The separation of Church and State is a "good thing", the Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork has said.
Speaking at a civic service in St Mary's Cathedral in Limerick on Sunday, Dr Paul Colton said that, in his view, such a division was "good for the State and good for the Church".
"The relationship between our religious beliefs, or absence of them, and our country – the sort of country we want, the laws we make, the freedoms and rights we give expression to – are never far from our public discourse in the Ireland, Europe and indeed the world of today," he said.
The bishop noted that last week the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from Moscow had been formally recognised.
“And so the Russian Orthodox Church has split from Constantinople. This illustrates deep geopolitical tensions, alignments, realignments and confrontation, part of which, has its roots in the enduring outcomes of the first World War one hundred years ago,” he said.
“Closer to home, later this week we will vote in a blasphemy referendum. We’ve already had referenda about marriage equality and abortion.”
Bishop Colton said there were "ongoing, fractious debates" about admissions to and patronage within the education system, religion in the provision of health and social services in the State, the religious framework and references of Bunreacht na hÉireann, presidential oaths, the saying of prayers in the Oireachtas and much else, including entitlement to freedom "from" religion, as much as to the right of freedom of religion.
“All this is the stuff of relationship between church and State and it cannot just happen without thought or framework. As so often happens today, much of the discourse is bluntly, or simplistically driven by megaphone non-dialogue on social media.
“There the cry goes up: ‘Get the churches out of it all; it’s none of their business.’ But that is not what separation of church and state means,” he said.
Bishop Colton said there were dialogues between the government of the day and religious entities about issues of mutual interest, facilitated by the Department of the Taoiseach, as required by the Lisbon Treaty.
“What is needed, I believe, and paradoxically, in order to achieve separation of church and State, is a structured dialogue about the more fundamental question of the church-State relationship itself: an all-embracing, intentional, formalised, multilateral dialogue about this very fundamental and contemporary question and the dilemmas it is constantly throwing up.”
He said his concern in Ireland was about how change was effected.
“We tend, too often, to drift reactively into it. Typically, aggrieved people identify an injustice which they feel strongly, and they protest and pursue change: a good example is the issue of admissions to schools and religious patronage of schools,” he said.
The bishop said separation of church and State did not mean “no religion in the public space”. It did not mean that religious bodies should stop engaging in national debate or conversation, formal or informal, with civic authorities or that they should not be engaged politically.