The launch of a new all-Ireland humanist magazine is very welcome at a time when much dialogue is taking place North and South of the Border, the Minister for Integration, Conor Lenihan, said yesterday.
Launching Humanism Ireland, which brings together journals that were previously published separately by Southern and Northern humanists, Mr Lenihan noted the changed make-up of Irish society in recent years.
However, he said the task of a modern state was to show that it is equal in its treatment of people coming from different viewpoints and backgrounds.
The new bimonthly magazine features a range of articles on topics from humanist perspectives.
It also aims to advance the interests of the large and rapidly growing non-religious community throughout the island.
Yesterday's launch at Buswells Hotel in Dublin also heard from former Labour Party minister Justin Keating, who is president of the Humanist Association of Ireland.
In his address, he estimated that perhaps 10 per cent of Ireland's population - or about 500,000 people - is made up of atheists, agnostics and "that part of the population defined elsewhere in Europe as practising but not believing".