During the live coverage on RTÉ of the inauguration of Catherine Connolly as 10th President of Ireland, commentators praised the inclusiveness of the State ceremony in religious terms, during which 11 officiants, representing various Christian churches, the Jewish and Islamic faiths, as well as the Humanist Association of Ireland, were invited to say a brief blessing during the Service of Prayer and Reflection.
They inaccurately claimed that all major religious traditions were included. Nothing could be further from the truth.
As always, the presidential inauguration included all the major Abrahamic faith traditions, as if those were the only religious traditions in this country.
Small Christian denominations were included. The Jewish and Muslim traditions were included. Smaller religious traditions were included, but the larger Buddhist and Hindu traditions were left out.
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This tendency to exclude does not reflect the society we live in in Ireland today.
This State has many Hindu doctors and nurses among the 33,000 Irish Hindus who live here. There are about 10,000 Irish Buddhists. But this was not reflected in the version of religion that was represented in the presidential inauguration ceremony.
By contrast, there are about 1,500 Quakers in Ireland and 2,700 Jews. Both traditions figured prominently in the presidential inauguration, as they should. However, the 33,000 Irish Hindus and 10,000 Irish Buddhists were not included.
It seems that the Irish State is simply blind to the realities of religion in contemporary Irish life. Is there some underlying and unstated ideology that sees some religions fit for inclusion while totally ignoring others? There is an Abrahamic bias at play that in no way reflects the realities of our society.
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We see this throughout Irish life. We see it with the persistence of the Dáil prayer; with the continuing church domination of our primary school sector; with the ongoing discrimination and exclusion of non-Christian chaplains in our hospitals and universities. The State is wilfully blind to its blatant discrimination in religious terms.
A presidential inauguration is a statement of values in pageantry. It is a projection of what matters to the Irish State.
The overriding ideology of the rite was one of Christian unity – the message of having Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists and other Protestant denominations together was that we are all united as Irish and Christian people. It is a ritual enactment of the old Irish ideologies of Christian and Irish unity.
Commentators on RTÉ were blind to the problem. They noted how president Higgins had included Humanists in his inauguration, as it respected the growing secularity of Ireland. They spoke about how “every” religion was represented – with more being included since president Hillary brought in a religious element to the presidential inauguration for his ceremony in 1976.
It may not be possible to include every religion in the inauguration ceremony, but if we want to reflect the growing secularity of the country, why not banish religion entirely from State occasions? This was the inauguration of the president of this Republic, but very few republican values were on display.
As Gaeilge, the President began by swearing “in the Presence of Almighty God”, and concluded with, “may God direct and sustain me”. This event in Dublin Castle did not look like an inclusive and secular Republic at a moment of celebration. Rather, it was the awkward choreography of an event playing at inclusion while manifesting its opposite.
The National Day of Commemoration, which includes all major faith traditions, is much more genuinely inclusive.
Whether the new President’s Council of State will reflect the stated aim of inclusivity remains to be seen. Inauguration day certainly does not encourage much confidence.
Rev Myozan Ian Kilroy is a Zen Buddhist priest and abbot at Dublin Zen Centre. His book, Do Not Try to Become a Buddha, is out now from Wisdom Publications
