A Christian florist in the US who was sued after declining to create flower arrangements for a same-sex wedding ceremony and subsequently spent eight years battling in the courts will pay a small settlement and retire, rather than seek another U.S. Supreme Court hearing.
“I am willing to turn the legal struggle for freedom over to others. At age 77, it’s time to retire,” Barronelle Stutzman, who owns Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Washington state.
“I’ve never had to compromise my conscience or go against my faith. I’ve met so many, many kind and wonderful people, who’ve generously offered me their prayers and encouragement and support.”
In 2013, the florist declined to make flower arrangements for the same-sex wedding of long-time customer and friend Rob Ingersoll and his partner Curt Freed. She said that as a Christian, she believed such a union would violate her faith, and she could not make a floral arrangement for a same-sex wedding. Stutzman referred Ingersoll to several nearby florists.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/249645/christian-florist-barronelle-stutzman-to-pay-a-settlement-and-retire-rather-than-appealing-to-the-supreme-court-after-being-sued-for-declining-to-create-flower-arrangements-for-a-same-sex-wedding
European human rights judges have dismissed a legal challenge to the presidential oath, in a setback for campaigners seeking to remove declarations made “in the presence of Almighty God” from the Constitution.
The case had been brought by Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall and four co-litigants. The Government had argued that the action should be thrown out because the litigants were not victimised by the constitutional requirement to make such declarations.
In a unanimous ruling on Thursday, the case was declared inadmissible by a seven-judge chamber of the court in Strasbourg. “The decision is final,” it said.
“The court, in declaring the applications inadmissible, found that the applicants had failed to provide reasonable and convincing evidence that they were at risk of being directly affected by these requirements and so could not claim to be victims of a violation of the Convention,” it added.
“The Convention did not permit applicants to complain about a provision of national law simply because they considered, without being directly affected by it, that it may contravene the Convention.
Voters in Texas have voted to prohibit the state from taking any action that would prohibit or limit religious services.
SJR 27 bars “the State of Texas or a political subdivision from enacting, adopting, or issuing a statute, order, proclamation, decision, or rule that prohibits or limits religious services”.
The proposition also says that the amendment “would apply to religious services, including those conducted in churches, congregations, and places of worship, in the state by a religious organisation established to support and serve the propagation of a sincerely held religious belief”.
The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops (TCCB) tweeted their support for the amendment. They wrote: “Yesterday, Texas voters took to the polls. Two constitutional amendments to the Texas Constitution that the TCCB supported (Proposition 3 & 6) passed. Protect religious liberty and guarantee access to essential caregivers at nursing homes and assisted care facilities.”
On the “International Day for Tolerance”, the OSCE released a Hate Crimes Report, where almost a quarter (980) of the 4008 descriptive incidents were perpetrated against Christians.
The number only includes cases documented by civil society organizations and a larger figure arises when police numbers are counted.
The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe has drawn attention to the rising trend (70%) of Anti-Christian Hate Crimes since last year.
Director, Madeleine Enzlberger, said that in the media and politically, “hatred of Christians is hardly noticed as an increasingly obvious social problem. The OSCE report reflects only part of this trend, which we have been documenting for years, and yet it is a loud wake-up call against indifference and fashionable Christian-bashing”,
This year alone, the Observatory were able to report around 600 of the 980 cases to the OSCE. But the number of contributors in comparison with the rest indicates that the actual number of hate crimes against Christians is probably way higher. ODIHR Director Matteo Mecacci also said. “But most of these crimes remain unreported, unrecorded and unprosecuted, leaving victims without support or redress.”
Birth certs should be changed to reference ‘parent 1’ and ‘parent 2’, instead of ‘mother’ and ‘father’ with the option of adding additional parents, according to a proposal from two Irish academics.
Writing on the RTE News website, Drs Páraic Kerrigan and Amber L. Cushing say the current structure of the birth certificate is orientated around ‘normative’ categories of gender and sexuality, and does not allow for the ‘fluidity’ and ‘multiplicity’ of gender and sexual identities that exist today.
