This is my debate this morning on BBC Radio Ulster with Rabbi Jonathan Romain, about the claim by Britain’s Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks that atheism has failed, on the Sunday Sequence show hosted by William Crawley. The article in the Spectator by the Chief Rabbi is here.
It’s just a week now to Atheist Ireland’s international conference on Empowering Women Through Secularism, in the Alexander Hotel in Dublin on 29-30 June 2013. We have a marvelous speaker line-up, including Dan Barker, Ophelia Benson, Ann Brusseel, Clare Daly, Carlos Diaz, Doctors for Choice, Jane Donnelly, Rachel Donnelly, Annie Laurie Gaylor, Leonie Hilliard, Anthea […]
Several accredited humanist celebrants of the Humanist Association of Ireland have written a letter to all members of the Association. They are urging members to attend next week’s EGM because they say “the future of the HAI is at stake.” This concern is exaggerated. Whatever happens next week, the HAI will continue to exist. What […]
Jane Donnelly, David Nash and I met yesterday with Tom Arnold, chairperson, and Richard Holland, secretariat member, of the Irish Constitutional Convention. This built on our previous discussions with Convention staff. We wanted them to meet with David, the expert on blasphemy law from Oxford Brookes University in the UK who has been in Ireland […]
Jane Donnelly and I have been working yesterday and today with David Nash from Oxford Brookes University on the Atheist Ireland submission to the Constitutional Convention on blasphemy. We will be meeting the secretary of the Convention tomorrow for feedback on how best to formalise the submission, and we will then finish the final report. […]
Thank you for the various open letters and emails regarding the ongoing conflicts between some atheists and skeptics on an interacting range of issues including sexism and harassment, feminism and free speech, personal abuse and bullying, and the impact of these issues on the Empowering Women Through Secularism conference in Dublin on June 29 and […]
One of the most amazing twenty seconds in English football has been captured on video by fans, bringing to life the euphoria that sport at its best can bring. In last week’s Championship Play Off Semi Final, Leicester City were awarded a penalty kick in the final minute of stoppage time against Watford. If they […]
Jane Donnelly and I wrote a chapter on secular education and human rights for the book ‘Towards Mutual Ground – Pluralism, Religious Education and Diversity in Irish Schools’ edited by Gareth Byrne and Patricia Kieran and published last week by Columba Press. Other contributors to the book include Dermot Lane, Patricia Kieran, Robert Jackson, Terence […]
This is a response to Dick Spicer’s open letter to Atheist Ireland last week, followed by documentary evidence that the HAI does in fact promote the political cause of separation of church and state, contrary to the assertions made by the current HAI Board in order to sign up to the Civil Registration Act. I […]
This is my RTE Radio 1 Late Debate yesterday on the right to life and Marie Fleming’s Supreme Court ruling, with palliative care doctor Regina McQuillan, hosted by Audrey Carville.