An Anglican lay preacher in England has been banned from the pulpit in his parish after encouraging parishioners to oppose gay marriage – in line with the official teaching of the Church of England. Peter Gowlland, 78, was accused of sowing discord among worshippers at the liberal-leaning All Saints Church in Sanderstead, Surrey, by inviting...
Justice Minister, Alan Shatter (pictured), has acknowledged that any change to Section 37 of the Employment Equality Act must find a “balance between the rights of religious denominations to manage their own affairs…and the rights of other citizens to equality before the law and to earn their livelihood”. Section 37 allows religious institutions such as...
Doctors in the UK who refuse to provide ‘sex change’ operations could be struck off under new General Medical Council (GMC) draft guidance, it has been claimed. Doctors could also breach the guidance if they are unwilling to prescribe contraception to an unmarried person but willing to prescribe it to a married person, according to...
Education Minister, Ruairi Quinn (pictured), has said he “does not believe we will get agreement from the Catholic community on the divesting of schools if it believes it is to be curtailed in terms of how it celebrates and teaches Catholicism to its own community.” Speaking in the Seanad on Tuesday in a debate on...
A Catholic secondary school in Canada has been accused by an atheist group of being “vile and manipulative” for encouraging its pupils to sign a petition backing a call for a parliamentary committee to determine if life begins before birth. The group, the Toronto-based Centre for Inquiry, said that St Joseph Catholic Secondary School in...
More than two thirds of parents want the sacraments taught to their children during school hours, according to a new survey. The finding comes after the Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn, had suggested that preparation for the sacraments was taking up too much class time. The survey, commissioned by the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN)...
A row has broken out after a ‘Catholic-ethos’ school refused a place to a pregnant teenager. The girl applied twice to the lay-owned school, first in September 2009 when she was pregnant at 16 and again the following year after her baby was born. However, she was turned down by the principal, who is also...
Waterford city had the highest percentage of births outside marriage in the third quarter of 2001, according to the latest Vital Statistics figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The figures, published yesterday, showed that 50pc of all births in the third quarter of 2011 in Waterford City were to unmarried parents, with 24pc of...
One of Britain’s most senior judges is to launch a public campaign this week to defend marriage and protect children against the “destructive scourge” of divorce and family breakdown, The Daily Telegraph reports. Sir Paul Coleridge is to establish an independent charity, the Marriage Foundation to promote the institution of marriage as the “gold standard...
Scottish police forces have been told not to accept a gift of free Bibles from the Gideon Society because the book “condemns homosexual acts”. The Bibles, featuring the badges of each of the Scottish police forces, have been offered to Scottish police by the Gideon Society but the Gay Police Association (GPA) has issued a statement...
