One of the biggest articles of faith of modern, liberal societies is that the sexual freedoms now available to us have made people happier and more fulfilled. An accompanying belief is that we needed to slay the ‘dragon’ of religious sexual repression in order to win our freedoms. But now a major new study has...
A new report from an organisation in America attacks the Iona Institute in a highly defamatory manner, but the attack is so bad that it has been recognised as such by fair-minded liberals who have criticised the report in public and defended us. The document was published by a Washington DC-based outfit called the ‘Global Project...
Politics has become a substitute for religion and ‘social justice warriors’ are today’s Puritans, a new BBC documentary claims. Helen Lewis, who was raised Catholic but is now an atheist, has produced a new documentary for BBC Radio 4 in which she explores the thesis that contemporary social justice movements have the same characteristics that...
In England last year, a majority of births (51.3pc) took place outside marriage. In Ireland, the figure is now above 40pc. Some might say that this is a purely private matter, but it’s not true, because family structure is important and the evidence remains that children tend to fare best when raised by their own...
The recent case of Archie Battersbee, who had his life support machine turned off after a long legal battle and against the wishes of his parents, raises questions on whether and when it is morally permissible to do this, and who should decide. The 12-year-old boy suffered brain injury while at home in London, in...
Over 10,000 Canadians died by euthanasia in 2021, 32pc more than in the previous year, according to a new official report. It shows once more that when you open the door to euthanasia and assisted suicide, the numbers availing of them rise rapidly and social norms change. It’s worth look at the report in some...
During the recent row over the planned relocation of the National Maternity Hospital, the very strong impression was given that Ireland would be far better off if the Catholic Church had no involvement in the country’s hospitals at all. A medical Catholic ethos was treated as something very bad and undesirable. In fact, no organisation...
“Pornography to be studied in class”, said the front page of the Irish Independent last week, which is alarming at first glance, but much depends on how this is done because some HSE-backed researchers believe porn can be both ‘ethical’ and ‘positive’. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) is currently redesigning the Relationships...
Remarks by David Quinn delivered at the Irish Lawyers Christian Fellowship, July 20, 2022. In his letter from Birmingham jail, Martin Luther King asked the question, “How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust?” He answered: “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the...
Abortion will be “safe, legal and rare”, was the aspiration of the Government before the 2018 referendum to repeal the 8th amendment. The reality is that abortion in Ireland is far from rare and we now have reached 7,000 terminations per year. In January 2018, when announcing that the Cabinet had agreed to hold a...