The Iona Blog

The myth of secular neutrality

One of the biggest con jobs ever foisted upon us is the notion that secularism is neutral and therefore a secular public square is a fair public square. In fact, a secular public square operates by wiping itself clean of virtually all traces of religion. This is predicated for the most part on the less-than-neutral...

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Dawkins’ religion poll undercuts his own argument

Richard Dawkins’ outfit, the Foundation for Reason and Science (UK), published the results of a poll into the attitudes of British Christians towards politics, science and morality as well as their knowledge of their own faith. Professor Dawkins (pictured) reckons the result buttress his secular agenda, showing as they do the waning influence of religion...

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Obama’s non-compromise compromise

With his back to the wall over his proposal to force religious organisations to cover abortifacients, contraception and sterilisation in their insurance plans, President Barack Obama offered a compromise last Friday that wasn’t really a compromise. He told religious organisations, primarily though not exclusively Catholic, that while their insurance plans would still have to cover...

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Teenage pregnancy: UK doubles down on failed policy

The story about 13 year old girls being given contraceptive implants without their parents’ knowledge drew the usual justifications from the usual suspects. Natika Halil of the Family Planning Association said the provision of contraception to young people was “a vital part of the Government’s strategy to reduce teenage pregnancy rates in the UK which...

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President Obama violates Church/State separation

For the last few weeks we have been following the developing row between the Obama Administration and Catholic bishops there over Administration proposals to force Catholic and other religious organisations to extend their insurance cover to contraception, the Morning-After-Pill (an abortifacient) and sterilisation. This is a very big religious freedom issue and even liberal Catholics...

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Another case highlights why gamete donation should be prohibited

A case has come to light in Britain that is eerily reminiscent of an Irish case a few years back called McD v L in which a sperm donor father took a legal case against the two women raising his child for more access rights. As with the Irish case, the British case involves a...

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The blind spots of a new study on marriage

Last month, there was a welter of media coverage of a study purporting to show that the health and welfare benefits of marriage had been oversold by a range of earlier studies.  However, Dr. Scott Yenor, a political science professor a Boise State University, says there are serious flaws in the study. Yenor, author of...

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A Supreme Court judge explains why the Constitution defends marriage

Last month saw a potentially very significant ruling by the Supreme Court on adoption, Nottinghamshire County Council v B, but in the course of the ruling Justice Donal O’Donnell gave a justification for the Constitutional position on marriage which is well worth noting. Most importantly, his justification puts children at the centre of marriage, not...

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The French professor’s odd ideas about marriage

So, it seems that the French are going to make a stab at reducing their very high divorce rate. The French Government has announced plans to introduce marriage preparation kits and longer civil ceremonies which currently can be as short as five minutes. But François de Singly, a sociology professor at Paris Descartes University, has...

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New study omits real reason we support marriage

A new study out this week has been well covered in many media outlets because it purports to overturn the findings of many other studies which show that marriage confers various health and welfare benefits on married people compared with cohabitees or single people. The study  is published in the current issue of the prestigious...

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