Atheist Ireland asks President to test constitutionality of new marriage registration law
By Atheist Ireland | Published: December 21, 2012
Atheist Ireland today sent this letter to the President of Ireland:
Dear President,
Yesterday the Dail passed the Civil Registration (Amendment) Bill. We are asking you as President to ask your Council of State for advice on whether to send this Bill to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality. Our Constitution and laws are not very supportive of freedom of atheists from religious discrimination. However, we are asking you to do so for the following reasons:
•If the Bill is unconstitutional, it should not be signed into law.
•If the Bill is constitutional, then it is in the public interest for this to be clarified, because it is indisputable (and indeed not disputed by the Government) that the Bill discriminates against some citizens on the ground of religion or belief. Furthermore, it both discriminates against nonreligious citizens, and between nonreligious citizens
http://www.atheist.ie/
This is similar to the recent challenge raised in federal court in Indiana as to whether nongovernmental secular organizations can be considered marriage officiants along with clergy.