Sir – Do I detect the embryonic stage of an Irish solution to a perceived problem, the establishment of non-religion teaching schools under religious patronage? – Yours, etc.
JOSEPH MACKEY,
Glasson,
Athlone,
Co Westmeath.
Sir, – I think Ruairí Quinn's proposal to reduce and soon eliminate the teaching of religion in schools is brilliant! With absolutely no moral education, future generations of Irish jail inmates will be able to read and understand Ulysses, while simultaneously counting the number of years they will be "inside". – Yours, etc,
MARY O’MAHONY,
Bawnard West,
Midleton, Co Cork.
Sir, – With regard to Bill Bailey's suggestion (January 28th) that increased religious education is some kind of panacea for the inherent dishonesty, corruption and general lack of integrity throughout the elite of the country, let us not forget that the Catholic Church had a moral monopoly in this State for much of the last century, a period during which our elites (including the Catholic church) hardly covered themselves in glory.
It is also worth noting that, according to the world ranking on corruption perception in 2012, the least corrupt country out of 174 was Denmark, a country which emerged as the third least religious country out of 143 in a 2009 Gallup poll on the importance of religion (18 per cent of Danes said religion was important; 80.5 per cent said it was unimportant), while the most corrupt country was Somalia – the fifth most religious country in the 2009 poll (98.5 per cent of Somalis said religion was important; 1.5 per cent said it was unimportant).
To contend that there is a correlation between religiosity and reduced dishonesty and corruption is not borne out by the evidence. – Yours, etc,
ROB SADLIER,
Stocking Avenue,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.