Many people misunderstand the difference between atheism and secularism. Both are forces for good, but for different reasons. Atheism can mean actively believing gods do not exist, or passively not believing gods exist.

Most atheists believe gods exist only as ideas in the minds of humans. Most atheists are open to new evidence that we might be mistaken.

Secularism can mean philosophically focusing on the natural world, or politically separating Church and State. Many religious people support political secularism.

Indeed, Atheist Ireland has a working alliance with Evangelical Alliance Ireland and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Ireland to promote a secular education system.

Atheist Ireland believes that reason and science are more reliable ways of understanding reality than are faith and religion, and that morality is a natural process based on evolved attributes such as empathy, compassion, co-operation, reciprocity, fairness, justice and reason.

Respecting rights

But we respect the right of others to believe differently, as long as the State does not assist any group to impose their beliefs on others.

Today the Irish State funds Catholic schools that evangelise the children of atheists into Catholic beliefs, against their conscience.

It funds Church of Ireland schools that insist that Evangelical parents must prove their Church is genuine before their child can attend school.

It funds Sunni Islamic schools that discriminate against Ahmadi Muslims, who they claim are not real Muslims. And it funds all schools to discriminate against teachers based on religion.

We promote a secular education system, where State-funded schools will treat all children equally, without reference to the religious or non-religious beliefs of their parents.

Secular schools will not ignore religion: they will teach children about religions and beliefs in an objective, critical and pluralist manner, while respecting everybody’s human rights.

A force for good

Political secularism is a force for good in three ways. Firstly, secularism protects everybody’s freedom of conscience and religion and belief, by staying neutral between them.

Religious states promote religion. Atheist states promote atheism. Secular states promote neither.

Secondly, secularism allows religious people to focus on preparing for whatever next world they believe in, based on applying faith to their beliefs about divine revelations, and it allows the State to focus on governing this world, applying reason to the best available evidence.

Thirdly, secularism can combine with human rights standards as a foundation stone on which we can build a liberal democracy. This can in turn combat other threats from such ideologies as fascism and totalitarianism and communism and the unregulated free market.

Secularism also has many practical advantages. The happiest countries are secular liberal democracies, including Scandinavian countries and northern European states.

In general, secular countries have lower rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, and abortion.

Less prejudiced

Studies published by social scientist Phil Zuckerman and others have shown that atheists and secularists are typically less nationalistic, less prejudiced, less racist, less dogmatic, less ethnocentric, less closed-minded and less authoritarian; and more politically tolerant and more supportive of gender equality, women’s rights and gay rights.

There is a pathway to secular rational values. The World Values Survey, conducted by social scientists, suggests that as individuals move from survival values to self-expression values, which is triggered by investments in health, education, communication technologies and democracy, societies move from traditional religious values to secular rational values.

Religious oaths

How do we achieve secularism in Ireland? We need to remove from the Constitution religious oaths for president, judges and taoiseach, and the crime of blasphemy.

We need a parliament that does not start each day with a prayer asking the Christian God to direct every word of our parliamentarians.

We need secular State schools that teach children freedom of thought, based on human rights, and without religious segregation or indoctrination.

We need secular State hospitals based on compassion, human rights and the medical needs of patients, and not on religious ethics.

International trends are clear. The developed world is relentlessly becoming more secular, with some fundamentalists fighting a rearguard action against it.

Ireland will follow that trend, and the sooner we attain a secular State, the better it will be for religious and atheist citizens alike.

Michael Nugent is chair of Atheist Ireland