Lord David Alton is urging UK politicians to defend religious freedom around the world and shine a light on the “horrendous atrocities” being perpetrated against people of faith.

The crossbench peer said solutions needed to be found for minorities in Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control last week.

“The last few days have been dominated by the appalling news from Afghanistan and the ever-growing fear of what this will mean for women and girls, religious minorities and countless others,” he said.

“That fear is grounded in our knowledge of what they have done before – by the horrific legacy of the atrocities perpetrated by the Taliban. We need to find solutions to help all those at risk.”

Lord Alton made the comments in his capacity as vice chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Freedom of Religion or Belief.

Afghanistan’s tiny Christian minority is bracing for a new round of persecution in the wake of the Taliban’s takeover of the country, Christian leaders and aid organisations warn.

The head of Aid to the Church in Need, which helps persecuted Christians, Dr Thomas Heine-Geldern stated: “ACN predicted the deterioration of the situation in its recent Religious Freedom Report, published in April 2021. Throughout the 22-year history of this report, Afghanistan has always been among the countries that most violates this fundamental right. Especially in the last three years, the report highlights the repeated and egregious attacks against places of worship, religious leaders, and worshippers.

He continued: “Our analysis, unfortunately, does not leave much room for hope. All those who do not espouse the extreme Islamist views of the Taliban are at risk, even moderate Sunni. The Shia (10%), the small Christian community, and all other religious minorities, already under threat, will suffer even greater oppression. This is a huge setback for all human rights and especially for religious freedom in the country.

Meanwhile. an Afghani Christian leader told the aid organisation International Christian Concern (ICC): “We are telling people to stay in their houses because going out now is too dangerous”.

He said that Christians in the country fear that Taliban attacks on Christian communities would start soon.

“It will be done mafia style. The Taliban will never take responsibility for the killings.”

He added: “Some known Christians are already receiving threatening phone calls. In these phone calls, unknown people say, ‘We are coming for you.’”

Jerker Schmidt, a priest and church politician for the Bourgeois Alternative, is one of many who would stipulate that Lutheran priests must conduct same-sex ceremonies, telling Swedish broadcaster SVT: “It’s about the Church’s image of God and the view of man.”

The results of an election survey published by the newspaper Kyrkanstidning earlier this month revealed that the issue is hotly contested, with five of the 11 nominating groups saying they were supportive of forcing Lutheran priests to carry out the services while six said they were not.

Same-sex marriage has been permitted in the Church of Sweden since 2009. But a clause allowing priests to abstain from such ceremonies, known as the “conscience clause”, has been a topic of discussion for years.

An investigation is underway into the tragic death of a young mother in Blackpool that occurred following a post-abortion infection.

Sarah Louise Dunn (31), died at Blackpool Victoria Hospital on 11 April 2020 almost four weeks after having the abortion.

After feeling unwell following the procedure, the mother of five approached her GP several times over the course of two weeks. On 10th April, she was taken by ambulance to Victoria Hospital’s A&E department and died the following day from the sepsis infection.

A spokesperson for the pro-Life Campaign said that sadly, this is not the first case of its kind in England where a woman lost her life due to an infection from an abortion.

“The lack of media interest in her case is also very noticeable, in contrast for example to the round the clock media coverage of the Savita Halappanavar case that was used to foist abortion on Ireland. Savita died as a result of a mismanaged sepsis during her care and not as a result of being denied an abortion as the media continually and vehemently claims”.

A mother of a disabled boy is asking the Canadian government to extend euthanasia to children so a lethal injection might be given to her son.

Karie-Lyn Pelletier, from L’Islet, says she wants to be able to end the life of her four-year-old boy, Abel, if his condition further deteriorates.

The child suffers from Mednik syndrome, an incurable genetic disease which has left him deaf and with severe learning disabilities and intestinal problems.

Miss Pelletier says she wants euthanasia to be “the end that will deliver Abel from his sufferings and the fight he leads”.

