Ireland is set to sign a new convention which defines gender as “a social construct”. When a module called ‘Exploring Masculinities’ was introduced to Irish schools a number of years ago which defined gender in the same way, it caused widespread controversy. The notion that gender is a social construct is backed by feminists and...
The Catholic Church in Scotland has described same-sex marriage as “a dangerous social experiment on a massive scale”. It was responding to the announcement by the Scottish Government that it is set to become the first part of Britain to legalise it. Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish Deputy First Minister, today confirmed she will bring forward...
Ireland should incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) into its law, so that it is directly applicable here, a new report on children’s rights has said. The report of the special rapporteur on child protection, Dr Geoffrey Shannon (pictured), while pointing out that Ireland has already signed and ratified the...
The governor of the Austrian province of Vorarlberg has told hospitals there to suspend religiously motivated circumcisions. Last week, two hospitals in Switzerland, the Zurich University Children’s Hospital and the northern St Gall teaching hospital, also announced that they were delaying religious circumcision until further notice. Governor Marcus Wallner cited a recent ruling by...
The Church will remain committed to its teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman, whether the State legalises same-sex marriage or not, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said. Speaking yesterday at a question and answer session after his talk at the McGill Summer School, he said: “The Church will teach its teaching about...
The views of Christians on social and political matters must be heard in the public square, former UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair (pictured) has said. In a discussion in London with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, Tony Blair said that Christians should not be afraid to speak in public about faith. Mr...
Secular society must engage in dialogue with religion and not seek to exclude it, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin (pictured) said today. In a speech to the McGill Summer School in Donegal, he stated: “We are all tempted to succumb to the widespread opinion that Christianity is really something private and personal for...
Chronic relationship instability is one of the key causes of the problems facing many British families today, a new report has revealed. The report, Listening to Troubled Families, written by Louise Casey, who was appointed head of David Cameron’s task force to look at ways at improving tackling Britain’s most troubled families, found that such...
A Maltese law which prevented a man who underwent a ‘sex change’ operation from marrying as a woman is to be challenged before the European Court of Human Rights. The man had his birth certificate changed, but subsequently tried to marry another man, and was refused permission by the Maltese authorities. The case is Cassar...
Proposals to means test Child Benefit have been condemned by various charities, who claim that such a move would put more children at risk of poverty. Social Justice Ireland warned that a move to reduce Child Benefit payments risked moving “more children into poverty” which would significantly increase what they described as Ireland’ s “unacceptable...
