Listen above: As the Islamic Foundation of Ireland is seeking the patronage of a new post-primary school, I made the case for a system of secular schools that everybody can attend without religious discrimination, on Newstalk Radio’s breakfast show this morning.
One of the arguments that Atheist Ireland has made, in support of removing the Irish blasphemy law, is that repressive regimes have used our law to politically justify their use of blasphemy laws, and to attempt to spread blasphemy laws around the world. Here is the most significant example of this in action, in which […]
These are the speakers on the panel discussion on Blasphemy, Islamophobia, Freedom of Thought and Expression, from 12:00-13:30 this Saturday 22 July, at the Glastonbury of Freethinkers, London’s International Conference on Free Expression and Conscience. There are eight panel discussions over the weekend. Jane Donnelly and I will be speaking at two of them on […]
These are the speakers on the panel discussion on Islam’s Non-Believers, from 10:30-11:30 this Saturday 22 July, at the Glastonbury of Freethinkers, London’s International Conference on Free Expression and Conscience. There are eight panel discussions over the weekend. Jane Donnelly and I will be speaking at two of them on behalf of Atheist Ireland. Use […]
Voice of Islam Radio talked yesterday to me and Imam Ibrahim Noonan of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Ireland, about our joint campaign along with Evangelical Alliance Ireland to end religious discrimination in Irish schools. My interview is above, Ibrahim’s is below.
I was interviewed on Voice of Islam radio this week about Brexit, Donald Trump and challenging prejudice. Here is audio and transcript of the interview. With us on the line is Michael Nugent, a writer from Dublin and chairperson of Atheist Ireland. Michael, what are your views on the surprise wins for Brexit and Trump? […]
I wrote an article last week about about the harm caused by the propaganda word ‘Islamophobia’. Here I will examine further the confusion surrounding the word, even among people of goodwill, and the lack of any agreed coherent definition. I will refer to three recent books about ‘Islamophobia’ by Todd Green, Chris Allen and Deepa […]
The Demos UK Think Tank has produced a well-intentioned report about tweets that express prejudicial dislike of Muslims because of their faith. This could have been a more useful project, if the report had highlighted its findings in a more balanced way, and had not unwittingly used the Islamist propaganda word ‘Islamophobia’ to misdescribe the anti-Muslim prejudice […]
Bengali lawyer and scholar Mufassil Islam has left Islam, courageously describing his former religion as a mafia cult of death. This is significant, as Mufassil is well-versed in Islam and he used to actively defend it. I debated Mufassil in 2013 in Trinity College Dublin, in an event organised by the TCD Theological Society. Despite […]
I debated that Islam is not a religion of peace at a debate organised by the Literary and Historical Society in University College Dublin yesterday. Here is my contribution. The full debate will be online later. Is Islam a religion of peace? That’s like asking is a rainbow yellow? Parts of it are, but the […]