Educate Together and the Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA) have clashed at the Forum on the future of Catholic schools over whether children should be taught their own religion during school hours or after school. This is a crucial issue because it will determine how religion is to be taught in those schools that transfer...
Spain is violating the conscience rights of its doctors and nurses, a public hearing at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg yesterday was told yesterday. The hearing, organised with the support of the European People’s Party, heard that under Spain’s new abortion law, introduced last year, medical practitioners who object to abortion are placed on...
There is no such thing as a value-neutral education, the Catholic Bishops have told the Government’s Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector, which began today. Both the Council for Education of the Irish Episcopal Conference and the Catholic Primary School Management Association (CPSMA) are appearing before the Forum. In their written submissions...
Churches and faith groups must fall into line with the views of wider society to keep their charitable status, according to the chairman of the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission Mr Trevor Philips. He accused Christians of being more militant than Muslims when it came to complaining about discrimination. However, he conceded that there...
The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) has called for a range of curtailments to the rights of denominational schools in its submission to the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector. Among other demands, the document targets the employment and admissions policies of denominational schools, as well as their right to permeate the...
There has been a “dramatic” rise in the number of children taken into care by the Health Service Executive (HSE), according to new figures. The figures show that the number of children in the care of the has exceeded 6,000 for the first time, according to a report in the Irish Times. The news came...
New York state is on the brink of legalising same-sex marriage after state legislators approved a measure that would allow gay marriage. The bill now moves to the Republican-led state senate, where it is believed that the measure is only one vote short of approval. Both the governor of New York, Democrat Andrew Cuomo and...
Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, has indicated that he may send his children to a leading Catholic secondary school, despite having declared himself an atheist. Mr Clegg, who is the leader of the Liberal Democrat party, and who has spoken of his opposition to faith schools, is understood to have toured the London Oratory,...
Women who first had sex before the age of 16 are more likely to get divorced than those who delay first sex, according to a new study by the University of Iowa. The study, published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, surveyed the responses of 3,793 women and found that 31 percent who lost...
A Democratic congressman from California is to introduce a bill in the US House of Representative to prevent the city of San Francisco from banning the circumcision of males under the age of 18. Representative Brad Sherman announced the bill in reaction to a measure that has qualified for the November 2011 ballot in San...
