Appeal launched to ban schools from asking to see child's baptism cert

David Kearns

The right for schools to ask for a baptism cert when deciding to admit a student should be banned, says secular campaigners.

A new appeal has been launched by the Humanist Association of Ireland to highlight “this inequality in the admission policies” in most state-funded national schools.

Brian Whiteside, of the Humanist Association, said the practice of proving a child’s religious affiliation should be banned because it was a requirement that no longer applied to the majority of Irish people.

“We are a much more secular country but the education system has not changed to reflect that," he said.

“More than a third of marriages are now civil services; what do these parents do when almost 90 pc of national schools can discriminate against them?”

“How can it be right to pressure these parents into something that goes against their conscience?”

Mr Whiteside said the practice of schools using baptism certs as a means to limit which students they admit was forcing some parents into "pragmatic baptisms" in order to get their child into popular schools.

“Often you hear from people that the practice doesn’t happen but this is in areas where there isn’t a demanded. It is a different story when there’s pressure to get a place – then schools can discriminate as much as they want against those who have no interest in baptising their children.”

The Government needs to step in and force schools to change their admission policies, said Mr Whiteside – who criticised previously comments from the  State that schools should be allowed to “protect their religious ethos”.

“The State should not encourage discrimination. It has the power to force a change in admission practices. Those schools that choose to continue to force parents to go against their conscience should have their funding reduced.”

“We are not attacking anyone with this appeal – we are simply trying to ensure that everyone’s beliefs are respected. Surely it is offensive for Christians to know that parents are baptism their children purely to help secure a spot at a good school?”The Humanist Association of Ireland is asking those interested in supporting their campaign to text 'EQUAL' to 51000 or to visit their website and vote.