.

His topics range from the Irish clerical staples of divorce, contraception, abortion, education, and abuse, to the Northern Irish Troubles, the financial crash, international affairs, and whimsical trivia. But the thread that holds it together is the need to separate church and state.

In tight 200-300-word pieces, Seamus argues that church control of state-funded schools, with religion permeating the school day through an integrated curriculum, and religious oaths for President and judges, are incompatible with a modern republic.

His letters follow the slow decline of church control of sexual morality, from the McGee case on contraception and his own move to Derry to obtain a UK divorce that was illegal here, to the referendums that made abortion and blasphemy constitutionally lawful.

Having lived in Derry during the Troubles, he describes how the IRA murdered his friend Terence McKeever for doing electrical work for the RUC. Having worked in property development during the Celtic Tiger, he covers the EU, the financial crash, the Troika, and austerity.

True to the often quirky nature of Irish Times letters, he examines the relative merits of wine corks versus screw-caps, promotes books as props for reading the newspaper at breakfast, and engages in a detailed readers’ debate on the physics of raindrops.

His advice to letter-writers: avoid preambles, keep the letter short, and write on one subject. Also, compose and send it immediately you become aware of the trigger, even if you have to break off from your breakfast to write it.

As a declaration of interest, Seamus refers positively to the work of Atheist Ireland in his letters and his book. He also wrote an article for Atheist Ireland following the Mother and Baby Homes report in 2021. You can read that article here.

The Dublin Winter Lights Festival is illuminating the city until 21 December, transforming iconic landmarks, buildings and bridges. There are light displays at the GPO, Dublin Castle, Merrion Square Park, the River Liffey, and elsewhere.

This City Council arts project is part of a global cultural genre of Winter Lights festivals from Berlin to Beijing and Sydney to Cincinnati. They all use light displays to brighten and bring warmth to the cities during the dark and cold days of winter.

Here are links to twenty other examples around the world. Check them out!

Sample Other Winter Lights Festivals in Europe

Berlin Festival of Lights, Germany
8-25 October 2025
The festival features light productions on world-famous landmarks, monuments, buildings, and squares. The 20th annual festival in 2024 was themed freedom, 35 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Luci d’Artista, Turin, Italy
24 October 2025 – 11 January 2026
Every year, during the winter period, Torino is transformed into an open-air laboratory of light installations by great Italian and international artists. In recent years, Luci d’Artista has evolved into a true institution of contemporary art, now active throughout the year.

Amsterdam Light Festival, Netherlands
27 November 2025 – January 18 2026
Since 2012, Amsterdam Light Festival illuminates the iconic canals of Amsterdam. Every winter, unique light artworks illuminate the city. This year is dedicated to the theme of Legacy, both major historical events and the continuation of family traditions, shared memories, and customs.

Fête des Lumières, Lyon, France
5-8 December 2025
When Lyon is dressed in lights, everybody comes down into the streets to take in the sights. The facades of the city’s most beautiful buildings spring to life under the lights of projectors, and the people of Lyon place ‘lumignons’ (small lanterns) on their windowsills and balconies.

Lux Helsinki, Finland
6-11 January 2026
Lux Helsinki is a five-day light festival in the centre of Helsinki, held annually at the beginning of January. The festival showcases diverse light art along a new route each year. It features new works and popular international installations, drawing over half a million visitors annually.

Winter Lights at Canary Wharf, UK
20-31 January 2026
The Winter Lights festival showcases exceptional light artwork from acclaimed artists and studios around the world. Next year’s festival will follow the theme of Dreamscape, taking our visitors on a journey through surreal, ethereal and uniquely human experiences.

Vilnius Light Festival, Lithuania
23-25 January 2026
During the festival, the central part of Vilnius is transformed into a large open-air gallery of modern light art. New media art, the synthesis of light and architecture transforms the city’s streets, squares and public spaces, revealing the full charm of Vilnius.

Copenhagen Light Festival, Denmark
30 January – 22 February 2026
An annual light festival that transforms the quiet and cold winter darkness into a unique celebration of light art, lighting design, and illumination. It highlights Danish expertise in art, sustainability, and lighting culture during the darkest and even the coldest time of the year.

Bright Brussels Light Festival, Belgium
12-15 February 2026
For ten years now, the Bright Brussels Festival has been lighting up your winter evenings! And for this anniversary edition, a majestic illuminated trail through the historic centre of the capital. Get ready for an unforgettable nocturnal journey, filled with poetic moments.

