A chara, – Fintan O'Toole writes: "Most people, religious or non-religious, would now accept that the toxic intertwining of church and State deformed both" ("Church and State role in education intertwined", Opinion & Analysis, June 24th).
On reading this, I ask myself, how can he know that? Was there an Irish Times survey? But then I remember that Mr O'Toole, a journalist, has only to look into his heart, and he knows what most people think.
On further consideration, what he says is obvious. What right-thinking person would approve of toxic intertwining? Does Mr O’Toole imply that any non-toxic intertwining is grand? Or does he believe that any intertwining is necessarily toxic? Is it just any instance where the church is a partner? There is the background of even stronger intertwining for several centuries, while the Church of Ireland was the established state church.
Consider public-private partnership. It can bring significant benefits as well as significant problems, and not just where the church is a partner. There must be critical assessment. But overall, has church-State partnership been more beneficial or more harmful? Would the people of Ireland have been better off without the input of religious bodies into education, health, welfare, social cohesion, pastoral care, over the past 100 years?
Mr O’Toole is astonished that the Minister for Education would say: “Teachers seeking to maximise their job prospects would be advised to study religious education.” But 94 per cent of people in the 2011 census reported religious affiliation. If most of those choose to have religious education in school, is not what the Minister said perfectly reasonable? Yes, there are problems. Yes, there could be other models. But teachers are there to serve the pupils and their families, not to impose. – Is mise,
PÁDRAIG McCARTHY,
Blackthorn Court,
Sandyford, Dublin 16.