Sir, – The acknowledgment of the requirement of the EU Convention on Human Rights that parents must have a right to withdraw their children from religious education classes if such classes are not delivered in an “objective, critical and pluralistic manner”, by Tom O’Gorman of the Iona Institute (January 8th), places the spotlight squarely on a terrible, long-standing problem.
This is because, in State-funded Irish schools that are under the management of the Catholic Church (over 90 per cent of State schools), it is stated policy that: “This [Catholic] faith is not simply the subject matter of particular lessons but forms the foundation of all that we do and the horizon of all that takes place in the school.” (A Vision for Catholic Education in Ireland, issued by the Catholic Bishops Conference, May 2008).
The ultimate logic of this is that parents who demand a secular education for their children are under an obligation to remove them from all classes, and indeed from the school premises, of such taxpayer-funded schools under the current arrangements. This is a shocking indictment of what we like to think is a democratic republic in the 21st century. – Yours, etc,