The British Social Attitudes survey, which has been running annually for 30 years now, was published yesterday and showed that, over the course of those 30 years, there has been a steep decline in the numbers who think marriage is important for raising children and those who identify as religious. The numbers aren’t really surprising....
This week The Iona Institute launched a new report called Marriage Breakdown and Family Structure in Ireland. The headline figure is that divorce and separation in Ireland has risen sixfold since 1968. As at Census 2011, almost 250,000 Irish adults were separated or divorced. I appeared on a number of shows to discuss the report...
The trend towards removing every last trace of religion from the public square continues apace across the Western world. In a blog for the Telegraph website, Brendan O’Neill (pictured) says that the hallmark of this trend is secular liberal intolerance. O’Neill, himself an atheist, writes: “If you want to see what intolerance means, look no...
This week the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s ageless ‘I have a dream’ speech took place. Much of the commentary has ignored the fact that Dr King was a Baptist pastor that his vision, and his vision of justice specifically, had a deeply religious underpinning. As David Quinn argues in his column in The...
It’s interesting to read about the policy of the early Soviet state towards the family and to compare it with policies gaining increasing influence in the West today including in Ireland. They are rather too similar for comfort. Essentially, both sets of policies have the effect of making the State far more powerful and the...
Recent coverage of the crisis unfolding in Egypt has finally focused attention on the plight of Coptic Christians in that country. But, as this article by David Quinn argues, we in the West ought to be far more aware of the fate of persecuted Christians across the globe. You can read the article in full...
In an effort to be more ‘inclusive’ the Girl Guides in Britain have dropped references to ‘God’ and ‘country’ from their pledge. Guides now pledge instead to “be true to myself” and to “develop my beliefs”. This is almost beyond parody. Essentially, instead of the pledge being focussed on something external, it is now focussed...
Are dads (and men) redundant? The increasing trend towards single motherhood (single fathers head only a tiny fraction of families) and best-selling books like Hanna Rosin’s The End of Men would have you believe so. Common sense says different of course. For a start, it should be obvious that when it comes to something as...
One day a major case concerning religious freedom is going to appear before the Supreme Court. That will be a fateful day because on that day, the Court will either interpret religious freedom in a very constricted way, or in a much more (genuinely) liberal way. The implications of either decision will be immense. If...
Last week David Quinn appeared on The Right Hook on Newstalk to discuss the ethos of the Mater hospital with George Hook, and the looming clash between it and the new abortion law. To listen, click here. It begins at 25 minutes in.
