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| 1-May-2022 |
This shows the need for the State to remove the privilege it gives to the Catholic Church in running Irish schools and hospitals, and to Christianity generally in the religious oaths in our Constitution and in our charities and civil registration laws.
Ireland is no longer a Catholic country. We are now a pluralist country gradually dismantling Catholic privilege in our laws.
The marriage trend was exaggerated in 2020 when fewer people got married because of the Covid pandemic, and is now moving back towards the steady declines and rises from 2016 to 2019.
The marriage figures for 2021 are:
39% Roman Catholic
34.8% Civil Registry
8.6% Other Religions
8.5% Humanist Association
8% Spiritualist Union
1.1% Church of Ireland
Looking at the five-year trends from 2016 to 2021:
Religious marriages have dropped from 67.4% to 56.7%
Of these, four of every five is Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic marriages have dropped from 56.3% to 39%
Church of Ireland marriages have dropped from 1.7% to 1.1%
Marriages by other religions have risen from 5% to 8.6%
Spiritualist Union marriages have risen from 4.5% to 8%
Nonreligious marriages have risen from 32.6% to 43.3%
Of these, four of every five is Civil Registry and the other is Humanist
Civil Registry marriages have risen from 25.9% to 34.8%
And Humanist marriages have risen from 6.7% to 8.5%
See also this follow-up post, the 5-year drop in religious marriages, which addresses the actual numbers of marriages as opposed to the percentages.
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| Michael Nugent is Chair of Atheist Ireland |
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