"Culture of Hostility in the Irish Media Towards Religion"

One of Ireland's most influential columnists, and a long time critic of the the Catholic Church, has admitted that there is a culture of hostility in the Irish media towards religion.

The Iona Institute reports: In an interview with the Irish Catholic, Fintan O'Toole, assistant editor for the Irish Times, said that the media's coverage of religion was “snobbish and dismissive”.
And he accepted that people were “quite right to be upset about that and critical of the attitude - I think it is there”. He said that a second problem with the Irish media's coverage of religion was a certain “dumbing down” regarding issues concerning values and morality. Ireland needed, he said “a healthy public arena in which the discussion of ideas in general is respectable”.
Mr O'Toole also admitted that “it no longer takes any courage to attack the Church”. He added that he had “a lot of sympathy” with people who feel that religion is badly represented in the Irish media. Continue article here...
We thank the Iona Institute for reporting. Please view www.ionainstitute.ie.