The Irish government defends that spiritualist organisations have less criteria to fulfil than an atheist/non religious organisation to solemnise marriage. That discrimination is based on supernatural belief, justified because such long standing belief in talking to the dead and meeting regularly makes the organisation more reputable:
On 20 December, Government Minister Joan Burton told the Dail that the reason why secular bodies are required to fulfill more criteria than religious bodies is “to ensure the institution of marriage is protected by applying a rigorous set of rules regarding the type of body that can be deemed eligible. In this regard, it is important that the criteria should be robust so that the authority to solemnise marriage would be granted only to stable, long-standing and reputable organisations.” She said this despite the fact that this authority is currently granted to religious bodies that do not fulfill these criteria.
The full story on Michael Nugent’s blog
Secular alternatives respect the non beliefs of Irish citizens. The law is an example of where government treats non belief as less reputable than religion in society.
With child abuse, and women denied life saving abortions, Ireland knows better than to fall for that.
Article written by John Sargeant on Homo economicus’ Weblog
Follow @JPSargeant78
Homo economicus' Weblog 