Baptising children denies them their human rights, according to former President, Mary McAleese.
An edited extract from a talk she delivered in UCC has been published in recent weeks.
The Irish Independent reported that McAleese said that nothing else shaped her life so powerfully, or imposed "such formidable restrictions on [her] inalienable intellectual human right", than her baptism.
The editor of Gript, Monaghan native John McGuirk, does not believe that children are baptised at too young an age.
Mr. McGuirk argued that former President McAleese claims she "had not choice but to be a Catholic."
Speaking on the Joe Finnegan Show this morning, he said that there is "nothing in the Catholic church's practice or teaching that forces any person to remain a member".
The Monaghan native was asked if it is correct that a person is "enrolled into the church as an infant".
Mr. McGuirk said: "Of course it is. This is not a decision that the church is making, it is a decision that the parents are making.
"It is an absolute principle of Irish law, and the law in most western countries, that parents and the guardians make decisions on behalf of their children.
"There are other religions, in Judaism and often in Islam, where baby boys are circumcised without being given a choice in the matter. I'm yet to see her [Mary McAleese] write an article about that.
"There are all sorts of practices. We allow parents to home school their children, Maria Steen when she ran in the presidential election was talking about how she home schooled her children. Surely, there is an argument that that choice should be taken away from parents.
"Parents have a right to baptise their children if they think it is in their best interests. That's what happened to Mrs. McAleese, that's what happened to me, and I suspect that's what happened to many of your listeners as a child," Mr. McGuirk added.
