On Wednesday the Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald, in the course of reiterating the Government’s committment to holding a children’s rights referendum confirmed that the referendum wording would include a reference to a child’s ‘best interests’, and would ensure that children are treated as citizens. What she neglected to mention is that Irish law actually contains...
Religious freedom is one of the concepts which underpins most modern democracies. Most significant international human rights documents guarantee religious freedom. And most people when you ask them say they are in favour of religious freedom. But what exactly do we mean when we talk about “freedom of religion”? Increasingly, secularists are attempting (and succeeding)...
A few days ago The New York Times carried a very insightful piece about cohabitation that should be read by every cohabiting couple in Ireland. The number one justification for cohabitation is that it is good preparation for marriage because it supposedly gives a couple a chance to decide whether they are compatible or not....
We are all Protestants now. Or at least that is the opinion of our Education Minister Ruairi Quinn (pictured) who was interviewed by The Sunday Independent last weekend. The Minister was commenting on the widely publicised opinion poll commissioned by the Association of Catholic Priests which confirmed that lots of Catholics don’t go along with...
A poll commissioned by the Association of Catholic Priests has found that the vast majority of people – three quarters – believe the Church’s teachings on sex are irrelevant both to them personally and to their families. But what do they actually mean by this? Do they mean it is totally irrelevant in every respect,...
On Tuesday, the Advisory Group to the Government’s Forum on Patronage and Pluralism published their recommendations. Some of their proposals pose a very significant threat to the distinctive ethos of denominational schools. Dr John Murray of the Iona Institute and Mater Dei, and Paul Rowe of Educate Together debated the proposals on the RTE Radio’s Today...
A story has emerged from Holland that should make anyone’s toes curl . It involves a married couple in their early 30s who discovered they could not have a child because the husband produced no sperm. But instead of adopting they decided they wanted a child that was a close a match to them genetically...
Marcello Pera is an interesting chap. He is a pro-Catholic atheist. A book of his called ‘Why we should call ourselves Christians’ has just been published in English with a foreword by Pope Benedict. Pera, former president of the Italian Senate, basically believes that without an identity, Europe will dissolve into a multi-cultural mess that...
Ever feel like critics of religion who like to parade their ‘tolerance’ in front of everyone are actually less tolerant than their political opponents, and less willing to try to understand them? Well, it turns out that there is compelling evidence that you’re right. Academic Jonathan Haidt has written a new book, “The Righteous Mind:...
The Irish Times can’t seem to get its lines straight on the state of family life in Ireland. On the one hand we get articles informing us that the family in Ireland is changing, that it is getting more diverse and we need to recognise this fact. On the other hand, we have Carl O’Brien reassuring...
