New official figures show that abortions in England and Wales reached a record high in 2023, while the number of births continued to fall. As a result, about one in three pregnancies now ends in abortion. According to the latest statistics, 278,740 abortions were carried out in England and Wales in 2023, an enormous number....
A new report by the Irish Hospice Foundation on “Dying, Death and Bereavement in Ireland” says that as Ireland ages, demand for palliative care is going to increase hugely. The report says that 350,000 people experience bereavement each year, around 6pc of the population. About 35,000 currently die each year and obviously all of these...
A new report from the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) warns that Ireland is sleepwalking into a demographic crisis. For the first time, that warning is coming from an important State-funded body. NESC is an independent advisory body that provides long-term economic, social and environmental policy advice to the Irish Government and the Taoiseach....
The Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE) has accused the European Union of ‘ideological discrimination’ after being excluded from EU funding. In recent months, FAFCE applied for six EU-funded projects focusing on demographic decline, youth policy and child protection, areas that are among the organisation’s long-standing priorities. All six submitted projects were rejected....
After decades of steady decline, the proportion of Americans who identify as Christians appears to have stabilised, according to a major new survey by the Pew Research Center. Moreover, the youngest age group surveyed – the 18-24-year-olds – seems to be somewhat more religious than age groups immediately above them. This is similar to polling...
What happens when a person converts from one religion to another, or abandons religion altogether? A major new report charts exactly this, and a big finding is that “Conversion into Christianity appears to provide meaning, coherence, and social integration, whilst leaving the faith often coincides with disorientation and emotional decline.” This stands to reason. When...
The UK Supreme Court has delivered an important judgment on religious education in a Northern Ireland State primary school, ruling that the current way religion is taught amounts to ‘indoctrination’, and that the right to withdraw a child from RE class should not be unduly burdensome on the child. The ruling does allow that RE...
The latest Religious Freedom in the World Report from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reveals that almost two-thirds of humanity, about 5.4 billion people, live in places where serious violations of religious freedom religious, up to and including martyrdom in all too many cases, occur. The most widely persecuted group is Christians. The...
At a press conference last week, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe was asked by Gript journalist, Ben Scallan, whether Ireland should adopt pro-natalist policies to raise our very low birth rate. The context was the launch of a major new report looking ahead to 2065 and the financial challenges we will face, including from a fast-ageing...
People used to mainly inherit their religion, like their politics, from their parents. This is no longer the case and hasn’t been for a long time. Now people often have to acquire religion (and politics) for themselves. It is a much more individualistic thing. A new report from Britain overall highlights this fact but shows...
