Who should you vote for if you want State-run schools to respect the rights of atheists and secularists?

by Michael Nugent on May 22, 2019

This Friday, 24th May, we will elect Local Councillors, who will also be members of Education and Training Boards and the Boards of Management of ETB Schools.

Three weeks ago, Atheist Ireland wrote to all political parties, asking them to support the right of students to attend ETB schools without attending religion classes, and for students who do not attend religion classes to be given an alternative timetabled subject.

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Donegal ETB, in Minister for Education’s constituency, unlawfully coerces students into religion classes

April 24, 2019

Atheist Ireland has obtained under the Freedom of Information Act an email and letter from last September, from Donegal Education and Training Board, in the Minister for Education’s constituency. In that internal exchange, the ETB’s Director of Schools advised Moville Community College to “write to the parents of the opt out students and get them […]

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Atheist Ireland holds protest outside TUI National Congress to protect the right to opt out of religion class

April 24, 2019

Atheist Ireland is today holding a protest outside the Teachers Union of Ireland National Congress in the INEC Centre in Killarney, Kerry, to coincide with the Minister for Education, Joe McHugh, addressing the conference. We are highlighting two things: The Teachers Union of Ireland refused to implement a lawful directive from the Department, that gave […]

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Jane Donnelly, Armin Navabi, and Freedom From Religion Foundation given Atheist of the Year Awards

March 31, 2019

Jane Donnelly of Atheist Ireland was given the Atheist and Feminist of the Year award at the 2019 International Days of Atheism conference in Warsaw, Poland, this weekend. Armin Navabi, founder of Atheist Republic, was named individual Atheist of the Year, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation in USA got the group award.

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Speech in Poland – Review of the Campaign Against the Irish Blasphemy Law

March 29, 2019

I gave this speech today, Friday 29 March 2019, at the Days of Atheism Conference in Warsaw, Poland. When Atheist Ireland was founded ten years ago, our first task was simply to normalise the use of the words atheism and secularism in public debate. We have come a long way since then. The Catholic Church […]

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How State Schools Break The Rules – New Report from Atheist ireland​

March 10, 2019

Atheist Ireland has published a major new report titled How State Schools Break The Rules. It explains how the Department of Education, the ETBs, and the NCCA are breaching Constitutional and Human Rights and the IHREC Act in Religious Education in ETB schools. We will be using this report as the basis of our political lobbying […]

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Blasphemy Repeal Bill 2019 forwarded to Attorney General for formal drafting

February 20, 2019

The Minister for Justice, Charlie Flanagan, has advised Atheist Ireland that the Bill designed to give legal effect to the outcome of last year’s blasphemy referendum has been forwarded from the Department of Justice to the Office of the Attorney General for formal Drafting. It is called the Repeal of Offence of Publication or Utterance […]

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Why I object to schools teaching children the morality of Jesus

February 1, 2019

I was asked today on Twitter why I would object to schools teaching children the morality of Jesus. Putting aside the question of whether Jesus existed, here are some examples of bad moral guidance given by the Jesus portrayed in the Christian Bible.

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The ‘Catholic students bullying Native American’ stories are false, unjust, and irresponsible

January 21, 2019

The media stories about Catholic students bullying a Native American drummer at the Lincoln Memorial last week are false, unjust, and irresponsible. Longer video evidence shows that the bigotry on the day came from a group of Children of Israel street preachers. In this article, I analyse that video evidence. These street preachers spent an […]

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The Case for Lawful Assisted Dying

November 25, 2018

I had a very constructive discussion on Newstalk today about assisted dying, with Tom Curran, Gina Menzies, and Between the Lines host Andrea Gilligan

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