New figures from the CSO throw light on the changing nature of marriage in Ireland. To cut a long story short, the institution is in continuing decline. In all, there were 16,717 opposite-sex marriages last year; 15 percent less than in 2019. There were 500 same-sex marriages. The marriage rate per 1,000 population was just...
Obviously, the possibility that Roe v Wade could soon be overturned is currently getting all the attention, but there was a nice win for religious freedom at the court yesterday that should not be overlooked. For 12 years the city of Boston has rotated flags on an 83-foot pole outside City Hall for every group...
Robust new research confirms that religiosity is linked to well-being, particularly when there is a match between personal beliefs and the surrounding culture. The newest research took an unusual approach. As the interpretation of data can sometimes be affected by researcher bias, the authors of the study invited 120 different analysis teams to answer the...
Almost no country in the Western world bans holding pro-life vigils or protests outside clinics and hospitals that facilitate or conduct abortions, but the Seanad has just voted in favour of a Bill that would make it a criminal offence to do just that. It even includes pharmacies. Most other countries have declined to take...
David Quinn was on the Pat Kenny Show last week debating the future of Church-run schools. He said one reason that more Catholic schools have not been divested is because in practice there is not much demand from parents to do so. You can listen to the item here.
Officials from three Government Departments have expressed great doubt about the possibility of legislating for the recognition of international commercial surrogacy contracts in Ireland. Besides practical difficulties, it would create a double standard if commercial surrogacy, which is banned here in Ireland, is tolerated when it happens abroad. The Joint Oireachtas Committee on international commercial...
David Quinn spoke last week in University Church on the topic, ‘Taking Stock: assessing the last two years and the road ahead’. You can now watch the talk by clicking here. In the first part of the talk, David addressed how the pandemic impacted the Churches. He then discussed the review of the operation of Ireland’s...
Larry Sanger is the co-founder of Wikipedia, a website many ordinary people take to be an authoritative source on basically everything, a sort of internet version of Encyclopedia Britannica. On many issues, it is nothing of the sort, which is why Sanger has lost faith in his creation. He believes it lost its impartiality years...
Violence against Christians in Europe is both unrecognised and underestimated, says a major new report. Secular intolerance and Islamist physical violence are two main threats to religious freedom, but they often downplayed by media. The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC) looks at five European countries where the rights of Christians...
Last week, the Dáil began debating the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill but, in reality, there was no debate. Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR) poses many serious ethical and legal questions but very few objections were raised by our TDs. This is a typical pattern in these debates. The Bill is very permissive and adult-centered in its...
