Sir, - In an otherwise excellent series on the societal impact of the Celtic Tiger (Price of Success, September 7th-10th), Katherine Holmquist falls into the common trap of equating a decline in religious practice with a decline in morality. If anything, there is an inverse relationship between the two.
In terms of practical morality - care for the aged and the poor, integrity and openness of government and institutions, the general level of honesty, the welcoming of refugees, care for the environment (to name but a few) - the "godless" Scandinavian countries put the "religious" countries like Ireland to shame, while Northern Ireland and Uganda lead the world in both religious practice and internecine slaughter. On a personal level, there seems to be a correspondingly low level of business and private ethics associated with those who must ostentatiously practise their religion (plenty of prominent names spring to mind here).
Every society undergoing profound change has to develop new mores and modify existing ones to accommodate this change. Reactivating discredited institutions and practices from the past is not the way. Lest we forget, the golden age of Church domination in Ireland provided us with nightmarish orphanages, paedophile clergy, Magdalene laundries (need I go on?) and a morality almost exclusively concentrated on sex, as Fr Michael Cleary ably demonstrated.
This is not to say we should ignore the spiritual dimension of our existence. For what it is worth, my own personal spiritual development indicates that formal religious practice actually gets in the way. Confusing spirituality and morality with religious practice and Church power serves only those who want to return us to being a suffocating priest-ridden backwater. - Yours, etc., Tony Murphy,
Cuskinny, Cobh, Co Cork.