A blog about religion on Easter Sunday

On this, the most significant day of the year to Christians, I thought I would write my most controversial blog to date.  Let's talk about the differences in how religious views are practiced and preached in Australia and Ireland.  Why, yes, won't that be fun!

I preface this by saying these are only my opinions, based on fairly limited experience, and everyone is entitled to see things completely differently. Most importantly, I must say that overall, my experiences in Ireland have been very positive.

I have to admit that I did harbour some small concerns about moving to a country where faith is much more front and centre in people's lives than it is in Australia. I had thought that this might impact on my own, non-practicing life, and I might be forced to defend my lack of faith on a regular basis.

To the contrary, not only do the people of Sligo practice their beliefs in a humble and respectful way, they do not, in my experience, cast judgement on those who do not share their views.  My husband once told someone that I was a Heathen, and the reply was 'Yes, but is she a Catholic Heathen, or a Protestant one?'

The topics below are not all directly related to the practice of religion.  However, I think at the core of any religion is how people treat each other and wish to be treated.  I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions about what any of my personal observations about these topics might mean.

Marriage equality

All the polls suggest a large majority of the Irish population will vote 'Yes' in the upcoming Referendum on Marriage Equality.  While I have of course heard some opposition to Marriage Equality on religious grounds, it has been expressed in ways far less inflammatory than the hatred spewed forth by opponents of gay marriage in Australia. As a non-Irish citizen, I won't be able to vote in the Referendum.  However, I trust that the Irish people will demonstrate their strong belief in humanity first, and demonstrate to Australia that the sky does not fall in when you treat everybody as equal under the law.

Violence against women and victim blaming

At a time when violence against women seems to be at an all time high, recent cases of victim blaming in Australia are inconceivable.  First, a Victorian Homicide Chief Detective Inspector warned women that they should not walk alone in parks at night (after a 17 year old girl was violently murdered while out running at 7pm).  Then, an Australian Catholic Priest told a primary school meeting that if Jill Meagher had had more 'faith' she would have been home in bed and not walking home from a Melbourne pub at 2am when she was abducted and murdered.

At the same time, in Ireland, Graeme Dwyer had just been found guilty of the murder of Elaine O'Hara.  Those commenting on this case have, by all accounts, accepted that Mr Dwyer was a violent and dangerous man who took advantage of a lonely and vulnerable women. After the verdict was announced, Mr Dwyer's wife was widely praised for providing a short but moving statement, in which she offered her condolences to the O'Hara family. I have followed closely the reporting of all the sordid details of this awful crime, yet haven't read a single instance of victim blaming. There has been no 'why did she agree to meet him/keep seeing him' in relation to Ms O'Hara and no 'she must have known something' in relation to Ms Dwyer.

The compassion that people have shown for the true victims in this case is in stark contrast to the victim blaming that has been going on in Australia, and suggests that, at least in this regard, the Irish are more progressive than their Antipodean counterparts.

Abortion laws

This one is a tougher one to raise, and something I haven't sought to debate much in public.

My understanding is that abortion is illegal in Ireland under any circumstances, and that it is the Irish Constitution that prevents even a women carrying a child with no prospects of surviving at birth to have an abortion. At Christmas, there was the horrendous story of a brain-dead woman who could not be turned off life support without a High Court order, because of the paramount interests of her unborn child, who had no prospects of surviving birth.

And then you hear stories like that of a woman and her husband who decided to forgo a trip across the Irish sea to have an abortion in England, and continue with the birth of their baby, simply so that the baby's organs could be donated to others. Such selflessness and generosity of spirit is simply hard to fathom.

Funerals and Condolences

There is both good and bad about the way death is acknowledged in Ireland.  The Irish, at least in the North West, are very comfortable with the traditions and ceremonies that surround death. They think nothing of going up to a neighbour's house to pay their last respects while the neighbour is reposing in her open coffin in the front room of the house.  As a result, they appear much more 'comfortable' around death, and it is second nature for them to express their condolences in a short but heartfelt manner when someone close to you dies.

Australians aren't so good with death.  Or maybe we just aren't so good at being neighbours in the bigger cities.  When asked by an Irish family member what I myself did when a close neighbour died, I had to admit that I usually didn't know it had even happened until about six months later, when I hadn't seen them in their garden for a while.

And many Australians have not learnt that saying something (anything) to someone when they have lost a loved one is better than saying nothing at all.  I remember that only two people out of a workplace of 70 said anything to me when I returned to work after my father died. The rest preferred to live with awkward silence than acknowledge the situation.

The downside with the Irish's 'familiarity' with death is that it seems, at least to me, a bit intrusive for those in deepest mourning.  I imagine that when you are grieving your loved one, the last thing you might feel like doing for long stretches of the day would be entertaining your neighbours with cups of tea. I have noticed many death notices stipulate that houses are 'private only,' no doubt for this reason.  Having said that, it must also be nice to know that your community is really rallying around you in your time of need.

So, in summary, for a country with long held religious traditions and beliefs, Ireland seems not to be as conservative as it is often portrayed.  It is, put simply, a great place to live.