Saturday 23 June 2018

Mary McAleese: Infant baptism breaches fundamental human rights

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How much Southern Ireland has changed. Former Irish president Mary McAleese now says that infant baptism breaches fundamental human rights.

I can't see how she can stand up that argument but her remarks might be pointing towards the future. She would have more of a case, I suppose, if she argued against bringing children up in a religion. It is Muslims and Hindus who will prevent that idea ever being implemented. 

The second biggest social change since the 1980s in Europe (after single sex marriage) is that comparative religion, before the 1980s something only studied at post-graduate level, is now taught to children as young as five.

A judgement by the European Court of Human Rights in 2007 required state schools in Norway to teach religion in an objective, critical and pluralistic manner. The judgement applies in all countries that adhere to the European Convention on Human Rights. Only private schools in Europe now teach the Bible as fact and in Sweden this is illegal even in private schools.

8 comments:

  1. The new, charmless, grey, bureaucratic, politically correct Ireland. 1.3 billion Hindus hand on their sacred heritage to their children and around the same number of Muslims do too. Buddhists teach their children well. But McAleese knows better. Like the Commies of the 20th century she seeks to prevent the transmission of the Christian ideal. What a bat.

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  2. It is taught very badly - I think deliberately badly. For example the picture of Islam taught to the children is not really what Muhammed-Mohammed taught and personally did. The message taught in the government schools is two fold - one that all religions are nice and teach basically the same message (not true), and that (the "liberal" point) no religion is actually true. The objective being to make the children both "tolerant" and atheist.

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  3. http://www.churchfathers.org/category/sacraments/infant-baptism/

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  4. I dislike this new Ireland. Just replaced one theocracy with a worse one.

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  5. She is expressing...somewhat inconherently...a problem inherent within all traditional creedal and religious groupings which seek to perpetuate their own teaching ...namely the necessity of “capturing” the minds of the next generation along. Baptism into membership of a faith does to some degree further embed the adherent in that particular faith structure...at least nominally. The question if his this meshes with individual rights and freedoms, especially given that children are involved, is problematic. Andrew

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    Replies
    1. The point is that it is not for the public to tell parents what to do with their children except in extreme cases.

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