Pick a Fight

Today, you need to write a manifesto. A short statement of purpose that represents what you believe in.

This needs to be a hill worth dying on, something not everyone will agree with (but some hopefully will).

Ask yourself: what’s wrong with the world? And then address that problem. Pick a fight with it, and invite others to join your cause.

Being from and growing up in Ireland, I went to a Christen Brothers primary and secondary school.

There isn’t much difference to quarrel with in relation to the subjects that are taught. You get the usual dose of math, English, history and Irish, you also get subjects that can strike a persons preference like geography and art (clear favourite).

An odd one that gets thrown in though is religion. The name though might imply that it would be religious studies, so a variety of beliefs that are practised all over the world. You would be wrong.

For a start you are only exposed to one, Roman Catholicism. Not only that, but it is engrained into the syllabus that children are taught in schools all across the country. Even for admission into a school, a child must be baptized into to secure a place at school. It should be noted though, that not all of the schools in Ireland are Roman Catholic, but they make 96% of the total in the country.

While you attend school, you go through the traditional stages of first confession, first communion and then confirmation. You are told about the miracles that Jesus supposedly performed throughout his life, the moral teachings from the bible, so on and so forth.

This may seems fairly harmless when you read it here, but ask yourself this.

What if you aren't a Catholic?

This, as they say, is where the plot thickens.

Unbaptized children are put at the bottom of the list for admissions, giving preference instead to children who at one point in their lives were baptized. This presents a very real issue for parents looking to find a place for their children were the vast majority of schools are Catholic. Schools set this admission criteria which puts unbaptized children waiting in the wings.

I find this grossly unfair and unconstitutional.

The number of practising Catholics in Ireland is falling. A Gallup poll shows that the number of respondents that identified as religious in 2011 was 47%, it was 69% in 2005.

Not only that, but the constitution states:

The state shall not impose any disabilities or make any discrimination on the ground of religious profession, belief or status.

I identify as an atheist. But while I do not believe in a god or deity, I am all for religious freedom. At the same time, I find it repulsive to impose a religion on someone and in this case, imposing it on them in order for their child to get an education. An education that is paid for with tax payers money.

If I had no been baptized, I would not have had access to the education that has gotten me to where I am today. With the world changing and with open boarders in Europe, to tell a family of lets say Hindu background, that their child cannot go to a school because they are not baptized is falt out wrong.

There must be a seperation of church and state. This actually grants religious freedom to all within that country. Slightly ironic, isn’t it?

The Catholic Church has said that is was not the function of the church to provide education for all of Irish society. I find this a repulsive thing to say considering it controls over 90% of the schools in the country. Telling parents to simply baptize them in order to increase the chances is a form on control over people.

It’s time to say enough is enough. The Irish government is letting the people of its country down, and badly at that. Restricted access to education on the basis of religion is a breach of human rights.

With little in the way of alternatives for parents to consider, the only option is for the admission process to change. It’s time that people of all beliefs (or no belief) have access to what is right.