Religious schools must be careful not to “indoctrinate” or “proselytise” the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has said in a new report. Sumarising the report, Prof William Binchy, a member of the Commission, said that the State needed to “take sufficient care” to ensure that there is “no indoctrination and no proselytism in schools”. School...
Groups and individuals who wish to make a submission to the Department of Education’s Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector have only a fortnight remaining in which to do so. The final date for submissions for the forum, which will decide on how many and which Catholic primary school will be transferred...
David Cameron has reaffirmed his commitment to the institution of marriage and the importance to children of stable relationships. His words come a little over a week after a leading UK think tank said that he had broken his promise to support marriage and tackle marital breakdown. However, Ed Miliband, the leader of the Opposition,...
A Christian doctor in the UK is facing the disciplinary action from that country’s medical standards watchdog for discussing his faith with a patient of a different religion. But the General Medical Council (GMC) is facing a backlash from other Christian doctors. Dr Richard Scott (pictured), a family GP with 28 years’ experience, is facing...
Rising health cares costs for the elderly mean that the UK faces one of the largest bills for elderly care of any leading industrialised nation, threatening to undermine the bonds between parents and their children, a major international study has found. And the research also suggests that Britain’s high level of family breakdown will make...
Jewish groups have expresed strong opposition to a proposal which would ban the circumcision of male children in San Francisco. The measure has been placed on the ballot for city elections in November, which means voters will be asked to weigh in on what until now has been a private family matter but some regard...
Cardinal Sean Brady (pictured) raised the issue of religious freedom at the first meeting of the “structured dialogue” between the new Government and the Churches took place yesterday. The meeting was attended by Taoiseach, Enda Kenny. The meetings, which were initiated by then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in 2007, have their basis in an article of...
A Canadian judge has ruled that a law which allows anonymous sperm and egg donation to infertile couples is discriminatory on the grounds that the current law allows the release of information about biological parents to adopted children – but not to children of sperm or egg donors. However, the ruling in the Supreme Court...
Nearly two thirds of Irish people who don’t go to religious services each week give “just don’t bother” as their reason, according to a new study. The survey, conducted by sociologist Fr Micheál MacGréil, found that, for Catholics, 68.1pc said they didn’t attend because they just didn’t bother. This compared to 14.3pc of Protestants expressing...
A Dutch MEP has called on the EU’s High Representative on Foreign Affairs, Baroness Catherine Ashton, to make the defence the rights of Christians in Egypt a policy priority and to develop an EU strategy for religious freedom. Peter van Dalen of the Dutch ChristenUnie, or ‘ChristianUnion’ party, said he made his appeal after meeting...
