Sir, – Further to Joe Humphreys’s column
on why Irish atheists still need the Catholic Church, as a
thirty-something Irish woman who was brought up in an atheist home, I
have never felt part of Irish Catholic society (“Why Irish atheists
still need the Catholic Church”, Opinion & Analysis, January 14th).
Nor have I ever felt the need to cling to Catholicism for my moral
compass. Rather, I have felt suffocated by the Irish Catholic Church’s
overarching influence in all aspects of public and social policy and
that routinely denies Irish women the full enjoyment of our human
rights.
Whether it is the Constitution’s insistence that Irish women’s rightful place is within the home, the continued existence of the Eighth Amendment, the denial of our sexual and reproductive freedoms, the lack of real sex education based on positive messages about sex, pleasure, our bodies and consent, the horrific legacy of the Magdalene laundries, innumerable child sex abuse scandals, the culture of victim-blaming in sexual assault cases, the light sentences received by sex offenders or the lack of female representation in Irish politics, Ireland is very often not a good place to be a woman.
http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/irish-atheists-and-the-catholic-church-1.2492832
Whether it is the Constitution’s insistence that Irish women’s rightful place is within the home, the continued existence of the Eighth Amendment, the denial of our sexual and reproductive freedoms, the lack of real sex education based on positive messages about sex, pleasure, our bodies and consent, the horrific legacy of the Magdalene laundries, innumerable child sex abuse scandals, the culture of victim-blaming in sexual assault cases, the light sentences received by sex offenders or the lack of female representation in Irish politics, Ireland is very often not a good place to be a woman.
http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/irish-atheists-and-the-catholic-church-1.2492832