In the past week polling company MRNI has been publishing a series of polls in the Irish Times on various aspects of life in Ireland, including religion. One of the most disappointing figures in the poll from the secular lobby’s point of view was that some 87 per cent of 18-34-year-olds still believe in God....
We are accustomed to being told that the pro-life movement is full of extremists who are abusive towards their opponents and will not allow a ‘rational, reasonable’ debate to take place on the issue of abortion. In this blog we show that much of the extremism now resides on the other side of this debate....
The latest poll on same-sex marriage published in The Irish Times yesterday convinces me more than ever that a referendum on the matter would lose if the campaign is even remotely fair and balanced. The poll showed 53pc support for a change to the definition of marriage, but that is down a massive 20 points...
In the last few days, Iona Institute board member, Maria Steen, has been on a number of programmes debating the abortion issue, including the Prime Time special which featured the interview with Praveen Halappanavar, the husband of Savita. Maria also appeared on Frontline on Monday night, and on Newstalk’s Sunday Show at the weekend. Please...
How did the US election go from a Catholic point of view, not just the general election, but the various ballots as well? In the three states where same-sex marriage was on the ballot, Maine, Maryland and Washington, it triumphed, for the first time ever. There was a ballot in Massachusetts in favour of ‘assisted...
Michael Nugent of Atheist Ireland had an article in The Irish Times on Friday called ‘Myths about atheism obscure its secular values’. It was a highly sanitised presentation of atheism, what we might call ‘butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth’ atheism. Reading Michael, it is as though atheism has no history, that it emerged new...
Last month, the youngest ever man to have a ‘gender reassignment’ operation in the UK decided he wanted the procedure reversed. The 18-year-old, who was formerly known as Brad Cooper, and now known as Ria, had been having hormone injections to make him look like a woman. Now Brad/Ria says the hormone treatment has led...
Victoria White had a very interesting piece in The Evening Herald on Monday explaining why she voted against the children’s rights referendum even though she had fully intended voting in favour. In the end she voted against it because of her direct experience of social workers. She explained in the Herald that her son was...
During the boom efforts were made to encourage as many women to work as possible. The tax laws designed to achieve this are still in place and now, because of the recession, are more wasteful and inappropriate than ever. I am writing about tax individualisation and how it favours dual income families over one-income families....
Tomorrow the country goes to the polls to vote on the proposed amendment to the Constitution. My personal opinion is that the stakes are not as high as either side is claiming. I believe the potential harm or good that Article 42A can do is limited. I’m relieved the wording is not the same as...
