“During the middle years of the 20th Century, Ireland's bishops could make or break governments, and until the 1990s and the sex abuse scandals, the Catholic hierarchy held a firm grip on national legislation that banned divorce, limited the sale of contraceptives and criminalized homosexual activity.”
Tom Hundley
“Rights are for individuals, not for religions or beliefs. 'Every human is equal' does not mean that every belief is equal.”
“The papal office has an unparalleled record of corruption and criminality over the centuries, and the true history of the popes is one of scandals, cruelty, debauchery, reigns of terror, warfare and moral depravity.”
Tony Bushby
“Two events heralded the death knell for what has been referred to many times as 'the long 19th century of the Irish Catholic Church.' Those were the Second Vatican Council, when things apparently immutable for all time were seemingly changed overnight, and the introduction of free second-level education as well as the introduction of state university grants in 1967. Both produced skeptical Irish Catholics, less credulous than previous generations and demanding more sophisticated answers to age-old questions.”
“Secularists, even atheistic secularists, are not the anti-Christ. Most of them live their lives as well or as badly as fervent Christians. They pay their taxes, they don't kill other people, and they don't molest children. They keep the law and behave decently because they believe that humanity is the highest form of life. And they object very strongly to being told that they are slavering monsters of depravity because they don't believe in a supernatural being.”
Emer O'Kelly