Will you eat meat tomorrow

Jeremias Tender Cheese wrote: »

If I was living in a Muslim country I would expect the above, hence I wouldn't live in a muslim country.

So you will not live in a muslim country just because of it's religion. It is possible to ignore the religion in most of these countries.

Jeremias Tender Cheese wrote: »

I think that there should be separate schools for the different religions.

This is a ridiculous comment to be fair.
You only have to look at the generations of hatred in Northern Ireland between neighbours.
A lot of it was down to ignorance and an "us and them" attitude which led to a poisonous atmosphere and all the murder and mayhem that went with it.

Jeremias Tender Cheese wrote: »

The catholic schools are also far superior.

Not always

Jeremias Tender Cheese wrote: »

The school should provide this, the schools were founded by the church and the majority of people attending are catholic therefore its should be a given that the catholic faith is taught and promoted in catholic schools.

The schools might have been founded by the church but that's not something we should be proud of.
Look at all the abuse and indoctrination that was perpetrated on children due to the power the catholic church over communities.
I should be able to say I don't want my kids indoctrinated in this way and not feel ashamed for it.

I'm not anti-catholic but can see their dominance of the country in the past was a bad thing. The Ireland of Dev is thankfully gone.

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

"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,
Gratefully remembering their heroic and unremitting struggle to regain the rightful independence of our Nation,
And seeking to promote the common good, with due observance of Prudence, Justice and Charity, so that the dignity and freedom of the individual may be assured, true social order attained, the unity of our country restored, and concord established with other nations,
Do hereby adopt, enact, and give to ourselves this Constitution."

Fair enough, I'll give you that one, but that could equally apply to protestant or orthodox denominations, not just catholic.
What religious laws does Ireland have?

Jeremias Tender Cheese wrote: »

Because the vast majority attending the schools are catholic!

After hours is not a true reflection of society as it appears to draw a high number of atheists and a good deal of catholic bashers

Yes, because a lot of parents baptised their children because it is the done thing, rather than them being an actual practicing Catholic. If practicing Catholics want a Catholic school then the church should fund it themselves, the state shouldn't pay for it.

It isn't Catholic bashing to want public funded schools to be secular.

catallus wrote: »

That is such an abrasively arrogant thing to say, that people who baptise their kids are just going through the motions.

How so?

catallus wrote: »

How so, indeed.

Maybe if you opened your mind and maybe accepted the fact that there is such a thing as faith (I wonder if such a concept is entirely alien to an insular secular mindset) and that people might actually put some thought and effort into a transcendental ritual for the purpose of supporting that faith and outlook on life, then perhaps you wouldn't dismiss it so patly.

You still haven't explained how my post is "abrasively arrogant". Where in my post did I say "all" parents baptised their children because it is/was the done thing?. I said "a lot", and by that I mean these parents did it because of the stigma of an Irish child not being baptised, and only baptised children being allowed into Catholic schools. The vast vast majority of schools in Ireland are Catholic, so to get in children were required to be baptised. I think this rule is changing now.

It is you that is arrogant, complaining that I'm dismissing people with religious beliefs, but dismissing my non religious beliefs in the same sentence. People should be free to practice their religion, but they should not force it onto others, as was the case for too long in Ireland.

Jeremias Tender Cheese wrote: »

Non-domination schools are a bad idea anyway. Look at the dumps of schools they are in the UK, whereas catholic schools are far far superior, even practising Catholics have to jump through hoops in order to get their child into the school their choice such is the demand.

Catholic and CoE schools here can use their admissions policies to make sure that they only admit "the right kind of student" - it has been shown that faith schools in the UK have a lower than average number of ESL students and those who are eligible for free school meals (from low income families).