Religion and Irish Society
Religion and Irish society
Ireland has long been recognised as a country whose culture, laws and way of life are predominantly influenced by its heavy catholic ethos. The passing of both the civil partnerships bill and the divorce referendum, the growing number of non denominational ‘educate together’ schools and the ready availability of contraception in recent years are all excellent examples of how our country is evolving to become on a par with our international counterparts. There can be no argueing that our generation are growing up in a much more diverse and open minded society that that of our parents. However, the arguably oppressive values of the Catholic Church are still widely enforced and adhered to in many aspects of our society.
At the tender age of four it is thus that as a child living in Ireland, one would be enrolled into a catholic national school. With educate together schools only dotted around the country, making up on 58 of the 3300 primary schools; this is largely due to the fact that there is no other convinient or in fact possible option for parents. Having attended a catholic national school from 1996 until 2004, my experience of the teaching of religion was not one which explained to me the wide range of religions that prevail worldwide, or indeed the possibility of choosing not to follow one. Class masses and visits from the parish priest were regular. The control that the Catholic Church has over what is and isn’t taught in secondary school is however something I feel to be a more serious and pressing issue. It is only in recent years that health education classes have been allowed to address the issue of contraception with teens, an issue of the upmost importance concerning health. It is still required that teachers make it clear that the roman catholic church does not allow protected sex or sex prior to marriage.
The divorce referendum which took place in Ireland in 1995 was subject to worldwide media coverage. Having been so
Ireland has long been recognised as a country whose culture, laws and way of life are predominantly influenced by its heavy catholic ethos. The passing of both the civil partnerships bill and the divorce referendum, the growing number of non denominational ‘educate together’ schools and the ready availability of contraception in recent years are all excellent examples of how our country is evolving to become on a par with our international counterparts. There can be no argueing that our generation are growing up in a much more diverse and open minded society that that of our parents. However, the arguably oppressive values of the Catholic Church are still widely enforced and adhered to in many aspects of our society.
At the tender age of four it is thus that as a child living in Ireland, one would be enrolled into a catholic national school. With educate together schools only dotted around the country, making up on 58 of the 3300 primary schools; this is largely due to the fact that there is no other convinient or in fact possible option for parents. Having attended a catholic national school from 1996 until 2004, my experience of the teaching of religion was not one which explained to me the wide range of religions that prevail worldwide, or indeed the possibility of choosing not to follow one. Class masses and visits from the parish priest were regular. The control that the Catholic Church has over what is and isn’t taught in secondary school is however something I feel to be a more serious and pressing issue. It is only in recent years that health education classes have been allowed to address the issue of contraception with teens, an issue of the upmost importance concerning health. It is still required that teachers make it clear that the roman catholic church does not allow protected sex or sex prior to marriage.
The divorce referendum which took place in Ireland in 1995 was subject to worldwide media coverage. Having been so