Mary KennyIt is important to examine the definition of a ‘secular’ republic and vote on it if need be, writes Mary Kenny
What is a Republic? The dictionary definition universally accepted is: “A state in which supreme power is held by the people and their representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch.”
There are nowadays scores of republics throughout the world, and many of them as different from each other as some republics are from monarchies.
And one of the phrases by which Ireland is increasingly defined is ‘a secular republic’. In discourse on everything from education policies to the practice of RTÉ broadcasting the Angelus chimes, I hear it announced repeatedly that faith values have no place ‘in a republic’.
But nowhere is it written in stone that a ‘republic’ automatically means ‘a secular state’. A republic – where power is held by the people and their representatives – can be anything. It can be a Socialist Republic, like North Korea. It can be an Islamic Republic, like Pakistan or Algeria. Republics may be secular by definition – like France and the US – or they may recognise the traditional religious beliefs of their people, like the Hellenic Republic of Greece, and its link with Greek Orthodoxy, or the Calvinist republic that was the Orange Free State in South Africa.
And even secular republics like France and America contain anomalies which acknowledge that their values are not merely secularist. America rebuffed the idea of a state religion from its inception, but when it comes to the ‘Almighty Dollar’, it’s worth noting that it bears the words: “In God we trust”!
France is insistent on its secularism – laicité is a touchstone – yet it adheres consistently to its religious feasts. Hallowe’en is less honoured in France than ‘Le Toussaint’ – All Saints Day. In the Federal Republic of Germany, Church taxes have existed alongside a republican state structure.
If Ireland is to be a secular republic, then the people must vote on that definition, and be ushered in by plebiscite. But it is not being voted on: the phrase is being smuggled into the national conversation, and gradually gaining the status of an accepted truth.
We should be aware that a republic can be anything, in terms of its stated values. A ‘republican ideal’ is simply and solely representing what the people vote for. The values of the Irish people are less homogenous and more varied than they used to be. Laws and customs may reflect that. But if 84% of the population self-describes themselves as Catholic, then it is entirely republican for Catholic values to be acknowledged in the character of the state.
Congressman Paul Ryan’s Irish roots ignored
Sherlock Holmes attached some significance to the theory of “the dog that didn’t bark in the night”. Sometimes silence tells you as much as statement.
And is the Irish media strangely reticent on the election of Congressman Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House of Representatives? This was considered big news elsewhere, and put Mr Ryan in third place of precedence in the governance of the US – he follows the President and the Vice-President in order of command. Still only 45, Mr Ryan is surely a future candidate for the White House.
As his name (and his appearance, having the dark-haired, blue-eyed classic type of Irish looks) implies, Paul Ryan comes of a long line of Irish-Americans on his father’s side. Normally, as in the case of the Kennedys – or Mr Obama’s 3% Irish ancestry – there is much eagerness to claim an Irish connection with a prominent American politician. So why so little ado about Mr Ryan?
Could it be that he is (a) an observant Catholic and (b) considered ‘right-wing’, since he interested himself in the writings of Frederick Hayek and Ayn Rand? Mr Ryan’s Catholicism also includes a history of pro-life stances. (He has said he would very much like to de-fund Planned Parenthood for their offences against medical ethics – “they don’t deserve a red cent” – but it is administratively difficult.) He is married and the father of three children. And from the age of 16, he cared for his widowed mother who was afflicted with Alzheimer’s.
This is a guy who surely deserves attention, both for his eminent position and his character.
Business trumps human rights
The Chinese leader Xi Jinping paid an official visit to Britain last week with royal ceremonial at full throttle: three horse-drawn carriages, three landaus, a Rolls-Royce, the be-plumed Household Guards and 70 horses accompanied Xi down The Mall to Buckingham Palace. Those who relish spectacle were impressed by the show but many Britons were dismayed by this kow-tow in the face of China’s dodgy human rights. But business is business!
China’s announcement that they are halting the enforced one-child policy which was so cruel, and so disastrous in its impact, too, is at least a recognition that things need to change.