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One in four marriages are civil ceremonies
~Nearly one in four marriages, 23 per cent, carried out in Ireland in 2007 were civil ceremonies, new CSO data have revealed. The figure is being driven up by divorce and a decline in religious observance. A third of civil marriages involved at least one divorced person. Read more...
Forty percent of mothers of nine month olds have to work
~Almost 40 percent of nine month old babies are looked after by someone other than their parents for some part of the working day, new data from the ‘Growing Up in Ireland’ study reveals. ‘Growing up in Ireland’ is a longitudinal study of children in Ireland. Read more...
World leaders must develop religious literacy says Tony Blair
~The world cannot afford “religious illiteracy”, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said. Writing in the Washington Post, Mr Blair, who heads up the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, which promotes the role of faith in global affairs, said that faith was becoming an increasing force in the world. Read more...
State may be ‘breaching’ human rights over religion class
~The State could be in breach of human rights by not providing children whose parents opt them out of religion class with a proper alternative, a conference has been told. Read more...
Boy raised as a girl committed suicide
~It has emerged that a boy who was raised as a girl by his parents at the urging of an academic eventually ended up in a deep depression and committed suicide. The traumatic events were broadcast in a BBC documentary which revealed that the troubling case had been falsely hailed as a “success” in academic and medical papers. The reality of the case challenges the theory that ‘gender is a social construct’ advanced by radical feminists. Read more...
Children of divorce twice as likely to have strokes
~People whose parents divorced are twice as likely to experience a stroke in adulthood, according to new Canadian research. Based on a study of more than 13,000 adults living in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, the research has found that those whose parents divorced when they were children had twice the odds of having a stroke at some time in their lives, a finding that held after researchers controlled for numerous known risk factors for stroke. Read more...
Family income drops by €4,000
~Families last year saw a fall in household income of €4,000 and new figures show a big rise in the number of cash-strapped families who are now unable to meet basic household bills. The average gross family income fell from €60,581 in 2008 to €56,522 in 2009, according to new figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). However, this is still €1,000 per annum above 2006 gross income levels and €2,000 above disposable income levels in that year. Read more...
Canada’s law against polygamy under challenge
~Canada’s law against polygamy is being challenged by the leaders of a radical religious sect in the province of British Columbia. The case focuses on a break-away Mormon sect alleged to practice "plural marriage" and is the latest in a series of attacks in Western countries on monogamous, heterosexual marriage. Read more...
Four-year plan to penalise one-income married families
~The Government's four year budget plan will penalise one-income married people compared with single people to the tune of hundreds of euro per annum. According to the Government's National Recovery Plan, by 2014 the net pay for a married one-income family on €55,000 “will be reduced by €2,310 per annum (€44 per week) or 5.4 per cent compared with €1860 for a single person on €55,000. Read more...
Religion must be allowed to influence politics says John Bruton
~A secular worldview that tries to push religion out of public life is at best naive and could even be tyrannous, former Taoiseach John Bruton said in a speech in the House of Lords last night. Read more...
IMF wants to put mothers back into the workforce
~The International Monetary Fund (IMF) wants the Government to give women with small children a five per cent tax credit to encourage them back into the workforce. According to a report authorised by Ajal Chopra, the man leading the IMF delegation to Ireland, such a tax credit would be designed to help them pay for expensive childcare. Read more...
Court says baby ruling not State “acting as a superpower”
~A judge who has given permission to the HSE to administer drugs to a baby at risk of HIV against the wishes of the mother said it was not a question of the State “acting as a superpower” or “nanny knows best.” The case shows once again that the law as it stands already allows the State to override the wishes of parents in certain circumstances. Read more...
Religious people most charitable says study
~Religious people far more charitable than their non-religious counterparts, according to a new study. The research, carried out by leading academic Dr Robert Putnam and David E. Campbell, lecturer in political science at the University of Notre Dame found that, while secular Americans tended to be somewhat more tolerant, religious people were much more likely to be help the poor and the elderly. Read more...
US State Department highlights religious freedom threat in UK
~UK Christians feel that they are “subjected to more stringent application of rules restricting religion in the public sphere than other groups,” the US State Department has noted. In its annual Report on International Religious Freedom, the Department noted that there was “ increasing public concern over the ability of Christians to express their faith in the workplace”. Read more...
Christian ‘not discriminated’ against in adoption panel sacking
~A UK Employment Tribunal judge has found that there was ‘no discrimination’ in the case of a Christian pediatrician removed from an adoption panel after she had asked to be allowed to abstain from voting on cases involving applications to adopt from homosexuals. Judge John MacMillan dismissed the claim, saying the case “fails fairly and squarely on its facts.” Read more...
