The Civil Partnership Bill was back at Committee stage yesterday (Thursday) and the issue of a conscience clause was once again considered and dismissed for the usual spurious reasons. Justice Minister Dermot Ahern told the Committee that “members of the public service (with) issues from their religious beliefs” have to “put those aside on the...
Breda O’Brien’s Irish Times column on sex education last Saturday contained a lot of food for thought and is well worth a read. Perhaps the most interesting point she makes is that, contrary to popular opinion, what parents say about sex has a major influence on teenagers and their sexual behaviour. She writes: “For example,...
In my Irish Independent column of last Friday I write about the upcoming Civil Partnership Bill. If you are a regular visitor to this website you already know that the Bill makes no provision for freedom of conscience. Instead the Bill, by amending the Employment Equality Act and the Equal Status Act will treat belief...
Noted US theologian and religious commentator George Weigel has written a thoughtful piece on the challenges posed to religious freedom in America. Arguing that notwithstanding historic prejudice against Catholics in that country, Weigel argues that Catholics have always thrived there, but he suggests that threats to religious liberty mean that this is “a unique moment,...
We’re used to hearing politicians, especially those on the secular left, decry the influence of religion in politics. Such influence, they wail, breaches the wall between Church and State. So it was interesting to read that the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi called on the Catholic Church to speak out from...
Raquel Welch was one of the great sex symbols of the 1960s. Now, in a true man-bites-dog manner she has condemned the Pill for ruining marriage and bringing about ‘social anarchy’ in the form of the sex revolution. The Pill is ‘celebrating’ its 50th anniversary and Raquel was reflecting on the occasion in an article...
On Wednesday, the TV3 current affairs programme MidWeek dealt with the issue of same-sex adoption. Brenda Power, opposing it, said that State officials shouldn’t have to decide for a child whether it can do without a mother or a father. But perhaps the most interesting snippet from the discussion was a concession from Bryan Finnegan,...
Last Thursday, a leading UK judge, Lord Justice Laws, ruled that religious belief was “irrational”, had “no basis in fact” and that laws protecting freedom of conscience and religion were bound to lead to theocracy. His comments came as he ruled against Gary McParlane, a Christian sex therapist who refused to work with homosexuals because...
A British judge has utterly and completely dismissed as “irrational” and “capricious” any and all conscience claims a Christian can make in the course of their daily lives. The judge, Lord Justice Walls, said yesterday that “In the eyes of everyone save the believer, religious faith is necessarily subjective, being incommunicable by any kind of...
The Pill is fifty years old. It was approved for use in the United States on May 9, 1960. It is arguably the most revolutionary invention ever in terms of its effect on human behaviour. Without it, the sex revolution would have been impossible. Without it, it would have remained almost unthinkable to separate sex...
