The legal representatives of a Northern Irish Bakery will intervene in the ‘Support Gay Marriage’ wedding cake case as the original complainant is taking the UK to the European Court of Human Rights.
In 2018, the UK Supreme Court upheld the fundamental right to freedom of conscience of Ashers Baking Company after a lengthy lawsuit for refusing to produce a cake promoting a message contrary to their deeply held Christian beliefs about marriage. ADF International seeks to intervene in Lee v UK to highlight the international legal protections which exist and the way similar cases have been approached in other countries.
“Nobody should be forced to act against their deeply held beliefs. The right to freedom of religion and conscience must contain the right to act accordingly, including in a professional setting. Personal beliefs and conscience influence all areas of a person’s life and are not simply laid down in a professional setting. In its judgment in 2018 the UK Supreme Court rightly upheld the conscience rights of service providers,” said Lorcán Price, Legal Counsel for ADF International in Strasbourg.
“The reopening of churches must be implemented by civil authorities in dialogue with ecclesial institutions”, states Fr. Barrios Prieto, General Secretary of COMECE. He was expressing a widespread feeling within the Catholic Church in many EU Member States.
COMECE, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union, is made up of Bishops delegated by the Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of the 27 Member States of the European Union.
“Freedom of religion, including freedom of worship, is a fundamental right and a real necessity for many people – states Fr. Barrios Prieto. “The reopening of churches, in compliance with the rules of sanitary caution, must be implemented by civil authorities in a clear and non-arbitrary way, in full respect of and in dialogue with ecclesial institutions”, continues the COMECE General Secretary.
The ‘Joint European Roadmap towards lifting COVID-19 containment measures’ recently published by the EU Commission lacks any explicit mention of religious services. “This is disappointing – states Fr. Barrios Prieto – as it neglects the key role of religion in European societies”.
COMECE reiterates that religion is not a merely private issue, it also has a public and collective dimension, as clearly expressed in all main human right texts, including the EU Charter. The aggressive approach of certain secularist actors against the role of religion in the public square may have contributed to its marginalisation in the context of the current crisis.
New research adds to the growing body of evidence that sex differences account for variations in children’s academic trajectories.
“Overall sex difference in the pattern of adolescents’ achievement and academic attitudes is relatively large and similar across countries,” wrote Gijsbert Stoeta and David C. Geary in the July-August 2020 edition of the journal Intelligence.
Using academic ability and attitudes data from over 50 developed countries, they found that the sex of 15 and 16 year olds students can be reliably predicted, indicating a common (universal) sex-specific component.
Specifically, they found the sex of 69% of students can be correctly classified using this approach, corresponding to a large effect. Moreover, the universal component of these sex differences was found to be stronger in countries with relative income equality and women’s participation in the labour force and politics.
“We conclude that patterns in academic sex differences are larger than hitherto thought and appear to become stronger when societies have more socioeconomic equality”.
In the paper, they explore reasons why this may be the case and possible implications.
Abortion regulations introduced in Northern Ireland remain in place despite a previous report in the Irish News that they had been withdrawn before a crucial Westminster vote.
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) said they are being ‘remade’, which means introducing the same regulations back into parliament at a future date. This allow for the amending of some typographical errors, but it does not allow for any significant changes.
An NIO spokeswoman said in a statement: “Given the unprecedented situation created by the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact this has had on parliamentary proceedings, we intend to re-make these regulations on Monday May 11, giving parliament an additional 28 sitting days to consider them”.
It is understood the ‘remaking’ will ensure that the regulations will apply continuously, and has no effect on the provision of abortion services in Northern Ireland.
Grainne Teggart, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland campaign manager, said: “The minor technical issue identified with the regulations does not change anything – abortion remains legal and can be lawfully carried out in line with the current regulations.
Aontú’s councillor for Foyle, Dr Anne McCloskey, criticised the relentless push to force through the regulations. She said it was “abhorrent that the British parliament in conjunction with Sinn Féin and the SDLP leadership would attempt to railroad through regulations”.
“The message is still not getting through to the SDLP, Sinn Féin, and the British Government – only the people of the north of Ireland have a right to decide this law. This is a devolved issue. London has no right to impose this extreme regime on the north against the wishes of the people of the north,” she said.
The Religious Sisters of Charity have confirmed they are gifting land to a new healthcare trust so that the new National Maternity Hospital can be built there. The hospital will be performing abortions under the liberal Irish law. The announcement comes after they received approval from the Holy See to relinquish the property.
St Vincent’s hospital, also at the Blackrock, Co Dublin site, will also be transferred to the trust.
The body is a new, independent, charitable body to be called St Vincent’s Holdings CLG. The new company will be a “not for profit” organisation. The company has stated that it will not be subject to any religious influence and will not have any Board members drawn from religious bodies.
In July 2017, the Religious Sisters of Charity stepped down from the Board of St Vincent’s Healthcare Group. In a statement, the Sisters said, “In 1834, Mary Aikenhead, Foundress of the Religious Sisters of Charity established the first hospital in Ireland that freely admitted the sick and the poor, irrespective of their race, creed or ability to pay”.