Reykjavík Winter Lights Festival, Iceland
5-8 February 2026
An annual event that stimulates city life in midwinter. The Festival celebrates both the winter world and the growing light after a long period of darkness. The program is a mixture of art and industry, environment and history, and sports and culture, for Reykjavík’s locals and guests alike.

Sample Other Winter Lights Festivals outside Europe

Beijing Chaoyang Light Festival, China
26 September – 31 October 2025
At the Beijing Olympic Center, the light shows projected on Yang Mountain, the water curtain and the light show of the Olympic Tower dazzle visitors, alongside a spectacular musical fountain 125 meters in width and 30 meters high.

Festival of Lights, St. Petersburg, Russia
November 2025
As the days shorten and the amber leaves of fall flutter to the ground, this festival of lights stands as a beacon of creativity, infusing the historic city with a modern vibrancy. It includes 2D and 3D video mapping, light projections, light beams ,and audiovisual displays.

Osaka Festival of the Lights, Japan
3 November 2025 – 31 January 2026
Light Art Spreading Across the Riverside of Nakanoshima. Step into the Museum of Light, appearing only in Nakanoshima’s winter. This year, in addition to diverse light displays, visitors can also enjoy a gourmet and craft market, a digital stamp rally, and many other attractions.

Winter Lights at the North Carolina Arboretum, USA
15 November 2025 – 4 January 2026
Winter Lights is a spectacular open-air walk-through light show made from over one million lights. This year’s event features favourites like the famously tall 50-foot lighted tree and the Quilt Garden, along with enchanting new details designed to delight and surprise.

Winter Festival of Lights, Niagara Falls, Canada
15 November 2025 – 4 January 2026
To celebrate the beauty and majesty of the winter season, an illumination light show ‘Sparkling Winter Lights’ features the subtle and sometimes harsh movements inspired by winter, from gentle snowfalls and the aurora borealis to blizzards and the frosted falls.

Lumino, Montreal, Canada
27 November 2025 – 8 March 2026
Montreal’s must-see winter event, returning for its 16th edition. From November to March, let yourself be captivated by a dazzling luminous program that evolves and grows richer throughout the winter season, and brings warmth to cold nights in downtown Montreal and the Quartier des Spectacles.

Portland Winter Light Festival, USA
6-14 February 2026
Lighting up the darkest days of winter, this year’s theme explores how the smallest things can carry great weight. A tiny stone can reflect light, and one memory can set you on a path to the future. Light becomes a guide, revealing what is hidden and honouring what is overlooked.

Vivid Sydney, Australia
22 May – 13 June 2026
Vivid Sydney is an annual celebration of creativity, innovation and technology. The city comes to life with awe-inspiring art installations and 3D light projections, lighting the way to inspiring talks, immersive performances, live music and culinary experiences.

i Light Singapore
29 May – 21 June 2025, calls open for 2026
Asia’s leading light festival, i Light Singapore showcases light art installations created by Singaporean and international artists. These artworks are designed to encourage festival goers and the general public to adopt sustainable habits in their everyday lives.

Blink, Cincinnati, USA
8-11 October 2026
Blink is a biennial celebration of public art and light that spans the urban core of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. The largest of its kind in USA, the festival’s mission is to nurture a sense of community, connection and inspiration through the medium of public art.

Some Christians including Peadar Tóibín TD want Dublin City Council’s Winter Lights to be renamed Christmas Lights.

This is not about people changing a religious festival to a secular one. It is about some Christians trying to force a religious meaning onto a secular display of art projects.

There’s no problem using the word ‘Christmas’ in a secular sense. We can say ‘Goodbye’ without meaning ‘God be with you’ and we can do things on Thursday without celebrating Thor.

It would also be okay for the City Council to use the word Christmas in a secular sense. That would only be a problem if the Council was overtly pushing religion during a secular festival.

It’s also a problem that the State funds the Catholic church to run our schools, and makes the President swear a religious oath, and that RTÉ broadcasts a Catholic call to prayer every day at prime time.

But that’s not what is happening here. This is what the issue is:

• Dublin City Council has organised The Dublin Winter Lights since 2018. It’s never been called Christmas lights.
• It’s a series of interactive light installations, artwork projections, landmarks and city-centre experiences, with no reference to religious worship or faith communities.
• It’s not about Christmas, but about winter, which is dark and suitable for light displays. And it’s not just for Christians, but for everybody, regardless of their religious or nonreligious beliefs.
• The traditional Christmas lights are still operating, and still run through the DublinTown business levy. Dublin Winter Lights is a separate project that lights up bridges and landmark buildings.

Evolution of the secular word Christmas

Traditions evolve over time, and part of the tradition of Christmas today is debating whether the word ‘Christmas’ is religious or secular.

