The Hazards of Belief

A former local election candidate told the High Court on Friday that Google is discriminating against him because of his religious beliefs by refusing to remove posts alleging he is a homophobe.

Mark Savage, who ran as an Independent in Swords, Co Dublin, in the local elections in 2014, says the allegations that he is a homophobe are untrue.

He had objected to a thread on Reddit describing him as: "Mark Savage - North County Dublins (sic) homophobic candidate."

The thread arose from election leaflets handed out during his campaign, which referred to "gay perverts cavorting en flagrante on the beach on broad daylight".

He said the refusal of Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon to order Google to take down the thread showed a failure to comprehend a previous case in which a politician in the Labour Party, which supported a Yes vote in the same-sex marriage referendum, successfully applied for a take-down order.

He claimed she made her decision "as a favour to the [Labour] political party because it supported a Yes vote, but was not going to give it to this guy who was an election candidate in Swords because he was complaining about inappropriate behaviour by middle-aged men on public beaches in front of young children in broad daylight".

He said he "did not mind the abuse", but to call him a homophobe, which was not based on fact, was a different matter.

The 14-year-old boy was among a group of people from the travelling community from Britain that travelled to Fatima last month.

He claimed he experienced visions there and that these would be repeated today.

A large crowd in the Church of the Apparition in Knock led to fears for the safety of the boy who claimed that he would have a vision.

The crowd dispersed following intervention by stewards.

recedite wrote: »

They should put up a big sign at the entrance to the shrine; "Move along, nothing to see here. It was all a hoax".

ShooterSF wrote: »

Jesus take the wheel always amuses me. Sure the fecker wasn't even alive for cars.

Eight priests have taken their own lives in the past 10 to 15 years in Ireland, a meeting of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) in Cavan has been told.

Minutes of the latter meeting in Caherconlish quote one attendee as saying: "Our morale is affected because we are on a sinking ship. When will the 'counter-reformation' take place? We’re like an All-Ireland team without a goalie. We need a national confidential priests' helpline. We’re slow to look for help."

Among reasons given at the Cavan town meeting for the crisis in the Irish Catholic priesthood were living alone, retirement, health issues, sexual abuse accusations, as well as "workload; being gay; clustering; priests rights; bullying; etc."

As disheartening was that so much work by priests was "for people who have so little contact with the church from First Communions to funerals", the meeting heard. Priests’ confidence "has been eroded when we see so many people going through the motions of faith".

It was claimed priests were "in denial about vocations - not facing reality - we are part of a dying system," and that "we need to unmask and say 'I need help.' There is a great sense of ‘being alone'."

It was said the Bon Secours Sisters, who managed the controversial Tuam Mother and Baby Home, "did a disservice by not clarifying exactly what happened. They need to do so immediately. It makes our job impossible, especially as we face a storm on abortion next year."

There was also criticism of how bishops dealt with media at both meetings.