“Today, marks the final movement towards completion of all legal, financial and regulatory matters involved in the transfer of the Sisters’ 186-year involvement in the hospital”.
The National Maternity Hospital spokesman said the hospital was “hugely appreciative of the role played by the Sisters of Charity in healthcare in Ireland over two centuries, culminating in the release of these hugely valuable healthcare assets”.
The British government have withdrawn controversial abortion regulations for Northern Ireland before they could be put to the vote in Parliament this week.
It means that the regulations put forward by secretary of state Brandon Lewis at the end of March will not now apply.
He had been required to submit the regulations for Parliament’s approval but in the face of mounting opposition the government said the votes would now not go ahead.
The Northern Ireland Office is expected to submit redrafted regulations to Parliament in the near future.
Opponents had criticised the regulations for going further than the abortion laws in Britain and the Republic, with much wider provision than the law required.
It is understood that the strength of the challenges faced by the proposed legislation, in particular at a Lords select committee, led the government to pull the regulations.
The Catholic bishops had called the regulations “extreme” and accused the Westminster government of removing “protections to the life of the unborn child with chilling alacrity”.
The Italian government has announced that the public celebration of Mass will resume from May 18 under new social distancing and hygiene rules. This comes after a long negotiation between the Bishops’ Conference (CEI) and State representatives.
Originally when Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte presented the details of “Phase 2” of the lockdown beginning May 4, no date for the return of public masses was announced. During a TV briefing on April 26th, Mr Conte explained that only funerals with no more than 10 people in attendance would be permitted in a church.
That same evening the Italian Bishops’ Conference strongly protested. “We remind the Prime Minister and the Technical-Scientific Committee the duty to distinguish between their responsibility, which is to give precise indications about health matters, and that of the Church, which is called to organise the life of the Christian community, following the measures which have been established but also in fullness of its own autonomy. The Italian Bishops cannot accept seeing freedom of worship being compromised. It should be clear to everyone that the commitment to serving the poor, which is so significant during this emergency, stems from a faith that must be nourished at its sources, especially the sacramental life”, they said in a press release.
On the following day, Mr Conte replied that the negotiation was still ongoing. On Thursday last the approved protocol for public masses was presented in a joint briefing by Prime Minister Conte and the CEI President, Cardinal Bassetti.
People who attended religious services at least once a week were significantly less likely to die from “deaths of despair,” including deaths related to suicide, drug overdose, and alcohol poisoning, according to new research led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
After adjusting for numerous variables, the study showed that women who attended services at least once per week had a 68 percent lower risk of death from despair compared to those never attending services. Men who attended services at least once per week had a 33 percent lower risk of death from despair.
The study authors noted that religious participation may serve as an important antidote to despair and an asset for sustaining a sense of hope and meaning. They also wrote that religion may be associated with strengthened psychosocial resilience by fostering a sense of peace and positive outlook, and promoting social connectedness.
“These results are perhaps especially striking amidst the present COVID-19 pandemic,” said Ying Chen, research associate and data scientist at the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science, and first author of the paper. “They are striking in part because clinicians are facing such extreme work demands and difficult conditions, and in part because many religious services have been suspended. We need to think what might be done to extend help to those at risk for despair.”
Just under half of UK adults (44%) saying they pray, and among those who pray a third (33%) say that they have prayed since the COVID-19 lockdown because they believe it makes a difference, according to a new nationwide poll of 2,101 UK adults by Savanta ComRes1 for Christian relief & development agency Tearfund.
With churches being closed due to restrictions on social gatherings, thousands of churches are streaming their services online. A quarter (24%) of UK adults say they have watched or listened to a religious service since lockdown (on the radio, live on TV, on demand or streamed online), this jumps to three quarters (76%) amongst regular churchgoers. One in twenty UK adults (5%) who say they have watched or listened to a religious service since lockdown have never gone to church.
A third (34%) of UK adults aged 18-34 say they have watched or listened to a religious service since lockdown (on the radio, live on TV, on demand or streamed online) this compares to one in five (19%) adults aged 55+.
While some may view religion as more appealing to the older generation, the research shows that younger adults aged 18-34 are significantly more likely to say they pray regularly (at least once a month) than adults aged 55 and over (30% vs. 25%).
A call has been made for the Catholic Church in Ireland to present a credible roadmap to civil authorities for the commencement of public Masses.
An editorial in the Irish Catholic newspaper says the closure of churches for worship is draconian and the timeframe of starting public Masses on July 20 lacks ambition.
“Are we really to believe that churches must wait for weeks and weeks after libraries and restaurants for some semblance of normality to return? The answer is ‘no’ and Church leaders must lobby the Government for a timeframe that is realistic, ambitious and keeps public health to the fore,” it says.
The paper adds that it is not appropriate to leave this entirely in the hands of well-meaning public officials many of whom may be unfamiliar with the patterns of liturgy and Church life.