• Long before Christianity, Pagans and Norse had midwinter festivals to celebrate the turn of the seasons and rebirth of life.
• Three centuries after Jesus, Christians decided to celebrate his birth on the same date as these winter festivals, to help people to convert more easily.
• The word ‘Cristes Maesse’ was first used in Old English around the eleventh century, and became ‘Christmas’ around the sixteenth century.
• In the western world, the tradition of giving gifts also started around then, followed by Christmas cards around the nineteenth century.
• In the 1930s, Coca Cola rebranded Santa Claus as a plump red-suited man with a white beard.

In Ireland today, ‘Christmas’ now has two meanings:

• Some Christians primarily celebrate what they believe to be the birth of Jesus.
• Most people celebrate a secular mid-winter break where we meet family and exchange gifts.

What matters is what happens, not the word

It’s not a problem for the City Council to use the word Christmas in a secular sense. There would only be a problem if the Council was overtly pushing religion during a secular event. Examples of such problems in Ireland include:

• The state funding the Catholic church to run nearly all of our primary schools, with exemptions from our equality laws to allow them to discriminate.
• The state forcing the President, judges, and Taoiseach to swear a religious oath to take office. There is nothing secular about asking God to direct and sustain you.
• RTE broadcasting the Angelus, which is an explicitly Catholic call to prayer, on prime time television every day.

But this issue is the opposite of that. It is some Christians trying to force a religious meaning onto a secular display of art projects.

The video below is John Hamill and I discussing the issue on Newstalk Radio yesterday. Happy secular Christmas!

Twelve years ago this month, at the Oxford Union, I proposed the motion that religion harms society. It’s still relevant today.

For context, religion also helps society, and secular ideologies also harm society. In proposing this motion, I focus on how religion harms society.

Religion harms society

In the 1970s, the IRA used condoms as part of the internal mechanisms of their bombs, and some IRA members were opposed to using condoms on moral grounds.

Today in Belfast, the Health Minister is a Young Earth Creationist who rejects evolution. The High Court has just found him to be irrational for banning gay men from giving blood.

Today in Rome, the Vatican still protects priests who have raped children. And Irish State Tribunals have found that Catholic Bishops have positively lied and deliberately misled.

Today in Pakistan, Asia Bibi, a Christian mother, faces execution by hanging for allegedly blaspheming against Muhammad. And two politicians who defended her have been murdered – one by his own bodyguard.

Today in Wisconsin, two parents have been jailed for reckless homicide, because they prayed over their dying child instead of calling an ambulance.

Recently, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor told the BBC that atheists are not fully human.

Religion corrupts our sense of reality, and it corrupts our sense of morality, and these two corruptions combine to harm society and to cause terrible suffering.

Firstly, religion corrupts our sense of reality.

It encourages us to believe implausible and untestable assertions on faith, by which I mean believing things because we want to believe them, disproportionately to the evidence.

But before I get into that, I have some good news for all of you. I spoke today with Bill Gates of Microsoft, and he is going to give each of you ten million dollars if you vote with me on this motion. Now, none of you believe that is true. You know that I am making it up.

But if I told you instead that I have some good news for all of you, that I spoke today with the creator of the universe, and that he will give each of you an eternity in paradise if you do what I say … Well, some of you here might believe me. Certainly, many people around the world would believe me.

That is because because religion corrupts our sense of reality.

We normally believe that claims are true or false by assessing the available evidence. And as claims become increasingly implausible, we proportionately raise the bar of the evidence that we require.

But with religion, we do the opposite. As the claims become increasingly implausible, we instead lower the bar of the evidence that we require.

Because religion encourages us to believe not only implausible claims, but literally untestable claims. And then it insists that we live our lives on the basis of these untestable claims.

Compare this with secular faiths that cause harm, such as faith in fascism, communism or the unregulated free market. Eventually these faiths bump into reality, and we realise they are not working. But religious faith hides its testability in an imaginary afterlife.

Secondly, religion corrupts our sense of morality.

Morality is a natural function of our brains. It has evolved in the brains of social animals, including humans, because both cooperation and competition help us to survive.

In recent generations, we have refined our sense of morality. We increasingly respect individual conscience, personal rights, and the rights of non-human animals.

It is already hard enough to find the best balance between the requirements compassion, empathy, suffering, wellbeing, cooperation, reciprocity, fairness and justice.

But religion corrupts this already-difficult process by adding in invented supernatural commands that are unrelated to compassion, suffering or justice.

And religion insists that our natural morality is trumped by what some people believe that the creator of the universe is telling them to enforce on the rest of us.

