A better Ireland?

"A fascinating new poll conducted by the Irish radio station Newstalk has found that attitudes to Catholicism have shifted significantly since the publication of the Ryan report into child abuse in Catholic-run institutions.

"Of the 1,108 people questioned, 51% said they would not welcome a visit to Ireland by the Pope. This stands in stark contrast to the euphoric response the previous Pope received on his visit there in 1979 when practically no opposition was expressed to the visit.
Just 4% of those who responded to the poll said they had actually changed their Mass-going habits since the publication of the Ryan Report, but changing attitudes towards the Catholic Church’s involvement in the day-to-day life of the country are evident in the 70% who said all primary schools should be run by the State.

"Just over half (52%) believe religion has no place in schools, as they say religious instruction should only take place outside the classroom, but the majority don’t believe children in school should be exposed to the details of the Ryan Report, with 68% opposing religious teaching incorporating lessons on clerical abuse. The poll was conducted last week, illustrating that feelings about the report are not abating, even a month after publication.

"Those in favour of the State taking control of all primary schools made comments such as: “It’s about time that Ireland became a secular state. Theocracy has had its day here” and “The Church can run schools if they want, but they should receive zero funding from the State.”
Meanwhile, the Church is bracing itself for the release of another report within the next few weeks. This one is about the handling of sex-abuse allegations against priests of the Dublin archdiocese.It is thought the independent report will approach 1,000 pages in length, and will include the names of priests who have faced abuse charges. The report will assess the handling of abuse charges under four past archbishops of Dublin. It may also report on the involvement of more than a dozen bishops who have served as auxiliaries in the Dublin archdiocese. "

From: http://www.secularism.org.uk/irish-people-want-catholicisms-i.html

Petition

This post is to let you know that the petition of solidarity for Survivors of Institutional Child Abuse in Ireland can be signed online at the following website.

www.irishsolidarity.com

All support for those who were victims is appreciated,

For those of you who live in Ireland the March of Solidarity will start from the Garden of Remembrance today at 12noon.

LOCATION

Garden of Remembrance to the Dáil. Please gather at the Garden of Remembrance at noon and please proceed in total silence throughout the march past GPO to the Dáil.

WHITE RIBBONS

The survivors hope you can attend and encourage as many people and public organisations as possible to participate in the march. It is suggested that all participants wear a white ribbon for the silent march and bring a child’s shoe to represent the lives lost in the institutions. Those who cannot attend can sign and post the Petition of Solidarity to PO Box 11618, Swords, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and the people of Ireland are also encouraged to wear a white ribbon on June 10 in solidarity with the survivors. SOIAI is led by Christine Buckley, John Kelly, Noel Barry, Michael O’Brien.

New Blasphemy law in Ireland - what Atheist Ireland have to say

The Irish Government’s new proposed blasphemy crime combines the oppressive religious thinking of 1950s Catholic Ireland and modern Islamic fundamentalism. This proposal should be opposed for three reasons.

One, it does not protect religious belief. Instead, it encourages outrage and it criminalises free speech. Two, it treats religious beliefs as more valuable than secular beliefs and scientific thinking. Three, we should be removing 1930s religious references from the Irish Constitution, not legislating to enforce them.

The bill’s first test of blasphemy is that religious adherents express outrage. Instead of encouraging outrage, we should be educating people to respond in a more healthy manner than outrage when somebody expresses a belief that they find insulting. More worryingly, this law would encourage the type of orchestrated outrage that Islamic fundamentalists directed against Danish cartoonists.

Many atheists find it insulting that the Christian Bible suggests that women must not teach and must learn in silence, or that effeminate people are unrighteous, or that people should worship a God who threatens to make you eat your own children. But we do not believe that the Bible should be banned, and neither should discussion of the Bible in terms that cause Christians to be outraged.

Blasphemy is not the only anomaly of running a 21st century state with a 1937 Constitution. You cannot become President or be appointed as a Judge unless you take a religious oath under God asking god to direct and sustain you in your work. We should be amending our Constitution to remove these theistic references, not creating new crimes to enforce provisions that were written in the 1930s.

If you live in Ireland, please lobby your local TD, the Justice Minister, and the members of the Oireachtas Justice Committee that is considering this proposal. Contact details here: http://tr.im/k4Mq

Pop over to Atheist Ireland here: http://blog.atheist.ie/

Religion makes us healthier, says study

Read the article here http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0403/1224243935577.html

and then look up the Iona Institute here
http://www.ionainstitute.ie/

Then decide on the likelyhood of the there being any merit is this 'study'.

I'm saying nothing!

