A new code of professional conduct for teachers could lead to religion teachers being found guilty of “professional misconduct” for teaching core parts of their faith such as sexual morality and the truth of their own religion. According to a report in the Irish Catholic, the code suggests that such teaching could be held to...
American pro-marriage activists have welcomed the landmark defeat of the three Iowa Supreme Court judges who ruled last year in favour of same sex marriages. The result marked the first time in Iowa history that any of its supreme court justices had been rejected by the voters. Analysts said that the result would have major...
Delegates to the UN have denounced a report that promotes a new ‘human right’ to explicit sexual education for young children. Representatives of the African and Caribbean blocs led the attacks on the report by registering their “strong rejection” and “strong disapproval.” The report, Report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to...
Girls as young as 13 on the Isle of Wight may be given a month’s supply of contraceptive pills without being referred to a doctor or informing their parents, under a divisive new scheme. The programme is set to target girls who are seeking a morning-after pill from a participating pharmacy, indicating that they are...
The head of the UK’s Office for Schools Admissions has warned that faith schools’ admission procedures could be discriminating against immigrant families. Many Roman Catholic and Church of England primary schools, facing oversubscription, are using points based systems to rate the religious commitment of prospective parents. In some schools parents are given extra credit for...
A Christian couple in the UK are appealing a decision by a local council to ban them from fostering children because of their traditional beliefs regarding homosexuality. They are being supported in their case by leading Church of England clerics including Lord Carey (pictured), the former Archbishop of Canterbury. In an open letter, Lord Carey...
The UK Government’s proposed reform of Child Benefit which penalises single-married couples may be ”virtually unenforceable”, a senior Tory MP has warned. Ian Liddell-Grainger, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on taxation, said the move to withdraw the benefit from couples where one earner pays higher rate tax would not be practical until HM Revenue...
The Constitution did not prevent the children at the centre of the Roscommon absue case being taken into care, Taoiseach Brian Cowen (pictured) has said. In expressing sympathy to the children involved, Mr Cowen said that it had been made clear “by experts in this area that there was no constitutional hindrance to these children...
One of the country’s leading family law experts and children’s rights advocates has said that a children’s rights amendment to the Constitution would not have prevented the Roscommon abuse case. Geoffrey Shannon (pictured), the Government’s Special Rapporteur for Child Protection, was reacting to a report into the HSE’s handling of a case involving six children...
A British woman who was told by her bosses at British Airways to hide a small cross which she wore around her neck is set to plead her case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Nadia Eweida was sent home from work in September 2006 after she refused to cover the symbol of...
