Proposed new laws in the Canadian province of Quebec which would prohibit public employees from donning Sikh, Jewish and Muslim headwear or crucifixes in the workplace “feed an attitude of exclusion,” a leading intellectual has said. Professor Charles Taylor, a renowned political philosopher, said that the new law, being put forward by ruling party, the...
Catholic health providers who partner with hospitals under the Washington “public hospital district” and provide maternity care must continue to offer “substantially equivalent benefits” in the form of contraception and abortion services, the state’s attorney general has said. Speaking at a news conference yesterday, Bob Ferguson said that, under a ballot initiative adopted by voters...
Parents should not allow themselves to be intimidated by the cost factor when it comes to having more children, a leading UK think tank has claimed. A book published by Civitas, Sticking Up for Siblings, points out that there is growing body of research showing that children with siblings tend to be healthier, happier and...
Catholicism in Ireland was for too long characterised by conformity rather than conviction, a leading Irish American historian has said. Speaking last night to the Iona Institute in Buswell’s Hotel, Emeritus Professor John P. McCarthy (pictured), of Fordham University, said that “much of the obedient and devout Catholicism of mid-twentieth century Ireland was attributable to...
Egypt’s Coptic Christians have been left reeling after a wave of violence following the military’s toppling of the Muslim Brotherhood led Government. Christians have largely backed the military takeover, as followers of the Brotherhood have consistently targeted Coptic churches and clergy. The pressure on Egypt’s Christian community, whose roots go back nearly two milennia, has...
Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald (pictured) has admitted that thousands of children have to wait months for social workers to look into in their cases. Many of these children could be suffering from neglect, according to The Irish Independent. The figures, disclosed by Ms Fitzgerald, show that more than 4,100 children who were assessed by...
Public representatives must “protect marriage and family rooted in marriage between a man and a woman as the best possible environment for the children” a Catholic bishop has said. Bishop Christopher Jones (pictured) told Elphin diocesan pilgrimage to Knock that Irish people, through the Constitution “have entrusted to the State a great responsibility when it...
Growing up with a large number of siblings makes people more likely to marry and cuts the odds of divorce, according to new research. The study suggests that those from bigger families learn how to cope better with conflict and to control their emotions and that the experience of never having the house to oneself may...
Boys aged as young as three should dress as butterflies so that they won’t grow up to hit women, a taxpayer-funded guide tells childcare workers. The advice part of a guide produced by the Zero Tolerance scheme, funded by the Scottish Government, which aims to end men’s violence against women. The guide warns against telling...
The constitutional right of Protestant parents to educate their children in a school of their choice “is being slowly suppressed,” the mother of secondary school children has claimed. Writing in today’s Irish Times, Julie Carr said that repeated increases in the pupil-teacher ratio in Protestant, fee-paying schools had “increased costs in individual schools so that...