Pilot who paused to pray in emergency gets 10 years

A Tunisian pilot who paused to pray instead of taking emergency measures before crash-landing his plane, killing 16 people, has been sentenced to 10 years in jail by an Italian court along with his co-pilot.
The 2005 crash at sea off Sicily left survivors swimming for their lives, some clinging to a piece of the fuselage that remained floating after the ATR turbo-prop aircraft splintered upon impact.
A fuel-gauge malfunction was partly to blame but prosecutors also said the pilot succumbed to panic, praying out loud instead of following emergency procedures and then opting to crash-land the plane instead trying to reach a nearby airport.
Another five employees of Tuninter, a subsidiary of Tunisair, were sentenced to between eight and nine years in jail by the court, in a verdict handed down yesterday.
The seven accused, who were not in court, will not spend time in jail until the appeals process has been exhausted.

(Irishtimes)

Christian group halts book launch

A poet has been forced to launch his new collection in the street after a bookstore cancelled the event because of a campaign by Christian activists. Patrick Jones was due to sign copies at Waterstone's in Cardiff but the shop cancelled the event at the last moment. Christian Voice said the book was "obscene and blasphemous" and called on the chain to remove copies from stores. The company said it was not a censor but felt it was "prudent" to cancel the event because of its duty to customers. Darkness is Where the Stars Are is a collection of 30 to 40 poems from the Welsh publishers, Cinnamon Press. Mr Jones, the brother of Nicky Wire of the Manic Street Preachers, had been expecting to launch the book at the Cardiff Hayes branch of Waterstone's on Wednesday night. But a few hours before, the poet from Blackwood in Caerphilly county, was contacted by the company to tell him the event had been cancelled "to avoid potential disruption to our store". Mr Jones said he was not going to be "beaten down" by religious activists, and signed copies for a small group of people in the street. "I'm really proud of this book and I'm really sickened. "There shouldn't be censorship of this sort - it doesn't set out to be offensive."

He said he had not singled out Christianity in his poems, but was questioning beliefs in society. The national director of Christian Voice, Stephen Green, said the decision was a triumph "for the Lord, not for us". "The Lord had not even showed me what we should do at Waterstone's, only that it should be Christlike. "Just the knowledge that we were on our way has put the fear of God into the opposition." Mr Green also called for Waterstone's to stop selling the book. Will Garland, 28, from Newport, one of the people who went to the out-of-store book signing, said he had been a fan of Mr Jones for a long time. "I don't know what they're protesting about. "Give the guy a chance," he said. Cheryl Llewellyn, of St Mellons in Cardiff, did not know the launch had been cancelled until she arrived at the store. "If they want to protest they're quite entitled to protest outside and let his reading go ahead inside." Siân Preece, a writer from Cardiff said Waterstone's had failed to support freedom of expression. "You hear of countries like Turkey or China oppressing writers and you feel sorry for them. "And then you're surprised to find it happening here," she said. A spokesman for Waterstone's confirmed the event had been cancelled. "The book remains available through Waterstone's and we are very happy for that to be the case. "However we have a duty to our customers and booksellers regarding events that we organise, and we felt it prudent in this case. "We don't act as a censor, we stock books in the tens of thousands and would only remove them from sale on the advice of the publisher."

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/7725790.stm

I don't know about anyone else but I'll have 100 copies please...

A busy bunch of Bishops...

BALTIMORE - The nation's Catholic bishops decided yesterday to fire an opening salvo at the incoming Obama administration, pledging to work with the new president on issues such as immigration and healthcare but also warning that the Catholic Church will do everything it can to oppose his support for abortion rights. ... read more http://richarddawkins.net/article,3326,n,n

O'Keeffe reassures on religious instruction

From today's Irish Times
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1113/1226408582468.html

CONOR POPE


"THE CATHOLIC Commission on Education said it was reassured on the issue of religious instruction in the State's new community national schools following a meeting with Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe at Government Buildings yesterday.
The members of the Commission on Education of the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference met Mr O'Keeffe to discuss the provision of religious education in the new model schools.
The first primary schools run by the State, under the auspices of the County Dublin Vocational Education Committee, opened in September, marking an historic departure from the church-based pattern of school patronage. It is planned that hundreds of schools will open under the new community model in the next decade as the primary school population grows by more than 100,000.
The bishops said they wanted to see the model of patronage in community national schools to succeed and emphasised their wish to be able to assure Catholic parents that their children would follow the same religious education programme as in a Catholic school.
Bishop Leo O'Reilly, chairman of the commission, said Mr O'Keeffe had given an assurance that the commitment to provide religious instruction on a denominational basis during the school day for pupils whose parents requested it still stood.
He said the commission had been reassured by the meeting. "We welcome the Minister's reaffirmation of the policy."
© 2008 The Irish Times

Its enough to make your blood boil.

https://kidsinministry.org/

http://evangelizetheyouth.com/