On the back of his planned involvement alongside other leading academics in launching a new College of Humanities, the renowned atheist and scientist Richard Dawkins has called on the Irish Constitution to be reformed to remove the influence of the church.
Dawkins is in Ireland to attend the the World Atheist Convention, and on Sunday he informed The Irish Times that the country should change its Constitution to “remove all influence of the Roman Catholic Church and all other churches … incorporating tolerance for all religions.”
Dawkins did not hold back as he described the Roman Catholic Church as “an evil institution” and said it is “by far the worst where the churches are concerned.”
The author of The God Delusion was indignant that Irish presidents and judges still had to take an oath to God when they are sworn into office, and expressed joy that secularism is growing and the number of priests is declining in Ireland.
Approximately 350 locals attended the inaugural, three-day World Atheist Convention in Dublin.