For the first time since the foundation of the State, God is not explicitly mentioned in the philosophical introduction to the new primary school curriculum, due to be introduced next year.
The draft introduction, which reliable sources say has not changed in the final version, says it "takes cognisance of the spiritual dimension in the child's overall development".
It continues: "For many people the totality of the human condition cannot be understood or explained merely in terms of physical and social experience.
"The belief in a further dimension of human existence springs from a sense of the inadequacy of even the fullest explanation of life and its purpose solely in terms of experience and observation, and from a shared experience that intimates a more profound explanation of being.
"The quest and desire for such a transcendental element in human existence encompasses the spiritual dimension of life and finds fulfilment in many ways."
This emphasis on pluralism is spelled out later: "Children come from a diversity of cultural, religious, social, environmental and ethnic backgrounds, and these engender their own beliefs, values and aspirations. The curriculum acknowledges this pluralism in society and caters for a variety of differences while at the same time promoting tolerance and respect for diversity in both the school and the community."
The introduction notes that religious education is not included in the curriculum because the Department of Education and Science "devolves the rights of designing curricula in Religious Education and the supervision of their teaching and implementation to the different church authorities".
However, it stresses that the "religious and cultural expression" of the spiritual dimension is "an inextricable part of Irish culture and history". Religious education enables the child "to acquire spiritual and moral values."
It goes on: "Irish society recognises the right of the individual to choose the particular form of religious expression that reflects the spiritual aspirations and experience he/she seeks.
"It acknowledges, too, the importance of tolerance towards the practice, culture and lifestyle of a range of religious conviction and expression, and the curriculum strives to develop in children tolerance and understanding towards the beliefs of others.
"Education generally seeks to reflect and cater for a variety of religious convictions and acknowledges the right of parents to arrange for their children's education in a school whose religious ethos coincides with their own religious conviction.
"It is the duty of the school to provide a religious education that is consonant with its ethos and, at the same time, to be flexible in making alternative organisational arrangements for those who do not wish to avail of the particular religious education it offers."
This section concludes: "It is equally important that, in the course of a general engagement with the curriculum, the beliefs and sensibilities of every child are respected."
These passages contrast strongly with the paragraph on religion in the teachers' handbook for the 1971 primary curriculum, which the new curriculum will replace.
This laid down: "Of all the parts of a school curriculum, Religious Instruction is by far the most important, as its subject-matter, God's honour and service, includes the proper use of all man's faculties, and affords the most powerful inducements to their proper use.
"Religious Instruction is, therefore, a fundamental part of the school course, and a religious spirit should inform and vivify the whole work of the school." This line has become a particular irritant over the years to non-religious parents, who say it effectively negates their constitutional right to withdraw their children from religious instruction.
The 1971 teachers' handbook continued: "The teacher should constantly inculcate the practice of charity, justice, truth, purity, patience, temperance, obedience to lawful authority, and all the other moral virtues.
"In this way he will fulfil the primary duty of an educator, the moulding to perfect form of his pupils' character, habituating them to observe, in their relations with God and with their neighbour, the laws which God, both directly through the dictates of natural reason and through Revelation, and indirectly through the ordinance of lawful authority, imposes on mankind."