The Scottish Government has scrapped plans to ban so-called ‘conversion therapy’ amid fears of it leading to a draconian crackdown on parents and medical professionals.

A consultation earlier this year made clear that parents could have been prosecuted under the ban.

Concerns were also raised that therapists who seek to investigate underlying reasons for a child’s gender dysphoria could be accused of “conversion” practices.

The Scottish plans had proposed those found guilty of the offence would face up to seven years in jail. While it was stated that “harm” would have to be caused to a victim, “distress” would be enough to meet the threshold.

A fire which has gutted parts of a Co Antrim church is being treated as arson.

On Sunday evening, 49 firefighters attended the blaze which caused significant damage to the Church of Ireland building and hall in Greenisland.

In a statement, police confirmed they are treating the blaze as arson and are appealing for information.

“The Church was celebrating its 70th anniversary this week, and last night was busy in particular. Thankfully no one was injured, however a significant amount of damage was caused to both buildings,” a PSNI representative said.

Speaking about the fire, Reverend Issy Hawthorne-Steele said: “It’s absolutely devastating, it’s a shock. Most of the people are all in shock.

“Unbelievable that we have had such a weekend of celebration and then to hear that the church is on fire has been unspeakably awful, hard to take in.”

The historic Church of the Immaculate Conception in Saint-Omer, in the Pas-de-Calais department of northern France, was ravaged by arson earlier this week. It is the latest of numerous attacks of various kinds on French churches in recent years.

The suspect, a multiple offender who has attempted to set fire to numerous places of worship in the past, was apprehended a few hours after the blaze was brought under control.

According to local authorities, the fire started around 4 a.m. It then spread to the side and central aisles, then to the roof and bell tower, which rapidly collapsed. The fire was contained by 7:15 a.m. thanks to the efforts of 120 firefighters.

No injuries were reported.

The initial investigation revealed that a 39-year-old individual allegedly broke into the premises, smashing a stained-glass window. Arrested and taken into police custody on the evening of Sept. 2, the suspect is said to have been convicted on numerous occasions of similar acts of destruction by fire in recent years.

No teacher should be obliged to deliver Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) classes at second level unless they feel confident teaching “sensitive” material, a trade union has said.

The warning comes after Minister for Education Norma Foley confirmed that Social Personal and Health Education classes, which incorporate RSE. will be mandatory for senior-cycle students, although parents can still opt their children out of such classes.

Senior-Cycle RSE will cover topics such as sexual consent, the influence of pornography, and gender ideology which teaches that a person’s biological sex and the ‘gender’ they identify as are unrelated.
SPHE (social, personal and health education) or RSE (relationships and sexual education) will not be examined as a Leaving Cert subject, but the curriculum will provide scope for students to be assessed in class.

Kieran Christie of the ASTI said in no circumstances should teachers be assigned to deliver the courses unless they “feel they are comfortable and competent,” to teach them and that may require extra training and expertise to address particularly “sensitive” issues.

Islamic militants killed 26 people in a church in a terrorist attack in Burkina Faso, according to the Papal charity, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

The incident took place in the village of Sanaba, in the Diocese of Nouna, in the west of the country, on 25 August.

A large group of insurgents surrounded the community and bound all men over the age of 12 who were Christian, followers of traditional religions, or were considered opponents of the Jihadis. The terrorists then led them to a nearby Protestant church and slit the throats of 26 men.

The attack took place only one day after the massacre in the village of Barsalogho, in the Dioceses of Kaya where at least 150 people were killed, although the actual number may be as high as 250, according to local sources, with another 150 seriously injured.

The same sources spoke of attacks on three parishes near the border with Mali with the result that around 5,000 women and children sought refuge in a local city. A source said there is not a single man among them.

“The whereabouts of the male population is still uncertain, we don’t know if they escaped, if they are hiding, or if they were murdered,” says the source.

Donald Trump has signalled his support for a pro-abortion agenda should he be re-elected as president in November. He had previously appointed judges to the Supreme Court who had helped to overturn Roe vs Wade. The ruling shifted responsibility for abortion laws back to the individual states.

