Another late evening edition. Second Sundays do take their toll, but our brunch in Dublin was very enjoyable and reports from Sligo suggest a good time was had there as well. Check out our event listings below for other ways to hang out with atheists and skeptics. Let me know if there are any worthwhile events I missed.
- Derek Walsh, Editor
Dear fellow members of the Humanist Association of Ireland,
I address you all in relation to the Civil Registration (Amendment) Bill that came in to law after being passed by the Dail in December 2012. Many of you may feel that on the face of it this is a victory for the Humanist Association as it will allow for non-religious people to have their marriages legally solemnised by a celebrant from the HAI.
Previously, couples seeking a non-religious ceremony would firstly have had to go to a registry office in order to be legally married, and then have had a Humanist ceremony to celebrate their marriage. The new change in the law will now cut out the need for couples to have to attend two ceremonies as the Humanist solemniser now has legal recognition that he or she previously did not have.
Perhaps many of you will think this is a progressive step, but a clear reading of the law itself, and the requirements that the HAI must fulfil, reveals that this law runs contrary to the stated aims of the HAI and conflicts with the core values of humanism itself. The new law prohibits any secular body that might nominate a solemniser from promoting a political cause, as well as a whole list of other exclusions to adhere to, in order to obtain a licence to solemnise marriages. However, religious organisations are not excluded from solemnising marriages according to the same criteria.
The stated aims of the HAI
The reasons that I joined the HAI are best expressed by the stated aims on our website:
“The HAI campaigns for equal treatment by the state of the non-religious with the religious; the abolition of religious privileges; and ultimately the total separation of Church from State. It aspires to a balanced secular society.”
In light of what our stated aims are, how can we in the HAI agree to a law that has a list of exclusions for secular organisations that seek to solemnise marriages, whilst this same list of exclusions doesn’t apply to religious bodies? For us in the HAI to endorse such a law is a clear breach of our purported aim to seek the equal treatment of the non-religious with the religious and the abolition of religious privileges.
In endorsing this legislation, it is clear that the Board of Directors of the HAI are satisfied to allow the HAI to be discriminated against and treated unequally, and thus are acting in contravention of the aims that are outlined on our website.
Just what is it that is motivating the Board to endorse legislation that actually contravenes the very aims of the HAI itself?
The Board seems comfortable to allow the HAI to have to comply with a list of exclusions in the new legislation that religious bodies do not have to adhere to, thus the HAI is complicit in discriminating against the non-religious, the very thing we claim to be against.
However, there is one of the exclusions that the HAI doesn’t comply with, and that is the clause in the Act that prohibits any secular nominating body from promoting a political cause, which the HAI clearly does.
Debate after Sunday’s HAI meeting
After the last meeting of the HAI in Dublin on the 7th April, a debate ensued between several members who are in support of the new law, including a member of the Board of Directors, and several of us who are opposed to it.
Those of us who opposed the law pointed out both the fact that it discriminates against the non-religious and also that legally we wouldn’t even be able to comply with the new law, in that the HAI promotes the political cause of separation of church and state. Those members in favour of the new law argued that the HAI is not involved in promoting any political cause, but rather is engaged in the advancement of various social causes and therefore the granting of the first legal licence to a HAI solemniser is in full accordance with the law, even if it is a discriminatory law (my emphasis).
It is my opinion that these members don’t even believe this themselves and are just using semantics to try and justify supporting a law that discriminates against the aims of the HAI, and allows them to argue that the HAI is complying with a law that it is clearly in breach of.
Besides, all social causes have a political dimension in that to advance a social cause you have to engage with the political process and state institutions, thus also making them political causes. Surely the total separation of the church and state is as explicit a political cause as one can find?
Our website states that one of the activities of the HAI is that it “makes appropriate submissions to government for changes in the Constitution, Legislation and State practices.” By simply stating the aims of the HAI are a social cause in order to comply with a discriminatory piece of legislation doesn’t negate the fact that they are also a political cause.
Orwellian doublethink
All in all to argue that we are not involved in a cause that we clearly are, and to try and argue that the HAI exists primarily to campaign for equality whilst it endorses a law that is grossly unequal and discriminatory, is to engage in an egregious display of Orwellian doublethink which is:
“The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them… to forget any fact that has become inconvenient.”
I believe that we in the HAI in order to be consistent with our declared aims on our website should have stood together with Atheist Ireland in opposing such a blatantly discriminatory piece of legislation.
At the very least we could have made applications to the registrar for licences for solemnisers and then openly declared that we would be in breach of the legislation as we do engage in promoting a political cause. This could have been an opportunity to publicly highlight the continuing discrimination against the non-religious and the special privileges still maintained by religious organisations.
Instead the HAI has endorsed a law that violates its own principals and aims. For the HAI to endorse such a piece of legislation calls in to question the integrity of the HAI as an organisation that purports to seek equality for the non-religious.
Seeking an EGM for members to discuss issue
I believe that the best way to deal with this issue is by way of constructive dialogue between us, the ordinary members, and the Board of Directors, who are of course also members.
In accordance with the Companies Act which governs the activities of the HAI, I along with several other members of the HAI will be seeking to convene an Extraordinary General Meeting to discuss the issues raised in this letter.
