Just be honest with yourself. You're not a Catholic. That's ok.

I got my kids baptised simply as it would cut out the hassle of trying to find a school for the. Of course I could have made a stand, been in the local press, been on radio, but in the end I might well have ended up having to drive my kids an hour to school in the morning.

I hate the fact that the church has so much influence on this country, from tourists not being able to get a glass of wine with a meal on Good Friday, to me being forced to baptise kids to get them schooled. I really think the day can't come soon enough when all this is history. But for now, we are stuck with it.

Having said that, I will certainly not be pushing any religion down the throats of my children. If they have no interest in it, that's fine by me.

Probably, as much to satisfy other people and not me.

My logic is though, once they are young teens, or whatever age they decide at, they can be believers or not. They won't find any arguments from me.

As long as they turn out to be good, compassionate people, I'll be happy.

One comment sums it all up really:

a lot of irish people would say they’re catholic in the census, but would not consider themselves to be ‘a religious person’.

Just like I call myself a stamp collector even though I only use stamps to send mail.

seamus wrote: »

One comment sums it all up really:
Just like I call myself a stamp collector even though I only use stamps to send mail.

I was listening to a random podcast about Buddhism/psychology/mindfulness in the car this week, and one of the items that came up was what is called the "stickiness" of ideas. From what I gathered, it is believed that many ideas can be tightly connected to one's sense of self-identity, regardless of how true or otherwise those ideas are. People are very slow to give up the Catholic label, regardless of their actual religious beliefs, simply because the idea that they are Catholic is deeply embedded (usually from childhood) in their sense of self-identlty.

It's a bit like people finding out that their ancestors were actually very different to what they believed, for example a black woman discovering that her ancestors were not slaves but slave owners, or a proud Scot discovering that his ancestors are actually Irish, not Scottish. The reality of who they are hasn't changed at all, but their idea of who they are gets turned upside-down.

I imagine this phenomenon applies to cultural religious identity in general, and with Irish cultural Catholicism specifically.

IMO the real problem here is with the census. The way the religion question is constructed is seriously out of sync with the way religious belief, practice and identity has evolved in Ireland. Personally I'd prefer to see the religion question dropped completely.

Is it the Boards' own Dunnes Stores own-brand John Waters or the on/off troll with the mis-spelt name you're talking about? :pac:

Its all seems harmless enough for a person to 'identify' themselves as a Catholic even when they don't give the religion any thought (or even if they don't believe in some of the central tenets of the church) - thats their business.

However, the ticking of the catholic box in the census is not a trivial thing. It affects everyone. It gives those with a 'catholic agenda' some credibility when claiming that this is still a catholic country. It allows them to justify having over 90% of schools to remain as religious so the indoctrination of children can continue.
I hope people give some thought to the next census and tick the 'no religion' box as it might bring about progressive changes in our education system.

AudreyHepburn wrote: »

I think how you identify yourself your own personal choice and you shouldn't have to justify yourself to anyone.

I agree with your opinion on baptisms.