God should be removed from the Irish Constitution along with all references to such an entity, says the Humanist Association of Ireland (HAI).
So too should clauses which the association claims
prevent non-religious people from being appointed president of Ireland
or a judge without swearing a religious oath.
It has also called repeal of the 2009 Defamation Act under which blasphemy is a crime punishable with a fine of up €25,000.
In a statement to mark International Blasphemy Rights Day, HAI campaigns director Terry Flynn
called on the Government “and all political parties, TDs and Senators,
to repeal the blasphemy law, the 2009 Defamation Act, by supporting a
referendum to remove references to God from the Irish Constitution”.
The Constitution
References to the divine in the Constitution begins
with a preamble which states: “In the Name of the Most Holy Trinity,
from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions
both of men and states must be referred, We, the people of Éire, Humbly
acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Who sustained our fathers through centuries of trial.....Do hereby adopt, enact, and give to ourselves this Constitution.”
Under Article 12, the Constitution advises that the
President “shall enter upon [sic] his office by taking and subscribing
publicly, in the presence of members of both Houses of the Oireachtas,
of judges of the Supreme Court, of the Court of Appeal and of the High Court,
and other public personages, the following declaration: ‘In the
presence of Almighty God I do solemnly and sincerely promise and declare
that I will maintain the Constitution of Ireland’.”
Where judges are concerned they too, under Article
34, must on assuming office declare: “in the presence of Almighty God I
do solemnly and sincerely promise and declare that I will duly and
faithfully and to the best of my knowledge and power execute the office
of Chief Justice (or as the case may be) without fear or favour,
affection or ill-will towards any [sic] man, and that I will uphold the
constitution and the laws. May God direct and sustain me.”
Under Article 40 of the Constitution, it is stated
that: “ The publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or
indecent matter is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance
with law.”
In his International Blasphemy Rights Day statement,
Mr Flynn pointed out that the Constitutional Convention, set up in
December 2012, voted 61-38 “against retaining the existing
Constitutional prohibition of blasphemy”.
He said “blasphemy laws are unjust” and that his
organisation believes that, “in a civilised society, people have a right
to express and to hear ideas about religion. Medieval laws have no
place in a modern secular Republic.”
On a day set up “to show solidarity with those who
challenge oppressive laws against free expression and to support the
right to challenge prevailing religious beliefs without fear of arrest
or persecution”, the HAI was “asking all political parties, all TDs and
Senators to repeal this anachronistic blasphemy law by supporting a
referendum to remove references to God from the Irish Constitution”.
The HAI believed “such a referendum should also
include clauses that prevent non-religious from being appointed as
president of Ireland or as a judge without swearing a religious oath”,
he said.