Belgian MPs are on the verge of legalising euthanasia for children and dementia sufferers. Euthanasia on the grounds of “unbearable psychological or physical suffering” has been legal for those aged 18 and over in Belgium since 2002. Now, new legislation could extend euthanasia to children, those suffering from dementia and other “diseases of the brain”,...
There has been a rise in the number of US women using donated eggs to get pregnant, according to new research. The research indicated that over half of these pregnancies (56pc) resulted in a live birth in 2010, but 37 percent were twins and many were born prematurely, at low birth weights. The study found...
Christianity is the world’s most persecuted religion, and its position as a worldwide religion is under threat because of severe persecution, in particular in the Middle East and parts of Asia, a new report has said. The report, Persecuted and Forgotten, published by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need focuses on 30 countries...
France’s highest court, the Constitutional Council has ruled that mayors must hold same-sex marriage ceremonies, regardless of conscientious objections they might have. The decision means it will now be extremely difficult for anyone who is opposed to same-sex marriage on conscience grounds to become a mayor because they will be forced to faciliate something they...
Children in California will soon recognise three ‘parents’ for the one child under a proposed new law. The new legislation is designed to cover situations in which same-sex couples have a child with an opposite-sex biological parent, the Los Angeles Times reports. Jennifer Roback Morse, founder of The Ruth Institute which seeks to promote traditional...
The Equality Authority has invited submissions on Section 37 of the Employment Equaliy Act, which protects the ethos of denominational schools. It announced yesterday that it was engaging in a consultation process in relation “to a proposed amendment to s37 of the Employment Equality Acts 1998 – 2011”. Section 37 upholds the right of religious...
Parents who no longer teach children “right and wrong” are at the root of the UK’s biggest problems, according to the man responsible for overseeing British schools. Sir Michael Wilshaw, the chief inspector of schools and social care, said that “hollowed out and fragmented families” where parents suffer a “poverty of accountability” were responsible for...
The Constitutional Convention has been asked by six of the President’s seven nominees to the Council of State, to consider the Constitutional requirement for judges and other office holders to take religious oaths . In a submission made to the Convention on Monday, the six said that the issue “came to our attention recently at...
Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, the Archbishop of Paris, has accused France’s Education Minister Vincent Peillon of making “a sort of secular religion” out of France’s official Church-State division (laïcité). Mr Peillon announced last month a “charter of laïcité” for schools and said state schools, where this is no religious education, would start teaching “secular morality” next...
Denominational schooling has an important role to play in a pluralist society, the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin (pictured), has said. His views were echoed by the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh, Richard Clarke, in an article in today’s Irish Times. Dr Martin said that in order for religious education and religious culture to...
