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Markoid wrote: Yeah. The Catholic church has interfered in too many peoples lives.
True. But as is so often the case; it's not an entirely black-and-white issue. It's wonderful to see Ireland shake loose from the oppressive shackles of the Catholic Church. But as seems so often the case when a society undergoes a process of rapid secularisation, there's a whole "baby / bathwater" thing... those aspects of religion that are positive and unambiguously beneficial for a society get jettisoned along with the negative stuff.
Of course, in an ideal world, we would replace those things with secular versions... but we don't seem to do it very effectively. As someone who attended a Christian Brothers primary school, believe me when I say I'm a long way from being an apologist for - or a defender of - the Catholic Church. Nonetheless I fear we risk long-term harm to Irish society and culture if we just try to rip Catholicism from its heart without regard for collateral damage.
It's unlikely Ireland will be able to protect and preserve all the benefits the Church provided while destroying only the dark and twisted aspects. But we don't seem to be even bothering to discriminate between the two. There is no national conversation about this - no attempt to address it; just an increasingly terrified, defensive and shrill Catholic lobby shrieking at an increasingly indifferent nation as its influence drains away.
And while that's a very pleasing image for many of us, I do find myself concerned about the unintended consequences of such rapid cultural change. Back in the throes of teenage Marxism I relished the day - which I felt was surely nigh - when we would rise up as one and burn down all churches and cathedrals. These days - with the dubious wisdom of strange experience, and as the world watches ISIS slash and burn its way across the antiquities of old - that seems such a profane idea. There is value in the old ways, so long as we take care to exorcise the demons.
As for the referendum - I'm off out to vote now.
Oddly enough, and for what may seem like arcane reasons, I'll be voting "No"...
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... in the referendum to lower the presidential age*.
I'll be voting "Yes" in the Marriage Equality referendum. Of course.
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* bet some of you didn't realise there's actually two referenda today! :-)
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