The Iona Institute ~ for Religion and Society
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The Iona Blog
Opinions contained in The Iona Blog are not necessarily those of The Iona Institute. The Iona Blog is open to anyone who broadly shares the views of The Iona Institute. If you wish to post a comment on a relevant topic please email 200 – 400 words to info@ionainstitute.ie and it will be considered for inclusion in the blog.
The Pill at 50 – a decidedly mixed legacy
~The Pill is fifty years old. It was approved for use in the United States on May 9, 1960. It is arguably the most revolutionary invention ever in terms of its effect on human behaviour. Without it, the sex revolution would have been impossible. Read more...
An Irish Westminster Declaration needed
~At the beginning of this month, just before Gordon Brown called the UK General Election, some of Britain’s leading Christians came together to sign a document called The Westminster Declaration. The declaration is a defence of marriage, the right to life and freedom of conscience. It is another sign that Christians are waking up to the growing threats to what they believe. The two main signatories are the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, and Scotland’s Cardinal Keith O’Brien. Read more...
The Dr Phil Boyle case: how it is an attack on conscience and marriage
~Has a doctor a right to run his practice along fully Catholic lines? Is belief in traditional marriage now deemed problematic in the eyes of the law? Is it problematic in the eyes of society? To judge from the case of Dr Phil Boyle, the answer to the first question is ‘no’, and to questions two and three it is ‘yes’. Dr Boyle runs a fertility treatment service along Catholic lines at Galway clinic, which is a Catholic hospital. He was summoned before the Fitness to Practice Committee of the Medical Council last week. His offence? He would not accept a cohabiting couple for treatment because of his belief in traditional marriage. Read more...
When children are wrongfully removed
~A children’s rights referendum is on the cards. Before we vote on it we should carefully consider the example of Britain. Those who favour a change to the Constitution claim that the current law in this country makes it too hard to remove children from their families. The danger is that the change might make it too easy to do so. In Britain there is no written constitution and no constitutional definition of the family. Social workers have more power of intervention there than they have here. Does this mean British children are better protected than Irish children? The answer is almost certainly, no. Read more...
Classroom indiscipline: the family factor
~The topic of disruptive classroom behaviour by pupils raised its head again this year at the annual Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) conference. According to TUI general secretary Peter McMenamin, the recession and educational cutbacks have made the problem worse. Read more...
Why didn’t Prime Time talk to the parents?
~Last night (April 9) Prime Time ran an item on how religion is being taught in a new type of State-run, inter-denominational primary school. The report was heavily weighted against the practice of teaching the various faith groups separately during class time. Read more...
INTO seeks to undermine religious freedom
~The Deputy General Secretary of the INTO, Noel Ward, has called for Section 37 of the Employment Equality Act to be consigned to history, because it ‘legislates for discrimination’. Read more...
Sensible change to Civil Partnership Bill
~Unfortunately the Government still stubbornly refuses to make any provision for freedom of conscience in the Civil Partnership Bill. However, it has sensibly relented a little on the provisions related to cohabiting heterosexual couples. Read more...
Is it all in the mind?
~Every now and then a neuroscientist pops us to tell us religion is all in the mind because he has tracked down the part of the brain that ‘controls’ and accounts for religion. Fire up this part of the brain and next thing you know, you’re getting ‘mystical’ experiences. Turn it off and you’re as irreligious as your pet dog, or Richard Dawkins. Read more...
Dermot Ahern's confusing stance on Civil Partnerships
~The Government's Civil Partnership Bill began the process of going through committee earlier this week. Sadly, no amendments on religious freedom were tabled, much less debated. Instead, we had amendments from both Fine Gael Justice spokesperson Charlie Flanagan and Labour Justice spokesperson Brendan Howlin, asking that Civil Partnership be made even more like marriage. Read more...
Few women want to work full-time, all the time
~I attended a seminar in Barcelona the other week at which one of the most fascinating papers was delivered by Catherine Hakim from the sociology department at the London School of Economics. Read more...
Former porn star exposes myths of porn industry
~The porn industry today is predominately presented as a glamorous lifestyle in which sex is simply a recreational activity which does not have any real consequences. Trendy tween and teenage fashions are laced with playboy bunny ears and t-shirt prints state ‘porn star in training’ or “if at first you don’t succeed, buy her another beer.” Read more...
Only a partial victory for religious freedom
~Today's news that a Catholic adoption agency in the UK has been allowed to continue to refuse to place children with same-sex couples because of a legal loophole is good news for other similar agencies in the UK, who will now hopefully be able to continue to provide their services to the community. Read more...
Faith and politics can and should mix, says Archbishop
~Last July, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern, in response to a sermon criticising his Civil Partnership legislation, said when he legislated, he didn't "bring whatever religion I have to the table”. Earlier this month, Archbishop Charles Chaput, of Denver, addressed this topic before the Houston Baptist University. Specifically, he tackled one of the most noteworthy speeches in favour of the extremely secular view taken by Mr Ahern, a 1960 speech made by then Senator John Kennedy during his Presidential campaign. Read more...
Persecute me – I’m after the brownie points
~Comedian, Frank Skinner has a piece in The Times today saying he wants Christians to be persecuted – he’s a weekly Mass-goer himself – because he reckons Christians thrive when’re they’re a persecuted and despised minority. He’s referring to the growing number of legal actions being taken against Christians in the UK, from nurses being suspended for offering to pray for patients, to investigations for ‘hate crimes’ for opposing gay pride parades and what have you. Read more...
Church document climbs on virtue bandwagon
~The pre-election document produced by the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, Choosing the Common Good, has been described by the BBC as an “attack on British society's 'lack of trust'”. The BBC says the document accuses British society of being “unneighbourly”. The effect of the BBC report is to portray the bishops as a bunch of scolds, railing against modern society and its selfish ways. Read more...
Conscience rights for public health workers
~The Government has refused point-blank to give civil registrars a right of conscientious objection vis-a-vis performing civil partnership ceremonies. The line is that once you are a public servant you must do whatever the State requires of you, come what may, with no exceptions. In other jurisdictions this kind of thinking is starting to permeate the health-care system. The argument is that if you work in a State hospital, you must be willing to carry out ANY medical procedure that takes place in that hospital if you are suitably qualified, including abortion. Read more...
Why Labour in UK is bidding for religious vote
~The public spat between Labour’s Secretary for Scotland, Jim Murphy and the leader of Scotland’s Catholics, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, over Labour’s apparent new respect for religion, is revealing at a number of levels. For a start, Mr Murphy’s suggestion that Labour is the natural home for religious values is, as Cardinal O’Brien suggests, wholly at odds with their record over their time in office. Read more...
The ESRI’s pessimism on pro-marriage policies
~A major report on the family in Ireland was issued by the ESRI yesterday. Called ‘Family Figures: Family Dynamics and Family Types in Ireland, 1986-2006’, it draws on Census data to paint a detailed picture of family type and structure today. It contains some of the same data that is contained in our own 2007 document, ‘Marriage Breakdown and Family Structure in Ireland’ One striking feature of the report is its extreme pessimism (realism?) with regard to the effectiveness of pro-marriage policies. It says on page xii, ‘Our findings suggest that the potential for policy to alter trends in family structures and types through financial incentives is limited’. Read more...
Children’s rights referendum
~The wording of a possible children’s right amendment has now been published. It is lengthy and complex and gives rises to immediate concerns that it might give the State more power than it really needs to protect children, power that has been abused in other jurisdictions. It is said that this amendment is needed to protect children from abuse. However, the State already has the power to protect children from both abuse and neglect, as is fitting. It is currently permitted to intervene in families in “exceptional cases”. Read more...
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