And so many Catholics justify denying condoms to AIDS victims in Africa. And many Muslims justify the claim in the Quran that husbands can beat their wives.

And last year, when an Irish hospital denied an abortion requested by Savita Halappanavar, whose fetus had no chance of survival, and who ended up dying herself, her husband was told in the hospital that Ireland is a Catholic country.

Not only is religion not needed for morality, but religion actively corrupts morality.

Finally, please keep your focus on the motion.

Don’t be distracted by claims that religion can also do good. That is true, and it is also true that religion harms society.

Don’t be distracted by claims that secular ideologies can also do bad. That is true, and it is also true that religion harms society.

Today you are asked whether religion harms society, not whether religion also does good, and not whether other things also do bad.

However implausible the idea may be that I spoke to Bill Gates today, it is surely even more implausible that a supreme being created a universe of a thousand billion galaxies, each of which contains a hundred billion stars like our sun, so that he could tell one member of one species on one planet to stone a man to death for gathering sticks on the Sabbath, and then impregnate a virgin in order to give birth to himself, and give Muhammad a ride on a flying horse, and appear in Joseph Smith’s hat in order to attire him in magic underwear.

And on the basis of invented and untestable absurdities like this, Asia Bibi is today languishing in a prison cell in Pakistan, waiting to be executed by hanging for allegedly blaspheming against Muhammad.

Religion corrupts our sense of reality, and it corrupts our sense of morality, and these two corruptions combine to harm society and to cause terrible suffering.

I propose the motion.

Yesterday, alone in my telly room, I jumped in the air and screamed louder than a Spinal Tap amp that goes up to eleven, when Troy Parrott scored his last-gasp winner against Hungary.

Minutes later, I cried along with Troy, as he was interviewed wiping tears from his eyes with his football shirt. This is why football is the beautiful game.

Every fan has a store of such crazy memories, when real life melts away before the magical world of fully-grown adults kicking a ball around a field for ninety minutes.

Half of my top ten magical moments came in my childhood.

• 1970, on our old black-and-white telly. Brazil v Italy, Mexico World Cup final. Pelé strokes the ball into empty space. From off-screen, Carlos Alberto hurtles in and slams a low shot home.
• 1972, on our new colour telly. Leeds v Arsenal, centenary FA Cup final. My dad is fifty, exactly half the age of the FA Cup. Mick Jones crosses for Sniffer Clarke to score with a diving header.
• 1974, Dalymount. Ireland v USSR, Euro qualifier. I’m crushed in the crowd as Don Givens scores a hat-trick for Ireland to surprisingly beat the mighty Soviets.
• 1976, Dalymount. Bohs v Waterford, League of Ireland. We’re down to nine men, but God-of-Goals Turly scores twice as we beat a Waterford side that includes World Cup winner Bobby Charlton.
• 1977, Dalymount. Ireland v League of Ireland, friendly. Us against ourselves. The boisterous shed end divides between fans chanting for Ireland and the League of Ireland. I support the local heroes I watch every week.

The other five brought adult me back to childhood:

• 1984, Dalymount. Bohs v Rangers, UEFA Cup. My part-time heroes beat the pros of Glasgow Rangers, as world war three erupts on the terraces.
• 1990, College Green. Half a million welcome the Boys in Green home from the Italy World Cup. The culmination of the crazy summer that made soccer an Irish obsession.
• 1998, Paris. France v Brazil, World Cup final. Zenedine Zidane heads home a corner, which I photograph from the stands with a ‘camera’. This is a physical object, not an app.
• 2002, City West Hotel. Reunion dinner for the Leeds 1972 FA Cup winners. I return to childhood, pestering middle-aged men to autograph a replica programme.
• 2016, England. Leicester City win the Premier League. In a game now dominated by insane amounts of money, the shock champions started as 5,000-1 outsiders.

I could easily double that list (Radford v Newcastle, Clarke v QPR, Shelly v Drogheda, Turly v Sligo, Kempes v Netherlands, Packie v Romania, Houghton v Italy, Ryan v Shels, Aguero v QPR; Hernandez v Swansea).

But these are my unfiltered, stream-of-consciousness, top ten football memories, so I’ll stick with them until I change them.

And yesterday’s edition of Troy of the Rovers is up there with the best of them. A must-win away game, days after toppling Portugal made it mean anything.

One down after three minutes. A defiant peno, then behind again. A late second leveller, and relentless pressure. The dreaded Irish moral victory looms.

With seconds left, Troy completes his hat-trick. Yes!!!! It’s the best real Irish victory in decades, with the promise of more to come. Olé, Olé-Olé-Olé, Olé, Olé.