Images via YouTube & Etsy
They would all sell their birthright for a mess of pottage!
“I manifested 4500 demons and people were throwing up green goop; we couldn’t even see the screen, an old lady…
Today, the Scottish National Party elected a leader who is a devout liar (apologies, I meant devout muslim) and is…
Point of interest: This post made was picked up by Reddit Atheism, where it attracted almost 30,000 views. The comments…
It is my understanding from reading Barry’s posts that this is what attracts most, if not all, RC priests in…
AN ordained minister for the Congergational Church of the Flying Monster, “pasta” John Hamill, above, suffered discrimination at the hands of the Irish Defence Forces, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) ruled this week.
Hammill, who said in an Atheist Ireland lecture delivered at Manooth University in Co Kildare that his faith as a Pastafarian was “objectively much more sensible than Catholism”, applied to be a chaplain at Aiken Barracks and Gormanston army camp on November 6th, 2020 but was rejected.
According to The Irish Times, He told the commission that he had written to the Defence Forces several times regarding its appointment of military chaplains and expressed an interest in the role.
In this correspondence he noted that the Defence Forces was not a religious body or under the control of a religious body, so section 37 of the Employment Equality Act did not apply.
Christianity ‘imposed’ on Defence Forces members
It was also the case that the Defence Forces employed those of all faiths and none, he said, but that Christianity was being “imposed” on members.
WRC adjudication officer Kevin Baneham ruled that the former Catholic had been discriminated against on grounds of religion.
I order that the respondent [Defence Forces] review the process of appointing military chaplains to ensure compliance with the Employment Equality Act [which prohibits discrimination on religion grounds] and to ensure that suitably-qualified candidates can apply for military chaplaincy roles in order to reflect and foster the diversity of members of the Defence Forces.
A WRC hearing on March 8 last year was told that currently “there are there are about 15 Roman Catholic chaplains and one Church of Ireland chaplain” in the Defence Forces, each appointed by a relevant bishop.
In each case, it was told, the Defence Forces:
Had followed an established path of seeking a nomination from the relevant bishop, and then appointed the priest put forward by that bishop.
At the hearing, Hamill questioned whether it was a genuine occupational requirement for the role to be a Christian appointed by a bishop.
This, he said, excluded other faiths as well as non-believers.
Banehan added in his adjudication
I have no doubt that religious leaders make very good military chaplains and would likely succeed during any assessment and interview process because of their pastoral work in the community.
It is not, however, proportionate that no one else can apply or be considered for appointment as chaplain, irrespective of that potential candidate’s qualities and competencies.
Image via YouTube
Michael Nugent, of Atheist Ireland, above, gave evidence at the WRC hearing. He welcomed the ruling.
Praising Hamill’s “tenacity”, he said the WRC decision:
Vindicates the arguments made in 2021 by Atheist Ireland, the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Ireland in our joint submission to the public consultation commission on the Defence Forces.
He said they had pointed out that about nine per cent of Defence Forces personnel are non-Christian or have no religion, yet all chaplains are either Roman Catholic or Church of Ireland.
The WRC ruling, he added:
Should result in a fair procedure for appointing chaplains and a wider reform of the influence of the Catholic Church on our Defence Forces.
In arriving at his conclusions, Baneham made reference to Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces last year which found that:
The Defence Forces’ chaplaincy service needs to be adjusted in line with international best practice to better reflect the religious/non-religious affiliations of younger Irish people today.
You can also support my work via PayPal, Buy Me a Coffee or GofundMe.
If you spot any typos in this post please alert me via email: freethinkered@aol.com
Latest posts
Mass hysteria breaks out in US cinemas screening ‘Come Out in Jesus Name’
DEMONS by the numbers, demons by the score were cast out in around 2,000 cinemas across America this month where Come Out “dropped a spiritual bomb on the forces of Satan.” One person who watched this inexorable garbage attested on this review site: I manifested 4500 demons and people were throwing up green goop; we…
Former Branch Davidian cult member defends sex with underaged girls: ‘They were regarded as adults.’
PEOPLE have reportedly taken to social media to express their outrage over an interview with Kathy Schroeder, above, who says in a new Netflix docuseries—Waco: American Apocalypse—that “these weren’t underaged girls because you come of age at 12. All these girls were adults in our belief system.” The Texas-based cult was led by David Koresh,…
US Catholic bishops rail against ‘aquamation’, an eco-friendly alternative to burial
CONCERNED that members of their cult might be drawn to what what they wrongly believe is a newfangled method of disposing of human remains—alkaline hydrolysis, or “aquamation”—the US Conference of Catholic Bishops have issued a statement condemning the process. The statement says: In recent years, newer methods and technologies for disposition of the bodies of…
Loading…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist 
Leave a Reply