What Does It Mean to Be Irish?

St. Patrick was not native born Irish; he was Scottish. Actually, there were several people who contributed to the legends and traditions of  'St. Patrick'.  I will celebrate the wonderful intellect, artistry, and individuality and independence of the Irish, for it's own value, and because I'm part Irish.

From the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science:
Kansas City Atheists have been rejected from their St. Patrick's Day Parade. The parade organizers had said, "open to all, Irish or not, Catholic or not" -- until they decided to discriminate. NOT welcome would be James Joyce, the Irishman often topping the list of greatest novelists of the 20th Century! (not religious). NOT welcome would be George Bernard Shaw, the Irishman who is the only person to win both a Nobel Prize for Literature and an Oscar. NOT welcome would be Samuel Beckett, the Nobel Prize-winning Irishman, who is one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th Century. (not religious). NOT welcome apparently would be Oscar Wilde, the Irishman often described as the greatest wit of all time. (He was jailed in connection with homosexual acts and said many skeptical things about religion.).
The International House of Prayer, the fundamentalist Protestant group, has been welcomed in the past in the parade. Mark Engle, IHOP's leader, likes the idea of making homosexuality a crime. Another IHOP leader says tornadoes are caused by women's control of their own reproduction.
Yep, the arbiters of morality who run the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Kansas City love everything about Ireland EXCEPT what it means to be Irish -- standing up for those who get the short end of the stick. If you don't understand that, you don't even deserve to call yourself Irish. The parade organizers said, "open to all, Irish or not, Catholic or not." I guess their word is worth...nothing. -- Sean Faircloth, Dir. of Strategy & Policy.