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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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: And then what ‘atheism’ means: How did the word ‘atheism’ evolve? The word ‘atheism’ was not introduced to counter the word ‘theism’. It […]
How a misheard chant became ‘We want passports’ on X 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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’ […]
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 […]
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 […]