Last week, Trump wrote: “My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights”, meaning abortion.

His running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, said Trump would veto any attempt to ban abortion at a federal level, preferring instead for the issue to left to individual states.

But even at a State-level, his pro-choice leanings are evident. Last September, Trump said of the 6-week abortion ban Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed, “I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.”

In November, Floridians will vote on a proposal to overturn that ban and institute a radical abortion regime. On Thursday, Trump, a Florida resident, said: “I think the six week is too short, there has to be more time, . . . I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks.”

Last week, Trump also pledged to make in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments entirely free.

IVF has been a political issue since the state of Alabama recognised embryos as persons with rights. This prompted some clinics to shut services temporarily as they used to routinely discard ‘excess’ embryos.

Trump supports IVF and now wants it paid for with taxpayers money or by health insurance companies.

A European watchdog has warned of serious anti-Christian violence in Europe and called on governments to protect converts from Islam in particular.

In their latest annual report, the Vienna-based Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe) cites an increase in anti-Christian hate crimes by 44%.

While the majority of the 749 cases were acts of vandalism or arson, the religious freedom watchdog noted a marked increase in violent attacks against individual people.

Since the beginning of 2024, OIDAC Europe has documented 25 cases of violence, threats and attempted murder against Christians in Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Poland and Serbia.

In some cases, entire communities have been attacked.

Executive Director of OIDAC Europe, Anja Hoffmann, also highlighted the need to protect and support Christian converts from Islam who are viewed as “apostates.”

A prominent writer has called for schools and hospitals to be taken from the Church and handed to the State. When parents have been asked in various parts of the country do they want their local Catholic school handed to a new patron body, they usually vote no.

In response to the RTÉ One documentary ‘Stolen’, about the historic treatment of unmarried pregnant women in Ireland, Barbara Scully asked in The Irish Independent why “we still live in a country where religious orders play such a dominant role in our schools?”

Noting the large number of schools under Catholic patronage and operating with a Catholic ethos, she said, “religious orders own much of the land on which our schools and hospitals stand”.

She added: “If we really are a progressive, inclusive, equal country, we need to remove religious orders from state infrastructure now.”

With a general election coming soon, she told her readers: “Our politicians need to know our independence will only be complete when our education and health systems are free too”.

Previously, a former Government advisor, Fergus Finlay said religious congregations in Ireland should be dissolved.

Last year, the Irish author, John Banville, described the Catholic Church as an “evil” institution that should be “abolished”.

There should be a legal right to two years of ‘Early Child Care and Education’ (ECCE), the children’s minister has said. Despite voters overwhelmingly opting to keep the ‘mother-in-the-home’ provision in the Constitution last March, he did not offer any additional support to stay-at-home mothers.

A survey from a few years ago found that only 17pc of parents wanted day-care for their children under the age of five, while 49pc of respondents preferred to mind their offspring at home and another 27pc preferred a family member to do so.

Yet, on Thursday, Roderic O’Gorman said he wanted to ensure access to day-care for every child in every part of the country and added that the State needs to be “taking a greater role in the actual delivery of childcare services”.

He said: “I believe there should be a legal right to the two years of ECCE for every child, that should be down there as a statutory entitlement in the same way you have a legal right to go primary school.”

The Green Party leader also expressed support for increasing pay for childcare professionals.

It comes as the Government announced that new State subsidies for institutional childcare will come into effect on Monday.

A church in east Belfast was deliberately set alight and the incident is being investigated as a racially motivated hate crime, according to the PSNI.

The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, first founded in Brazil in 1977, has been present in Northern Ireland since 2012.

Around half its 70 strong congregation is local, the rest are from various countries around the world.

A PSNI spokesman said two masked males, wearing dark-coloured track suits, arrived at the premises shortly before 9.30pm.

“An angle grinder-type tool was then used to cut a hole in the shutters before a flammable substance was thrown inside and set alight.

“Fire service personnel attended and extinguished the fire, which caused damage to the shutters and the front hall of the building, with further smoke damage caused inside the building.

“Both males are believed to have run off along Templemore Street after the incident, which is being treated as a racially motivated hate crime.”