She is supported by Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu, a politician who worked on the Bill C-7 which in March removed many of the safeguards from the country’s five-year-old Medical Assistance in Dying regulations permitting euthanasia and assisted suicide.

Computer science teacher and atheist Fachtna Roe said he views the statue as a symbol associated with oppression, cruelty and the humiliation of women and children, and its placement in the school caused him “offence and upset”.

In May 2015, he attempted to remove the statue as he viewed it as victimisation of him, but was opposed by the school’s caretaker and a scuffle ensued.

Mr Roe argued that the placement of the Virgin Mary statue in 2015 was done to make him feel inferior as a humanist in his place of work, and that the statue represents Roman Catholic dogma, which humanists oppose.

Mr Roe also argued at the Labour Court that there is no place in a vocational school for ‘religious dogma’.

The court found that Mr Roe has not established any facts from which an inference of discrimination could be drawn in the case.

A Catholic Afghan family in terror of the Taliban have appealed to Pope Francis to help them escape the country.

Afghan citizens are prohibited from converting to Christianity and there is only one officially recognised Christian church in Afghanistan, the Catholic chapel inside the Italian Embassy.

However, neighbours discovered and reported them two weeks ago.

As a result, the father of the family was arrested six days ago, while the rest of the family was forced to flee.

The family say the Taliban are going door to door asking whether any Christians live there or in that community.

Now a friend in Rome is trying to get a letter into Francis’ hands in which the family appeals to the pope and the international community to help them leave the country.

“These are days of terror and the idea of falling into the hands of soldiers terrifies me,” read the appeal.

“If they were ever to capture me or other members of my family I would rather die,” wrote the family.

With the Taliban going house to house looking for unmarried women, the letter said, it pleaded “to save us from this situation, which is endangering me and many other families, especially Christian girls.”

Pope Francis joined six Catholic prelates in a public service ad in which he called vaccination against COVID-19 “an act of love.”

“Thanks to God’s grace and to the work of many, we now have vaccines to protect us from COVID-19,” the Pope says. “They bring hope to end the pandemic, but only if they are available to all and if we collaborate with one another.”

The Spanish language ad with English sub-titles from the non-profit group Ad Council began circulating online and on TV on Wednesday. It’s the group’s first campaign to extend beyond the United States.

“Getting the vaccines that are authorised by the respective authorities is an act of love. And helping the majority of people to do so is an act of love,” Francis continues. “Getting vaccinated is a simple yet profound way to care for one another, especially the most vulnerable.”

Nearly 20 cases of sexually transmitted infections (STI) in children under the age of 14 have been recorded so far this year.

Figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre show that 18 STIs were diagnosed in the zero to 14 age cohort between January and early August.

There were 498 cases of HIV and STIs reported in the 15 to 19 age group over the same period.

Monaghan GP Illona Duffy told Newstalk Breakfast on Wednesday the figures are alarming.

“These are shocking figures and to hear that there are children under the age of 14 who have been diagnosed with sexual transmitted disease is a cause for concern,” she said.

“My presumption would be these are children who have been taken, perhaps, into care and been examined and, one would hope, are now being cared for because . . . it is illegal for anyone to have sex with children of that age.

Pro-Life TDs are to push for a number of legislative changes to the country’s abortion law as part of a planned review which is set to take place in the coming months.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly is due to appoint an ‘independent expert’ to review the law.

The selection process for the expert has yet to be finalised.

Some politicians want to see wider access to free contraception, a removal of the three-day waiting period, full decriminalisation, and legislation for exclusion zones.

Others, however, will push to retain the minimal limits already in place.

Independent TD Carol Nolan, is seeking a commitment “to promote and provide positive alternatives to abortion in light of the 13,000-plus abortions carried out to date. This is hardly the definition of ‘rare’ that was promised pre-referendum.”

She is also seeking a commitment to provide “foetal pain relief”.

The Offaly TD has also said she wants a commitment “to end the legislative pursuit of exclusion zones and a commitment to protect the constitutional values of free assembly, peaceful protest and free speech.”