The ‘non-religious’ are the largest group in the Republic after Roman Catholics, according to the last census, and there is further fall out as atheists hold their World Wide Convention in the state for the first time.
Roisin Ingle writing in The Irish Times states:
They range from active atheists lobbying for a secular Ireland to guilty non-believers who still observe religious rituals.
A few weeks ago Brian Whiteside of the Humanist Association of Ireland addressed a gathering that included Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter as well as various religious leaders. He used the opportunity to raise the issue of our religious presidential oath, which he says is just one example of State discrimination against the growing godless community.
The oath, the wording of which is enshrined in the Constitution, is taken in “the presence of Almighty God” and is a non-negotiable promise that must be given by whoever is elected president. It concludes, “May God direct and sustain me.”
“I talked about how embarrassing it would be for this country if a successful candidate decided that in all conscience they couldn’t give that oath because they didn’t believe in God,” says Whiteside. He was gratified to observe Kenny requesting that Shatter make a note of this potentially awkward eventuality.
It’s a possibility worth reflecting on, given that there is more chance of a non-believer being elected president now than any other time in the history of the State. In the 2006 census, more than 186,000 people ticked the No Religion box, an increase of 34.6 per cent on 2002. That makes it is the second-largest census grouping after Roman Catholic. There are more agnostics, humanists, atheists and non-religious in Ireland than there are Church of Ireland members, Presbyterians, Orthodox Christians and Methodists combined. A further 70,000 opted not to answer the religion question. Coming in the wake of the Murphy and Ryan reports, the 2011 census results are expected to record a further increase in this disparate but essentially non-religious group.
This weekend in Dublin about 350 atheists have gathered for the first World Atheist Convention to be held in this country. Speakers include the prolific British professor Richard Dawkins and the chairman of Atheist Ireland, Michael Nugent. “Twenty years ago the atheist campaign would have been around trying to change public opinion, and now it is much more about getting politicians and institutions of the State to recognise that public opinion has changed,” says Nugent.
+++++
The article continues with a number of interviews one of which is with a Curate in Carlow:
FR PADDY BYRNE, a curate in Bagenalstown, Co Carlow, and one of the few Irish priests who can be found holding forth about matters spiritual on Twitter, says that in the 10 years since he was ordained he has observed an increase in people expressing a “very secular perspective”.
At Easter, when he brings the ashes to schools, there are often students who say they don’t want them because they are atheist, and he occasionally meets terminally ill people who don’t wish to have religious services at their funerals. “I respect that totally. In order for growth to happen there has to be a time when we disconnect and experience the angst of doubt. I greatly respect people who make a choice like this fuelled by integrity,” he says.
He is less comfortable when parents make the decision not to baptise their children. “People have said to me, ‘We don’t want them baptised: we want them to decide for themselves.’ But God doesn’t just pop out of the sky. There are very few Damascus moments. I just question whether, if there is no engagement with God from an early age, anyone would opt for religion.”
He also questions this “carry-on” where children receive their first Communion but the vast majority are not brought back to the church to receive their second Communion, the following week. “It saddens me and it raises big questions as to why we go ahead with it.”
Fr Byrne says he is disillusioned about the leadership of the Catholic Church. “The scandal and abuse created a real consciousness that we need to strip away a lot of the baggage that came with the institutional church. We must remember that at the core of our church is Jesus Christ.”
More at:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2011/0604/1224298366216.html