Sir, – Donald Clarke is perfectly right in saying that people who cease to have faith in the Roman Catholic religion (or indeed any religion) should cease to observe its rituals but this is not always easy ("If you don't approve of the church then don't take part in its rituals", Opinion & Analysis, June 7th).
On May 25th, 2010, I officially ceased to be a member of this church, my baptism was rescinded and I received official notification as to these facts. Shortly afterwards I saw an article claiming that the Roman Catholic Church had decided that it would accept no further applications for this process ("Church defection website shuts 'due to change in canon law'", August 8th, 2013).
I was appalled at this development, which I consider a serious breach of a citizen’s civil rights. I tried to get a humanist organisation interested in taking up the issue but, like those people who continue to observe rituals in which they no longer believe, this organisation refused in a kind of “don’t ask, don’t tell” attitude.
I have no idea why the Roman Catholic Church took this decision – the proximity of time to a census was my suspicion – but it is time it was rescinded and people who wish to do so are allowed to formally renounce religious affiliation. – Yours, etc,
MAIRIN de BURCA,
Upper Fairview Avenue,
Dublin 3.
Sir, – Charlie Talbot (June 10th) makes an attempt to apply logic to faith. These two concepts are surely mismatched.
He states: “For some people at least, faith is the only sensible option when mere logic proves inadequate”. This is simply an argument from ignorance, as are most faith-based claims. Faith, simply put, is the belief in something without proof or evidence. When you venture into faith, you leave logic at the door.
The correct and logical answer to a question we do not yet have an answer for is “we don’t know”. It is illogical to insert an answer based on faith. – Yours, etc,
IAN COURTENAY,
Hilton Gardens,
Ballinteer, Dublin 16.
Sir, – As an adult is required to complete the census form in Ireland, it is worth noting that the figures of 84 per cent Roman Catholic and 6.4 per cent Church of Ireland that John Bellew (June 11th) quotes also include the children in the State, which the 2011 census puts at in excess of one million. It is circular logic to use these figures to support an argument for why parents baptise their children, given that the figures are padded with the very children who are being baptised. This in addition to myriad other problems associated with the religion question in the census, as highlighted in campaigns by Atheist Ireland and the Humanist Association of Ireland.
We might temper the interpretation of the census figures with those of a 2012 Gallup poll – of adults, I might add – which found that 47 per cent of the population identified themselves as “a religious person”, 44 per cent identified as “not a religious person”, and 10 per cent identified as “a convinced atheist”. – Yours, etc,
DAVID McGINN,
Mountain Park,
Tallaght,
Dublin 24.