A conference in Vienna on the persecution of Christians worldwide earlier this month heard that Europe has shown a worrying rise in State-sponsored hostility to freedom of religion. “Concern for overt persecution should not blind us to more subtle forms of hostility and, yes, of persecution” said Gudrun Kugler, the founder of the “Observatory on...
A new opinion poll commissioned by the Iona Institute looks at people’s ideal work-life choices. It finds that most people, given the financial freedom, would not work full-time, but if also finds marked differences between the sexes, differences feminists such as our Children’s Minister, Katherine Zappone (pictured), ought to carefully note. In the recent Budget,...
The persecution of Christians and religious minorities has risen to the level of genocide, and far more needs to be done by Governments around the world to counteract it, a recent conference in Vienna was told. EU Special Envoy for Religious Freedom, Jan Figel, said Christians are the most persecuted group in the world. “More...
Today on Twitter I said that the media ought to pay as much attention to Irish women pressured by doctors into having abortions as they do to stories of rogue pro-life agencies giving inaccurate advice. The tweets in response engaged in either denial or deflection even after I provided several examples. The denials are too...
British PM, Theresa May, stood up in the House of Commons this week and told MPs, “our Christian heritage is something we can all be proud of”. It is very hard to imagine any senior Irish politician saying that, never mind Taoiseach, Enda Kenny. May was responding to a question from MP Fiona Bruce about...
David Quinn of The Iona Institute appeared on the Last Word yesterday to debate the question, ‘Has political correctness gone too far?’ It was prompted by a column he wrote recently for The Irish Independent. He said that while the basic aim of political correctness can be correct, that is, to combat racism, sexism etc, it...
Hear a fascinating and in-depth talk by Jennifer Lahl on the history of surrogacy, the industry that services it, and the victims it has left in its wake. The talk was hosted by The Iona Institute. Jennifer is the founder and president of The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network(CBC) in California. She has 25...
A conference was held in Dublin last week called ‘Safe Ireland’. The intention was to draw attention to, and find ways of reducing, violence against women and children. One issue it appears not to have gone near is whether there is a link to family structure. That was a big oversight. Broadcaster Olivia O’Leary warned...
How can the promotion of marriage help reverse economic and social inequality in Irish society? This was a topic broached in the Iona Institute’s Mind the Gap briefing note which showed that marriage and family differ hugely by social class, with the best-off far more likely to marry and reap its benefits than the worst off. That same...
New technologies are changing the nature of medicine from a form of therapy aimed at restoring health to a kind of perfectionism aimed at individual enhancement. Speaking at the Anscombe Bioethics Centre in Oxford, Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk, Archbishop of Utrecht, said that the classical understanding of medicine was summed up by the Latin phrase...