The say the process of collecting birth information and the design of the birth certificate must be reconsidered “to enable a more accurate and fuller representation of LGBTQ families”.
“This can come down to changing the field of information on the birth certificate to be more inclusive, such as changing “mother” and “father” to “parent 1”, “parent 2” and perhaps allowing for additional parents to be listed, as is allowed in the Canadian Province of British Columbia”.
Slovakia’s parliament has narrowly rejected proposed legislation that would have given the unborn more protection.
The bill was rejected by one vote, as 67 of the 134 lawmakers present in the 150-seat house voted in favour of it. A similar proposal to restrict abortion was rejected a year ago, also by one vote.
The bill was submitted by representatives from ‘Ordinary People’, the senior party in the coalition government led by Prime Minister Eduard Heger.
Among its key provisions, the mandatory waiting period before women have access to abortion at their request would have been extended from 48 to 96 hours.
Women would also have had to give their reasons for having an abortion.
The new legislation would also have banned abortion advertising, and services linked to it.
Currently, abortion is legal in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy; and after that for certain ‘medical reasons’.
On Friday two prominent leaders of the Parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales voiced their opposition to a controversial bill to legalise “voluntary assisted dying”.
The Premier, Dominic Perrottet, told the House that his own grandmother is dying at the moment from cancer and is in considerable pain. Nonetheless he said, “a strong society protects and cherishes its most fragile members”.
The Leader of the Opposition, Chris Minns, said he was “in the minority” within the NSW Labour party but he would also vote against the bill.
“I am not convinced any legislation can prevent an individual choosing to die in response to pressure, coercion or duress caused by others,” Mr Minns said.
Sarah Dunn, died at Blackpool Victoria Hospital on 11th April 2020 almost four weeks after having the abortion.
After feeling unwell in the days 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 her death is far from the first case of its kind in England where a woman lost her life due to an infection directly related to the abortion procedure. “The lack of media interest in her case and similar cases is unconscionable, in contrast to say 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 mismanaged sepsis during her care and not as a result of being denied an abortion as the media falsely and repeatedly claimed,” she said.
The one-year-old daughter of an Italian couple, who was born in Ukraine through a commercial surrogacy arrangement, but later abandoned, has arrived in Italy to be adopted by a new family.
The Italian couple had gone to Ukraine in August 2020 to fulfill their desire to have a child through a surrogate mother. After receiving the child, however, the couple entrusted it to a babysitter and returned to Italy. For a while, the couple wrote to the nanny, asking for news and sending money; but then they disappeared.
In time, the nanny contacted the Italian consulate, and the police authorities arranged for the baby to be taken to Italy to be adopted.
Italian MEP, Simona Baldassarre, said it is a chilling story of a little girl “assembled, stored, bought and abandoned”.
“It is clear to everyone how dehumanising the abomination of the rented womb is. ‘Love is Love’, ‘love is enough’, shouts those who promote this aberrant practice. Here is the result, an innocent being who, like a much desired toy, later finds himself abandoned in a box”.
A national ban on protests outside abortion clinics is not an option, according to the public health minister of the Scottish Government.
The SNP’s Maree Todd said in a Holyrood debate that the rights of protesters who gathered outside clinics also had to be considered, even though ‘some’ women feel intimidated.
“Women should have access to healthcare free from stigma. However, any action taken must be proportionate and balance the rights of the women accessing healthcare services and those protesting peacefully and expressing their views,” she said.
“The Scottish Government is determined to find a way forward but doesn’t consider blanket buffer zones the solution. The precedent here in the UK is that its best dealt with at a local level. Our view is that bye laws are the fastest way to address the problem. The principle of protected spaces is one this Government supports.”
Meanwhile, a pro-choice group tweeted to say that the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities released legal advice on Nov 12th confirming that local councils cannot use byelaws to implement buffer zones.
