During our honeymoon, my wife and I were blessed to tour the southern end of Ireland. It is a place brimming with history and beauty. We saw little villages, the Cliffs of Moher, and churches that have stood for somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand years. And we met the people. Kind, funny, generous, and wise, despite the sad and troubled history of the island. It was in a pub in Ireland that a bartender taught me how to pour a “proper Guinness.”
Almost a year ago, the government was making noises about creating “no prayer zones” around places that provided abortions. From Catholic Arena in July of 2022:
In a complete panic after the overturn of Roe vs. Wade in the United States, Ireland’s incompetent government is now moving to establish anti prayer zones across the country, where a person can be jailed for praying against abortion or for encouraging people to give birth to their baby instead of killing it.
The establishment has waged a long and lackluster war on prolife prayer in an effort to justify such zones, yet now they are proceeding regardless of any real evidence and are doing so in defiance of the public advice of Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, who has repeatedly rejected the need for such legislation, stating that it was not necessary.
Some of the efforts by the establishment, and we include Sinn Fein, the Social Democrats and Labour in that list, have been ones of pure desperation.
This development was not unexpected. Green Party Senator Pauline O’Reilly wants to limit free speech in order to keep everyone safe. This is a continuation of a situation in Ireland I told you about in February in which the Irish government wanted to crack down on social media users who opposed the current immigration policies. And then there is the proposal to eliminate 65,000 cows to address climate change. If nothing else, we can take some measure of cold comfort in the fact that left-wing authoritarianism is not limited to the United States. As it is, the whole world is going to hell together. It’s a doomed world, after all.
It would appear that the Irish government is making good on its promise. By all indications, it has made its decision about no-prayer zones around the country and has even released a map with the potential zones highlighted:
MAP
Ireland's proposed new anti prayer zones by county
Under legislation to be approved today, some areas will have over 20 places where people will face a fine of €2,500 or six months in jail for silently praying within 100m, if they are suspected of praying against abortion pic.twitter.com/y04EMC0zAM
— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) June 27, 2023
For the record,€2,500 is around $2,740.18 USD at the current rate of exchange. But more importantly, 1000 meters is just shy of 3281 feet. That’s a fairly big plot of real estate. And since governments don’t reverse policies, especially those that give it power, those zones are liable to increase long before they decrease or disappear entirely. And as has been made crystal clear in the States, Leftists would rather see an entire country burn before ceding anything to anyone.
What this means is that someone need only be caught, or suspected of engaging in prayer within approximately 3300 feet of the abortion providers on a map to have a run-in with the Garda. Not shouting, not blocking access, not waving signs, not engaging with patients or even speaking aloud. Violators who want to avoid a stay in the clink and a fine will have to tell the police that they are trying to remember where they left their wallet, fixing a stray contact lens, looking for an address, or thinking about what to have for dinner. And under Roman rule, the early Christians also had to keep their faith a secret. Or they can stand on their principles and face the music. But it will take strong people of faith and plenty of them. People for whom their faith means more than fellowship, “authentic relationships” or a place to go on Sundays. Or any of the other claptrap that drips from contemporary Christianity. This is where the wheat is separated from the chaff. It also says something about the Irish government and Leftists the world over. The message they are sending is that they fear prayer. Even silent prayer. They may not say so outwardly, but their actions speak very loudly. After all, there is no need to outlaw that which one does not fear.
Related: Intersectional Feminist Irish Senator Demands Censorship
Ireland has not fallen yet. But when the last person gives up and gives in, then it will fall. Let us pray that such a day will never come there or here.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member