The Irish Times, in a feature article last Friday on the Atheist Ireland AGM, asked whether we were seeking a softening of what it called a Dawkinsian attitude to religion in favour of a more inclusive approach. Actually, the inclusive approach of Atheist Ireland to charitable and social justice and gender and disability issues, sits […]
Working for an ethical, secular society: Atheist Ireland’s plans for next year
Following our 2012 Annual General Meeting yesterday, these are the mission, aims, officers, committee members, and political and other priorities for Atheist Ireland for the next year: Contents Mission Statement and Aims Officers and Committee Major Political Priorities Policy on Ethical Issues Making Atheist Ireland Inclusive Women in Secularism Conference Good Without Gods Initiative Organizational […]
“If there is a right to life, there must be a right to death” – Mairin de Burca
Mairin de Burca is a founder member of Right to Die Ireland. She is also a veteran of many feminist and other political campaigns in Ireland. In 1974 she won the equal right of women to sit on juries in Irish courts. In this article Mairin explains why she supports the right to die. I […]
Annual Report and Agenda for Atheist Ireland AGM, 20 October 2012
This is the Annual Report and Agenda for Atheist Ireland’s fourth Annual General Meeting, which will take place tomorrow, Saturday,20 October 2012, from 2-5 pm in Buswell’s Hotel on Molesworth Street, Dublin. We’ll be reviewing our activity for the last year, and planning our priorities for the next year. All members of Atheist Ireland may […]
Right to Die Ireland: a new support and lobby group
Right to Die Ireland is a new support and lobbying group, protecting the right to live, respecting the right to die, and seeking to legalise assisted dying for terminally or seriously ill people in Ireland. If you believe that rationally-thinking people, who are terminally or seriously ill, should have the right to choose whether to […]
Brush your teeth, Clean your penis: My talk at TCD opposing religious circumcision
This is a video and transcript of my talk yesterday evening opposing religious circumcision at TCD Theological Society. Thank you very much for inviting me here today. It’s a pretty disturbing topic. I find circumcision to be one of the more disgusting and reprehensible examples of religion corrupting our natural sense of morality, which is […]
Why nothing can be known with certainty, and why it is reasonable to say that we know things
What if anything can we know about reality? What if anything should we assume without being able to know it? Why is it reasonable to assume that reality is broadly as it seems to be? Why is it reasonable to say that we know things? I wrote an earlier version of this some years ago, […]
Just for today, I agree that the creator of the universe impregnated a virgin
Maryam Namazie is blogging once every hour today to celebrate today as The Day of Agreement. This is in response to the crushing of dissent in Islamic and other totalitarian States. Today is also International Day against the Death Penalty, which is often used to silence dissenters. So today, we pledge to agree with what […]
Jimmy Savile case: BBC must answer questions about response to child abuse
Almost a year ago, the BBC dropped a Newsnight programme that would have publicly revealed that Jimmy Savile was abusing young girls while he was an employee of the BBC, including at times on the premises of the BBC, and while working on television shows specifically aimed at children. The Editor who dropped the programme […]
Catholic Church must stop dehumanizing atheists by saying we are not fully human
The Catholic Church makes a distinction between being human and being fully human, and it does not consider atheists to be fully human. It believes that being fully human requires a relationship with its imaginary God, and that by excluding this from our philosophy we are not fully human. Most of the time they phrase […]