Equal rights for atheists
Atheist Ireland petitions European Parliament on Irish equality laws
As Ireland starts its six-month presidency of the EU Council, Atheist Ireland has submitted a petition to the European Parliament. We’re asking it to examine a gap in Irish equality law.
Irish equality law explicitly protects people with religious beliefs. But it only addresses atheism, humanism, and secularism as the absence of religious beliefs. It does not give them equal status as positive beliefs in their own right.
By contrast, European law refers to freedom of ‘religion or belief’. And the ‘or belief’ part of that phrase refers to nonreligious philosophical convictions. These have the same legal status as religious beliefs.
The problem is not merely symbolic. It shapes how public bodies, schools, equality tribunals, legislators, and regulators understand and apply rights. It causes practical discrimination against atheists, humanists, secularists, and others.
Ironically, the Irish government does recognise the status of Atheist Ireland and the Humanist Association of Ireland as partners in the formal dialogue process with churches and philosophical bodies under Article 17 of the Lisbon Treaty.
But Irish citizens do not receive the equal legal protection that this recognition implies. The gap appears across equality law, religious oaths for public office, the education system, marriage solemnisation, charity law, taxation, political advocacy, and access to effective remedies.
What are the consequences of this discrimination?
The Irish Constitution requires religious declarations for several public offices. This means a conscientious atheist cannot become President, a judge, or a member of the Council of State (which includes the Taoiseach and Tánaiste) because they would have to swear an oath to a god they do not believe in.
The Irish State funds a school system in which most schools are controlled by religious patron bodies. There are no non-denominational schools registered with the Department of Education. Boards of management are required to uphold the characteristic spirit, or ethos, of the school as determined by the patron.
In addition, Irish equality law provides exemptions that allow religious bodies and schools to discriminate on the ground of religion in order to protect their religious ethos. These exemptions affect both employment of teachers, and access to education for non-religious families (Section 37 Employment Equality Act and Section 7 Equal Status Act)
The Irish State has no guidelines on how to give practical application to respecting the beliefs of all families equally in publicly funded schools. The only detailed guidelines in place are those issued by the Catholic Church. These assert that atheism and humanism are not ‘beliefs’, directly contradicting EU and international law.
In a case under the Equal Status Act, the WRC accepted the school’s argument that providing alternative classes for students who opted out of religion might cause chaos within the school. It also suggested that offering another subject to such a child could potentially discriminate against students who attended religious classes.
This illustrates the practical problem. Atheism and humanism are treated merely as an absence of religion. This means the burden falls on the non-religious child to fit around the religious ethos, rather than on the publicly funded school to respect all convictions equally.
The Civil Registration Amendment Act 2012 (Section 45A(1)) discriminates in favour of religious bodies over secular bodies in relation to the solemnisation of marriages. It also discriminates between secular bodies, as only secular bodies with humanist objects can solemnise marriages. The result is that religious bodies are trusted to define their own religious purposes, while secular bodies must fit a narrower statutory category.
Irish charity law and tax law also discriminate against citizens and bodies with non-religious philosophical convictions. The advancement of religion is recognised as a charitable purpose. The advancement of atheism, humanism, or secularism is not. Religious bodies can obtain charitable status and associated tax advantages for the advancement of religion. Secular philosophical bodies cannot.
Ireland should change its laws to reflect EU law on freedom of religion or belief.