‘Baptism barrier’ isn’t the real issue

We have the religion-in-schools issue wrong. The problem isn’t admissions policy. And it isn’t patronage. The problem is using Jesus to teach maths.

The “baptism barrier” is a catchy issue. It appears to echo the great historical civil rights struggles. It made the front page of the New York Times last year. It chimes with the liberal sensibility that Ireland is a country slowly awakening from a kind of Catholic Dark Ages.

It ...