We will be writing to the membership of the HAI to garner the ten per cent support required to convene such a meeting.
I appeal to the individual members of the Humanist Association to ask yourself in good conscience if you believe that the HAI should endorse a law that is blatantly and clearly at odds with the principles of equality and non-discrimination, and if supporting such a law furthers the aim of building a more secular state or contributes to perpetuating discrimination of the non-religious?
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Devine-Rattigan
The week has hurtled by and it’s Sunday again, so we have a little bit of news, some blog posts, a profile of one of the speakers at our forthcoming conference, and details of all the atheist, humanist and skeptic events we can find, including our simultaneous near-nationwide brunches next week. Enjoy!
- Derek Walsh, Editor
In an email newsletter last night, the Humanist Association of Ireland has announced that the first legal Humanist marriage ceremony will take place today, Saturday 6 April, performed by a HAI celebrant, with Government Minister Joan Burton attending.
But the confusing announcement raises the significant legal question as to whether the HAI has legally denied that it promotes a political cause, despite actively promoting separation of church of state?
Atheist Ireland has consistently raised concerns about the new law under which secular bodies can nominate marriage solemnisers – see the links at the end of this article for details – as it discriminates both against nonreligious citizens, and also between nonreligious citizens.
It is unclear to us from last night’s HAI announcement on what legal basis a HAI celebrant has been added to the list of solemnisers. Under the new law, it is the responsibility of a secular body that wishes to nominate solemnisers to satisfy the requirements of the Act, including that it does not promote a political cause.
If, on the one hand, the Humanist Association of Ireland has nominated a solemniser, then the HAI should have signed an application form that includes a statement that the HAI does not promote a political cause, and accompanied that application form with documentary evidence to confirm that the HAI conforms to this requirement.
Yet, in reality, the HAI actively promotes the political cause of separation of church and state, and its website says explicitly on its ‘about us’ page that one of the things that it does is “makes appropriate submissions to Government for changes in the Constitution, Legislation and State practices.”
If, on the other hand, the solemniser for today’s ceremony has been nominated by a nominating body other than the HAI, then on what basis is he being described as “the only HAI celebrant who has been added to the list of solemnisers” and on what basis is today’s wedding described as “the first legal Humanist marriage ceremony”?
The HAI announcement says that the process of registering has not been as simple as the HAI was led to believe by Government politicians, and says that if the conditions still hindering the process cannot be met, the HAI will have to withdraw from the process.
But what does this mean? If there are conditions that the HAI cannot currently meet, then how can today’s wedding be described as “the first legal Humanist marriage ceremony”? And what conditions could allow one HAI celebrant to be added to the list of solemnisers, while preventing other HAI celebrants from also being added?
Atheist Ireland will discuss this at a committee meeting this afternoon, and will decide how best to ensure that the law is interpreted properly, and not with the nod and a wink attitude that saw its passage through parliament despite our concerns about it being raised during the Dail debate.
Whatever may happen in this case, one thing is certain. The Catholic Church will continue to promote its own political cause, built on imagined revelations from an imagined creator of the universe, and the Government will be happy to allow them to continue doing this.
It is now more important than ever before that secular bodies stand together and continue to campaign politically for separation of church and state.
See also:
I don’t feel like I’ve saved any daylight today. I feel like I’ve been robbed of an hour that I won’t get back till October. So, produced in less time than usual, here’s this week’s newsletter.
- Derek Walsh, Editor
This week we have our usual news roundup, the best of Irish atheist blogs, and of course a list of upcoming events including a TV show tonight and this week’s return of Dublin Atheists in the Pub. We also have a profile of Kate Smurthwaite who’ll be speaking at our conference in June.
- Derek Walsh, Editor
This week’s edition might be a little short on content because your editor was away from home yesterday, and today spent several hours lunching with other atheists. Nonetheless we have some news, upcoming events and of course a roundup of the most interesting of the week’s news from Barbara Monea.
- Derek Walsh, Editor Read More
It’s Sunday again, and our big news this week is that conference tickets are now on general sale. We’ve also got a roundup of news stories concerning religion, science and human rights, compiled by Barbara Monea; details of upcoming events including brunches next week; some interesting blog posts; and an unusual piece of art. Enjoy!
- Derek Walsh, Editor
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Welcome to this week’s Secular Sunday. We have some real changes this week.
Most significantly we have a new contributor. Barbara Monea is a 30-year-old Italian who has recently joined Atheist Ireland. She is a long-time member of UAAR (Union of Atheists and Agnostics in Italy) and was a regular contributor to the news section of their website. She has kindly offered to take on a similar role here, providing a weekly digest of relevant news for this newsletter.
The email version of the newsletter is now powered by MailChimp, which allows more automation and flexibility. There will likely be some abrupt and unpopular changes in layout before I settle on a suitable format. Please be patient. Honest feedback is always appreciated.
- Derek Walsh, Editor Read More
Secular Sunday #69 – The Righty Quinn
If you’re sick of reading about David Quinn, then you may want to skip this week’s blog section. His behaviour at the Constitutional Convention and since has drawn the ire of quite a few bloggers and we’ve collected their pieces here. We also have some convention news, a profile of another of our speakers and a list of all the events we could find taking place in the next few weeks. Enjoy!
- Derek Walsh, Editor
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