Interview about Atheist Ireland for skyzthelimi7 and Atheism TV

By Atheist Ireland | Published: December 21, 2011

Last week Randall Calvin interviewed Atheist Ireland chairperson Michael Nugent for skyzthelimi7 and Atheism TV.

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We must respect human rights of parents who want secular schools

By Atheist Ireland | Published: December 15, 2011

The Irish Independent today published this article by Michael Nugent about the human right to a secular education. It includes the key points that Atheist Ireland made in our response to the interim report of the Forum for Patronage and Pluralism in Irish Education.

The final report will be given to the Minister for Education later this month. If you live in Ireland, please contact the Minister and your local TDs, and say that you want the Minister to respect the rights of secular parents when he responds to the final report.

We must respect human rights of parents who want secular schools

Most of the 3,300 primary schools in the Republic of Ireland are run by church patrons, about 97% by the Catholic church. These schools use an integrated curriculum, in which Catholic teaching permeates every subject. They are legally allowed to discriminate on religious grounds, and it is often impossible for parents to opt their children out of religious
instruction.
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Posted in Education, Secularism | 3 Comments

80% support for total separation of church and state, says new report

By Michael Nugent | Published: December 12, 2011

Atheist Ireland welcomes the findings, from today’s report by We The Citizens, that more than eight in every ten Irish people want the church and state to be totally separate, and that 65% strongly agree that this should happen.

We also welcome that seven in every ten Irish people want religious education to focus on teaching students about different religions rather than promoting one set of religious beliefs, and that less than two in every ten disagree that this should happen.

It is a fundamental test of democracy that the Government stays strictly neutral on questions of religious and nonreligious philosophical beliefs, thus protecting equally the right of every citizen to freedom of conscience.

We The Citizens is calling for a national Citizens’ Assembly to give ordinary Irish people a structured direct say in our political decisions. You can read the full report on the We The Citizens website.

Posted in News, Politics, Secularism | 3 Comments

Setting Prometheus Free: a lecture by AC Grayling for Atheist Ireland

By Michael Nugent | Published: December 2, 2011

Atheist Ireland is hosting a series of occasional lectures by prominent atheists. Here is the first one, with Professor AC Grayling, speaking last month in Dublin.

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Atheist Ireland response to Forum on Patronage and Pluralism

By Michael Nugent | Published: December 1, 2011

Ensuring Effective Remedies for an Objective, Critical and Pluralistic Secular Education

Atheist Ireland has responded to the interim report of the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism. The Forum is to send its final report to the Minister for Education by the end of December.

We have four overriding recommendations for the final report.

* To comply with your terms of reference, your advice must be stronger and must be enforceable. You are mandated to advise on how best to “ensure” that certain outcomes can happen, not simply on how best to make those outcomes more likely.

* The final report must include effective remedies that enable parents and students to vindicate in practice and law their right to ensure that the education of their children is in conformity with their convictions, as enshrined in Human Rights treaties and based on rulings of the European Court of Human Rights.

* Whatever their model of patronage, the State must ensure that all schools convey all parts of the curriculum in an “objective, critical and pluralistic manner”, as recommended by the Irish Human Rights Commission, as enshrined in the Toledo Guiding Principles, and as ruled on by the ECHR.

* Ensuring “a sufficiently diverse number and range of primary schools catering for all religions and none” must in practice ensure that secular non-denominational schools are widely available in all regions of the State, as noted by the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

We also make other specific recommendations throughout the response, including on ERB, opting out, the right to private and family life and access to schools.

You can read our full response here.

It’s on our campaign website for a secular education, TeachDontPreach.ie.

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The really, truly True Believer™ of the Month Award October 2011

By nozzferrahhtoo | Published: November 1, 2011

Divine healing is the target for the ire of this months Award where on the advice of Evangelist Pastors three HIV sufferers have died following a cessation of medication. The women were advised to stop taking their drugs in favor of the healing of god.

In a world where one could be locked up if one leads a person to their death through trickery or lies… it is abhorrent that one can cause the death of another… let alone three others… in such a way without facing criminal charges.

But that is the world of religion where it is one set of laws for the religious and another set for the rest. Name calling can get you arrested in the heat of argument but standing premeditated on a church pulpit and calling all homosexuals “sinful” and “abominations” is ok.

Litter by dumping wood on the side of a road can get you arrested but hammer a wooden cross into the side of the road in a random place and that is all ok.

Tricking someone into death can get you arrested but causing the death of people by tricking them out of medication in favor of godly healing is a-ok. Yet the world has seen enough of the result of god’s healing.

If we are to have laws, should we not prosecute them equally?

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Is Scientology legitimate? Michael Nugent at TCD Philosophical Society

By Michael Nugent | Published: October 29, 2011

On October 27 Michael Nugent of Atheist Ireland took part in a debate at the TCD Philosophical Society on the motion that Scientology is as legitimate as any other religion. Other speakers included Mike Rinder, former chief spokesperson of the Church of Scientology; Irish anti-Scientology activist Matthew McKenna; and former Scientologist John Duignan. This is Michael’s contribution. You can also view the full debate here.

Members of the philosophical society, ladies and gentlemen, fellow Thetans, I have a lot of sympathy with the Church of Scientology, because I am also a member of a small church that is ridiculed by society.

When Atheist Ireland started campaigning against the blasphemy law a few years ago, one of the things that we did was to set up a new church that worshiped Dermot Ahern, the Minister who brought in the law, and that church is the Church of Dermotology.

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Is Scientology legitimate? Full debate at TCD Philosophical Society

By Michael Nugent | Published: October 29, 2011

On October 27 Michael Nugent of Atheist Ireland took part in a debate at the TCD Philosophical Society on the motion that Scientology is as legitimate as any other religion. Other speakers included Mike Rinder, former chief spokesperson of the Church of Scientology; Irish anti-Scientology activist Matthew McKenna; and former Scientologist John Duignan. Here is the full debate. You can also read Michael’s contribution here.

1. First proposition speaker: Oisín Brogan Sch., JS engineering student and ex-Pro-DC of the society.

2. First opposition speaker: Matthew McKenna, a prominent Irish anti-scientology activist.

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Atheist Ireland submission to Department of Education on school enrolment

By Michael Nugent | Published: October 28, 2011

This is a link to Atheist Ireland’s submission to the Department of Education’s discussion paper on a regulatory framework for school enrolment, submitted to the Department today.

Atheist Ireland submission to Department of Education on school enrolment

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Five questions on secular issues for the Irish Presidential candidates

By Michael Nugent | Published: October 27, 2011

Atheist Ireland has written to the seven Presidential candidates asking them five questions about secular issues that are relevant to the position of President, like we did with the political parties and candidates in the last General Election. We will publish the results when we receive them.

Mary Davis is the first candidate to respond. If you want to help us to establish the other six candidates’ positions on these issues, here are the questions that we have asked them and to the candidates’ postal addresses, email addresses and phone numbers.

Please contact them and remind them to respond to the questions as soon as possible, so that we can make an informed decision when we vote for our next President.

Read More »

Posted in News, Politics, Secularism | 1 Comment