North shows us religious apartheid is an epic fail

It’s 30 years since Scottish researchers contrasted the chances of Catholic schoolboys continuing to practise their religion after leaving school, by type of secondary school.

They contrasted three kinds of school: Religious-run schools which buttressed scholars from competing world views; secondly, schools where pupils’ competing cultures and religions were allowed to flourish and religious instruction was not on the curriculum but provided in Church. The third category was similar to the last mentioned, but without any Sunday school attendance.

The school type with the best outcome, from the Church’s perspective, was the second option.

Given these findings, it seems that those zealots who think that by swamping children in religious instruction in either the “integrated curriculum” or its latter-day replica, “characteristic spirit” or “ethos”, everything will be hunky-dory, are mistaken.

Shutting out competing ideas in monopolistic Church-dominated schools is a mythical benefit, as is censoring of priests who think out loud.

We’ve learnt little from Northern Ireland, where religious apartheid is poisoning community life. In rural Ireland, all-together schools with a values-in-common culture and indoctrination in Church for those who want it offer the prospect of viable schools, reduced bussing costs, and time for at least one foreign language.

John Colgan

Dublin Road Street

Leixlip

Co Kildare