Love ‘em or Hate ‘em, the Catholic church is in Ireland, with a significant grip on the sheeple. 88.8% of people follow the Roman Catholic Church, though I would count a sizeable percentage to be Apathetic to their religion.

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Whats more, they don’t understand the sheer problems the Catholic Church has caused. They have done far more harm than good. And yet people still believe in them, follow them and support them.

The North

In the late 1700’s, a group called the United Irishmen wanted to unite all Irish people of all religions under one government. Some were Catholic, other Presbyterian, others Protestant, all with one noble goal, to make Ireland sovereign. I would have supported them. But then the mass droves go off committing sectarian acts of murder on each other’s religion, and tensions grow. This is a prelude to the North-South issue.

When Ireland fought for independence, it was purely the religious divide which caused the two sides fighting each other. “A Protestant parliament for a Protestant people” was the alliterate claims by Edward Carson and his Unionist followers. It was purely “The special place fo the Catholic church” which was part of the Irish constitution which the Protestant Ulster men and women feared, and rightly so. I have no doubt a Catholic Irish government woudl have discriminated against the Northern Protestants. Yet, should all of Ireland been Atheist, I have no doubt the whole Island would have fought for freedom.

Social Progress

Religion is always the opponent to social progress. Ireland is one of the worst cases. In the 1950’s, it opposed the Mother and Child Scheme, which would have given Free healthcare to a Mother before and after birth. This is a perfectly reasonable thing to do, yet the church did not want it. They also banned contraception, pornography, supported laws which made civil servants give up their jobs if they became pregnant and made it illegal for women to sit as jury.

In short, the Church tried to suppress personal freedoms as much as they could. They opposed parties which brought about reform and prosperity and supported those who often led to downturn.

Politics

For years Politics was dominated by the Catholic church. Any move by the government needed the go-ahead by the Church. People supported any decision by the Catholic  Church in their droves. Any decision to implement anything the church opposed failed. It was only in the 80’s and 90’s that divorce and contraception became legal, things which are basic rights in most countries.

People are far more liberal in regards to Politicians religion than they are in America. An Atheist politician got into government in the 90’s, and people couldn’t care less about the Religion of a politician, but a Taoiseach – I’m not so sure.

Child Abuse Scandals:

When the Child Abuse Scandals by priests came to light, people were shocked. Ireland was hit particularly hard [Pun not intended]. Sure, people say Paedophiles infiltrated the Church, but to think that something like this could go on unchecked because someone has taken oaths to an imaginary figure is a sign of idiocy. The fact the people trust an organisation which has the ability to harbour this sort of threat is amazing to me.

Any priest has the capacity to abuse children and get away with it for years, maybe forever. I understand its’ a small minority that commits the act, but not to reform it so that minority can’t act on their impulses is simply ignoring the problem.

What has the Catholic Church done for Ireland? Very little . Sure, it set up Charity groups, but most of those work out in the developing world. What it has done though is brew sectarian violence, create generations of theologically brain dead people, stopped any progress, attacked Womens rights and in short, Make Ireland a worse place.