An article promoting a “Satanic Abortion Ceremony” appeared last month in a leading pop culture magazine for young women.

Among pieces dedicated to fashion and lifestyle advice, Cosmopolitan published a feature article provided by the Satanic Temple abortion clinic, an online facility based in New Mexico that provides abortion pills via mail and is run by Satanists.

A set of slides detailing the procedures for performing a ritualised abortion ceremony in accordance with The Satanic Temple’s guidelines were posted in the article. This involved staring at one’s reflection before taking an abortion pill and saying “One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.” The ritual is completed when the pill is taken and the person has declared “By my body, by my blood; by my will, it is done.”

According to Cosmopolitan, the idea behind this clinic is to defend abortion rights by using religion as justification.

The imposition of so-called “safe-access” zones around facilities providing abortion will further silence the voice of the unborn and represents a disproportionate response with wide implications for freedom of religion and speech.

That’s according to the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh.

In a statement, he said over the years, “many mothers in crisis have felt supported – sometimes at the very last minute – by a sensitive offer of practical help to find a way out of their crisis other than by ending the life of their unborn baby”.

He added that harassment laws are already in place to prevent intimidation.

“The introduction of these zones increases fears that freedom of religion, belief, expression and association are being undermined and open to attack.  The introduction of punitive sanctions will undermine the Common Good as they disproportionately shut down the rights of those who wish to peacefully and prayerfully offer support and alternative options and to save the lives of innocent unborn children”.

Anti-conversion laws in Uttar Pradesh have led to nearly 400 arrests of Christians over the last three years.

The laws currently apply in 12 of India’s 28 states, with fears they could become national.

Andrew Boyd, of Release International, says laws that aimed to prevent conversion by force have, in effect, opened the gates for increasingly forceful oppression of India’s Christians.

He said the intention is to prevent conversions by force or bribery, but the trouble is “these laws are being imposed by radicals. . . . through very loosely worded legislation, they’re looking at relief aid which has been provided by Christians and saying it’s bribery. They’re looking at talk of heaven and saying that’s bribery, talk of hell – that’s coercion.

“Pretty much any attempt to share your faith in India, where these groups are militant and rising, is being opposed.”

Attacks in the northeastern state of Manipur in India, believed in part to be motivated by anti-Christian hate, cost the lives of 175 people earlier this year.  300 churches were burned down and 60,000 people were driven from their homes.

The Cabinet has approved comprehensive surrogacy legislation that includes a broad facilitation of commercial arrangements abroad that will remain illegal at home. Most countries ban commercial surrogacy on the grounds that it exploits low income women and commodifies children.

This includes granting legal parenthood to non-biological guardians of babies born to surrogates.

The Assisted Human Reproduction Bill, which passed the second stage in the Dáil last year, was paused to allow changes around the regulation of international surrogacy agreements.

Having now been approved by Cabinet, the amendments will be referred to the Oireachtas Committee on Health for committee stage and the process is likely to begin in January.

Under the legislation, Ireland would become the first State in the world to have a special legislative regime to facilitate international surrogacy.

It would mean that prospective international surrogacy arrangements would be pre-approved by a new authority/regulator and that a post-birth Circuit Court process would grant a parental order.

For retrospective surrogacies, the High Court may grant a parental order on the basis of a number of criteria being met, including a determination by the court that it is in the best interests of the child.

New Zealand looks set to axe the radical gender theory underpinning sex education in schools after the election of its new right leaning government led by Prime Minister Chris Luxon.

The government has reportedly vowed to “refocus the curriculum on academic achievement and not ideology, including the removal and replacement of the gender, sexuality, and relationship-based education guidelines”.

During his first parliamentary address, Luxon slammed the previous Labor government saying as many as 40% of children were “not attending school regularly” and students’ OECD PISA test results were the “worst they’ve ever been”.

Regarding sex-ed, he said the new Government would respond to the expressed concerns of parents.

The Prime Minister said he wanted a “a well-defined (sex ed) curriculum, agreed to by experts, that actually makes sure that the content is age-appropriate, that parents have been consulted and importantly that parents also have an ability to withdraw”.

A controversial proposal for a certificate of parenthood with regard to commercial surrogacy goes to vote in the plenary of the EU Parliament this week.

