By Dr. John Murray Many think that God’s existence is something one can affirm only as a matter of “faith”. It is thought to be something subjective. Theism is often considered, even by Catholics, a leap in the dark. This is not the teaching of the Catholic Church. She teaches that the existence of...
The UK Government is moving to impose abortion in Northern Ireland, bypassing the local Assembly and Executive. In the meanwhile, a Bill to ban abortion in cases of non-fatal disability is progressing in Stormont. The UK Conservative Government has recently introduced regulations to Parliament to give Northern Ireland Secretary, Brandon Lewis, power to force the...
The Uyghur Muslim population of China is being savagely persecuted by the Chinese State, but an overall crackdown on religious believers, including Christians, is taking place, and has been intensifying. In its report, ‘Persecuted and Forgotten’, Aid to the Church in Need describes how President Xi Jinping has called Christianity “a foreign infiltration”. It refers...
By Dr. John Murray First of all, full disclosure: Mark Hamilton is a good friend of The Iona Institute. He only recently retired from its Board of Directors, having contributed wisely, bravely, and always very energetically to our work over the years. So, having seen Mark’s intelligence in action in many Board meetings, I was...
On a regular basis, there are calls for the Irish State to invest more in day-care so that parents can afford to go out to work. The underlying assumption all the time is that this is something most parents want. This is a highly dubious proposition. In 2013, The Iona Institute commissioned an opinion poll...
Gardaí have been stopping priests distributing Holy Communion. All public worship is currently banned. The Government is fighting businessman, Declan Ganley challenge to the constitutionality of the restrictions on religious gatherings tooth and nail. But one legal expert believes the lockdown law is being incorrectly interpreted, namely Oran Doyle of Trinity College Dublin. Prof. Doyle...
Pope Francis has just returned from an historic visit to Iraq where Christians have been savagely persecuted and driven from their homes. His trip was a very necessary act of solidarity. He will have also seen the work done by organisations like Aid to the Church in Need in helping Christians to rebuild their lives...
Pro-euthanasia advocates in Ireland, as elsewhere, insist that properly drawn legislation permitting assisted suicide and euthanasia will ensure that such a law will never be abused. Numerous safeguards, they assure us, can be put in place. A new academic study from Belgium very much indicates the opposite is the case. The three authors, who are...
In an interview this week with David Quinn, Bishop Kevin Doran discussed the current ban on public worship, something that looks set to continue until summer. David put it to Bishop Doran that in other countries, bishops have taken their Governments to court. He asked why a similar tactic has not been tried here. Bishop...
Ireland is currently one of only two countries in the whole of the European Union where the Government has put a complete stop to public worship. The other member-state is Slovenia. Restrictions on worship vary from country to country, from mild in Austria, to strict in Belgium. In Belgium, dozens of Catholics gathered on Sunday...
