Governments need to be careful that new laws intended to promote “freedom and tolerance” don’t adversely impact on the freedom of the Church, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor (pictured), the former Archbishop of Westminster, has said. He said the Church should remain a part of public life despite attempts by some to “privatise religion and put it...
A number of hate crimes and attacks against Christians and Christian target in Europe in the last two months have been highlighted by the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians. The worst was a bomb attack last month on the Basílica del Pilar in Zaragoza, Spain. The bomb exploded close to the organ and...
Croatia will hold a referendum on 1st December to define marriage as being between a man and a woman, a parliamentary commission decided on Wednesday. The commission voted 10-3 to hold a referendum on whether to constitutionally define marriage as being between a man and a woman. The vote was taken after more than one-fifth...
Justice Minister Alan Shatter (pictured) has ordered an independent report into the removal of two Roma children from their families. Reports yesterday suggested that there have been at least five other cases in the last year of children being taken from their families on spurious grounds. Mr Shatter’s report comes alongside inquiries to be conducted...
There have been at least five other cases in the last year of children being taken from their families on spurious grounds in addition to the two Roma children this week. Gareth Noble, a solicitor specialising in juvenile justice issues, said in the past year he had encountered five cases where children were returned...
Scottish secularists are seeking a change in the law in order to remove religious leaders from local authority education committees. The Local Government Act stipulates that three religious representatives should sit on council education committees but a petition has been lodged with the Scottish Parliament to have this changed, the Scotsman reports. Colin Emerson, vice...
The submission noted that the Constitution “was drafted with the family based on marriage in mind” and that “the family to which the special protection applies is the marital family”. But they added that Census data showed what they called “a rich diversity of family life exists in Ireland today”. “One in three...
The European Parliament has rejected a controversial draft resolution recognising abortion as a ‘right’ and has sent it back to committee to be redrafted. The resolution, which was in part written by International Planned Parenthood Federation, insisted that abortion is a fundamental right and attacks the right of doctors to conscientiously object to facilitating abortions....
A new study from Canada has found that High School graduation rates among children raised by same-sex couples are considerably lower than among children raised by opposite-sex married couples. The study is much bigger and more robust than studies claiming that children raised by same-sex couples turn out no differently than children raised by their...
A High Court ruling that the Yes result in last year’s Children’s Rights Referendum is valid is likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court. A No campaigner had said that the Government had acted unlawfully in spending €1.1m public monies on a one-sided information campaign. In his ruling last week, Mr Justice Paul McDermott...
