A few years ago, the Irish government confirmed the constitutional right of all children to not have
A few years ago, the Irish government confirmed the constitutional right of all children to not have to take religion classes in public schools and at least some secondary schools will remove overtly Roman Catholic symbols from their buildings. Which is all moving in the right direction. However, 90% of the primary schools in Ireland are still controlled by the Roman Catholic Church. This week the government agreed to pay rent to the Vatican for 40 years so that 20 schools can be used for multi-denominational (this is still not the secular non-denominational education we should all have) education.In 2002, the government agreed to an indemnity deal with the Vatican for child abuse cases that cost the church 128 million euro. The government has since paid the church around one and a half billion euro. It’s a constant uphill struggle against the Roman Catholic church in Ireland to force them to address their constitutional and legal obligations while they spend all their time framing it as a series of concessions and positioning themselves as the victims. -- source link
#roman catholic#education#children#ireland#atheism