Though the measure, which would facilitate surrogacy abroad by Europeans, is unlikely to be approved by member states in the EU Council, pro-family groups point out that even the proposal sets a dangerous precedent.

Last year, the Commission proposed an EU-wide certificate recognising a parent-child relationship, in principle, to ease the administrative burden for families caught in cross-border situations where legal documents certifying the relationship of a minor to a parent may not be easily recognised between member states.

However, family law is not a competency of the EU, and opponents warn that it could also facilitate surrogacy arrangements made by European families in other countries, force member states to recognize same-sex marriages, and diminish protections for children.

Cabinet ministers have been told constitutional changes to the definition of the family could result in more people seeking reunification with relations who emigrated to Ireland.

A cabinet committee examining the wording for next year’s referendums received official advice on the proposal to redefine the family in the constitution as being based on “marriage or another durable relationship”, in the context of immigration and the reunification of families.

Documents prepared by senior officials for a high-level meeting said: “In the specific area of immigration, it is likely that the amendment will give rise to an increase in the number of persons asserting family relationships.”

However, it added: “The State can continue to define ‘family’ for immigration purposes, but there would likely need to be an additional layer of consideration of Article 41 constitutional family right in immigration decision making.”

Protestant, Muslim and Catholic representative all opposed assisted suicide proposals at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying on Thursday.

A Church of Ireland submission said “we must surely, as Christians, never concede that life is anything other than sacred, a gift of God from beginning to end, never to be thrown away as though it were personal property”.

Former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Rev Dr David Bruce, told the committee that “killing is wrong”.

Shaykh Dr Umar Al-Qadri of the Irish Muslim Peace & Integration Council, said that “in Islam, the unambiguous prohibition against suicide or assisted dying is unequivocally expressed in the Holy Koran”.

Islam was opposed “to euthanasia, assisted suicide and assisted dying, categorically denouncing these acts as tantamount to murder”, he said.

Legalising assisted dying “may lead individuals to choose death without addressing the underlying causes of their health issues, including mental health. Moreover, there is a concern that vulnerable populations, such as people with disabilities or the elderly, may feel pressured to opt for assisted death to avoid being perceived as burdensome,” he added.

The South African parliament has passed new legislation broadly criminalizing “hate speech” despite international warnings against it.

The new law imposes criminal penalties on broad categories of expression without clear definition of the subject matter, leading to potential prosecution and penalties for peaceful expression, according to the law firm ADF International.

The law states that any person who communicates with the intention to “be harmful or to incite harm” and to “promote or propagate hatred” is guilty of “hate speech”. Both “harm” and “hatred” are defined with vague and subjective criteria. The penalty for the offense is a fine and/or up to 5 years imprisonment.

South African national and human rights expert Dr. Georgia Du Plessis, Legal Officer with ADF, stated: “Our country has a complex and hard-won history of human rights protections, having endured vast and all-encompassing censorship efforts in our recent past under apartheid. This legislation violates international legal protections for free speech, and likely will lead to innumerable human rights abuses by censoring free speech, including peaceful expression, with criminal penalties.”

A contested development launched by a Jewish businessman threatens the Armenian Christian presence in Jerusalem, according to the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in the Holy Land.

Armenian-Christians have had a presence in Jerusalem since the fourth Century and occupy one quarter of the Old City. There is also a Jewish Quarter, a Muslim Quarter and a Christian Quarter of non-Armenian Christians.

November saw radical armed Jewish settlers aided by dogs and bulldozers disrupt a long-running sit-in at a site known as the ‘Cow’s Garden’, where Australian-Israeli businessman Danny Rothman plans to build a hotel.

“The provocations that are being used by the alleged developers to deploy incendiary tactics threaten to erase the Armenian presence in the area, weakening and endangering the Christian presence in the Holy Land,” the statement of all the Christian Patriarchs in Jerusalem said.

Mr Rothman’s Xana Capital Group reportedly made a secret deal in 2021 with the Armenian Christian patriarchate for a 99 year lease of a swath of the Armenian Quarter, which includes part of the Armenian Theological Seminary and several family homes.

When the deal became public, the local Christian community reacted with outrage.

The Armenian Patriarchate has since repudiated the deal, declaring it null and void.