Every so often I must take a break from campaigning for an ethical secular society, to address the latest defamatory smear that some people on the Internet like to shovel in my direction. This one is particularly saddening because it comes from somebody who I considered a friend, who knows from personal experience that the […]
Yesterday in Dublin, for the first time in the history of the State, Atheist Ireland, the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland, and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Ireland united to start a campaign for Separation of Religion and State. We agreed that the first steps of this campaign will be: We will promote the fundamental human rights […]
I debated that Islam is not a religion of peace at a debate organised by the Literary and Historical Society in University College Dublin yesterday. Here is my contribution. The full debate will be online later. Is Islam a religion of peace? That’s like asking is a rainbow yellow? Parts of it are, but the […]
The peaceful protest against the planned Pegida rally in Dublin on Saturday was a positive demonstration of how citizens should respond when they believe that a political movement is threatening our democracy. The street thuggery that happened beside it does not reflect the aims or methods of the peaceful protesters, and it undermines the campaign […]
There is a free Public Meeting in Wynn’s Hotel Dublin at 7:30pm this Thursday 11 February. With the General Election just weeks away, three minority groups with different worldviews explain how we are all discriminated against by lack of separation of church and state in Ireland.
I had the following brief conversation with a man who approached the Atheist Ireland information table in Dublin today. It’s not verbatim, but it captures the gist of the conversation. Him: Do you condemn Islamophobia? Me: I don’t use the word Islamophobia. I oppose bigotry against Muslims as people. I think criticism of Islam as […]
I did two podcast interviews this week – with Gad Saad on the Saad Truth, and with Ciaron O Floinn and Ashling O’Brien on Freethought Friday.
Atheist Ireland welcomes the conclusions today from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that Ireland should significantly increase the availability of non-denominational or multi-denominational schools, eliminate discrimination in school admissions including by amending the Equal Status Act, and ensure accessible options for children to opt-out of religious classes. Atheist Ireland was in […]
Why did the New York City Skeptics and New England Skeptical Society withdraw their invitation to Richard Dawkins to speak at their NorthEast Conference on Science and Skepticism? Steven Novella says the reason “was ultimately about the character of NECSS and the statement we wish to make (or not make) to our community.” But as […]
Richard Dawkins recently, and reasonably, retweeted a funny animated video of a song called ‘Feminists Love Islamists’ by YouTube satirist Sye Ten Atheist, about using ideology to silence criticism. In response, the New York City Skeptics and the New England Skeptical Society effectively proved the underlying point that Richard was highlighting, by publicly withdrawing their […]