We are frequently told that, for Ireland to be truly “modern” and “pluralist”, it must remove the reference to God in the preamble to the Constitution. In fact, it is commonplace for European countries to include a reference to God in their constitutions or the preambles to their constitutions. Our own preamble reads: “In the...
The Crisis Pregnancy Agency runs a campaign called B4udecide aimed at encouraging teenagers to delay having sex. But it is up against the massive cultural force called ‘Glee’ which essentially promotes the opposite message. Glee is the super-popular musical comedy set in an American High School, and centred on the school’s ‘glee’ or music club....
The Amarach Research poll on attitudes to the Catholic Church in Ireland, commissioned by The Iona Institute following publication of the Cloyne Report contains some interesting figures as regards the views of the supporters of our various political parties. Overall, what emerges is that Fianna Fáil supporters tend to be the most sympathetic to the...
In the Sunday Independent of last Sunday week, Eamon Delaney, the former editor of Magill, wrote a column in which he argued that the gay rights agenda is overreaching by seeking, for example, a right to marry, to adopt children, and to intimidate opponents into silence. Admittedly he left himself open to accusations of stereotyping...
In the last year to 18 months the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR, pictured) had handed down several excellent decisions. The most famous is the Lautsi judgement in which it ruled that Italy could place crucifixes on the walls of state classrooms. In another, it ruled that a prohibition on same-sex marriage did not...
One of the sections of Bunreacht na hEireann that will almost surely be for the chop before too long is Article 41.2.1 and 41.2.2, which says that women should not be forced out of economic necessity to leave the home. Speaking for myself, I will shed no tears if and when it does go. Feminists...
Recent headlines highlighting the birth of the world’s seven billionth person cannot obscure the fact that much of the developed world is in fact heading for demographic collapse. In a recent report, entitled the Sustainable Demographic Dividend, Phillip Longman and a number of other scholars track the patterns of demographic decline globally and their causes....
The case of a young boy in the US who sought successfully to get into the Girl Scouts because he “feels” like a girl highlights yet again the corruption of language that comes in the wake of the transgender movement. The boy, Bobby Montoya (7), was initially told by one of the troop leaders for...
The Iona Institute has often argued that when assessing the strength of family life in a country it is mistake to focus solely on the rate of marital breakdown. Far more important is the number of children who are being raised by their two married parents, or not, as the case may be. The rate...
Two years ago I wrote a letter to the Irish Times in response to comments made by Senator Ivana Bacik in her letter to the same newspaper. In her letter, entitled ‘Creeping Fundamentalism’, Bacik set out what she described as fears of a growing ‘religious fundamentalism’ creeping into Irish Society. She based her observations on...
