Persecution of Christians around the world has increased further over the past two years from already high levels, according to a new report from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), published this week in Ireland for the annual ‘Week of Witness’. The problem has worsened not only in individual countries but across continents and...
Anti-Christian crimes in Europe are increasing, according to a recent report by the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC). For example, it says that arson attacks on churches increased by 75pc in 2022 compared with 2021. In 2022, OIDAC recorded 749 anti-Christian hate crimes across 30 European countries. Notably, there were...
A woman who was arrested while praying in silence outside an abortion clinic in the UK was in Dublin on Saturday for the Rally for Life and told a gathering before the march about her ordeal. Some local councils in Britain have introduced exclusion zones outside centres that provide abortions and the Irish government wants...
Once again, a UN body is pushing a radical agenda on Ireland at the behest of Irish NGOs. This includes allowing 16 and 17 years olds to identify as a different gender to their biological sex, ensuring free access to abortion for adolescent girls, and further undermining the rights of faith-based schools. This time the...
Conscientious objection to abortion is widespread among health care professionals working in Irish hospitals. This reality is highlighted in a recent paper by a group of pro-choice doctors. It admits that pro-life conscientious objectors were initially a challenge to establishing “abortion services” and still are a persistent barrier to expanding them. The paper is based...
The Department of Justice has invited submissions to a review of Ireland’s law against hate speech. It is considering changing the present law so as to make it easier to charge someone with ‘hate‘. The Iona Institute has made a submission of its own to the review and raises concerns that any change to the...
The Central Statistics Office invited submissions on the content of the questionnaire for the 2021 census during a public consultation process. Prof. Stephen Bullivant, on behalf of the Iona Institute, made a submission on the question about religion. The document can be found here. Updates on the consultation process can be found here.
The persecution of Christians and religious minorities has risen to the level of genocide, and far more needs to be done by Governments around the world to counteract it, a recent conference in Vienna was told. EU Special Envoy for Religious Freedom, Jan Figel, said Christians are the most persecuted group in the world. “More...
The Equality Authority is examining Section 37 of the Employment Equality Act which allows religious employers to protect their ethos. It has invited submissions from interested parties. Here is the submission of The Iona Institute.
Fr Michael Drumm defends the role of Catholic schools in a pluralist society in a talk given at the Iona Institute’s conference on denominational education “Denominational schools in a pluralist society”.