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Call to give unmarried fathers automatic guardianship rights
~A group promoting the rights of unmarried fathers has called for the compulsory registration of fathers on birth certificates. Launching a new document on family law, the group, Families, Fathers and Friends, also called for all fathers to be made legal guardians of their children from birth. Read more...
Same-sex marriage to be imposed by EU, group warns
~European pro-family groups have warned that a new EU report under consideration by the European Parliament could pave the way for same-sex marriage being forced on Member States. The document, "Report on civil law, commercial law, family law and private international law aspects of the Action Plan Implementing the Stockholm Program" is intended to make Member States mutually legally recognise each other's “civil status documents”, including marriage certificates. Read more...
Catholic school found guilty of ‘discrimination’
~A Catholic National School has been been found guilty of discrimination and fined €12,000 by the Equality Tribunal for not hiring a Protestant teacher. However, the school said it didn’t employ her because she didn’t have a Certificate in Religious Education which would have qualified her to teach religion in the primary school. Read more...
State must not undermine family, say Chief Justice
~In its efforts to protect children, the State must also protect the integrity of the family unit, Ireland's leading judge has said. The Chief Justice, Mr Justice John Murray in the foreword to the latest edition of Geoffrey Shannon's Child Law, writes that “the State should proceed with caution in protecting the interests of children, in order to ensure as far as possible that the integrity of the family unit is not unduly undermined”. Read more...
Humanists want State to renege on RE agreement
~The Humanist Association of Ireland (HAI) is writing to pressure Minister for Education Mary Coughlan into reneging on a promise made to provide time during the school year for separate specific religious instruction for children of different faiths in five experimental, State-run primary schools, the Irish Independent reports. Read more...
One in four unmarried mothers live with partner
~New US Census figures show that over a quarter of unmarried women who gave birth in the year ended June 30, 2008 were living with a partner. It is the first time that the Census Bureau has measured the percentage of unmarried mothers who were not living alone. In Ireland in the first quarter of this year, half of all single women who gave birth - 53 percent - were living with a partner. Read more...
State should pay for IVF treatment: demand
~A leading fertility expert has called for the taxpayer to subsidise IVF treatment for couples who experience difficulty having children. Dr Mary Wingfield, director of the Merrion Fertility Clinic in Dublin, that such couples are being forced to borrow money to avail of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment due to the lack of financial support from the State for the therapy. Read more...
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Public role of religion key challenge: Tony Blair
~The role of religion in the public square is the key challenge facing the world, according to former British prime minister Tony Blair. Writing in UK Catholic magazine, The Tablet, he asked: “Is it a force for good or a force for ill? A force for healing or for conflict? A force of reaction or a force for progress?” Read more...
Cardinals to address issue of religious freedom
~Pope Benedict XVI has convened a meeting later this month of the world's Cardinals which will discuss religious freedom around the world among other topics. The morning session will begin with discussion of the situation of religious freedom in the world and the new challenges being faced, with an introductory talk by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state. Recent problems faced by Christian minorities were a major topic at the special Synod of Bishops for the Middle East. Read more...
Preschool makes children more moral, expert claims
~Children who attend preschool are less likely to lie, cheat or steal as adults, a conference was told yesterday. The annual conference of ‘youngballymun’, an early intervention programme, heard that findings from the US HighScope Perry Preschool Study, a longitudinal study into a preschool programme in the 1960s showed that children who participated tended to be more ethical and have stronger moral values, the Irish Times reports. Read more...
Sperm donor in legal battle over child
~A homosexual sperm donor who fathered two babies with a lesbian after placing an advert in a magazine is now engaged in a legal dispute over access to the children. The woman in her 40s, and her civil partner, took the case to the Court of Appeal to try to overturn an earlier ruling that the children should spend almost half the year living with their father, a report in the Daily Telegraph says. Read more...
Pope defends marriage on Spain visit
~Men and women who get married and start a family should “receive decisive support from the State”, the Pope said on his visit to Spain at the weekend. He also warned of the dangers of “aggressive secularism” which he said is now the strongest it has been in Spain since the 1930s. Read more...
Controversial ruling on Assisted Human Reproduction appealed
~A ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that access to Assisted Human Reproduction like IVF is a ‘human right’ is being appealed to the Grand Chamber of the Court. The ruling last April found that an Austrian law banning sperm and ova donation for In Vitro Fertilisation was “unjustified” and constituted a violation of Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) in conjunction with Article 8 (right to respect for family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights. Read more...
Fewer children adopted ‘because of equality laws’
~Fewer children in the UK are being adopted than at any time since 1998 according to new figures, and Christian campaigners say that equality legislation giving adoption rights to same-sex couples is partly to blame. Last year, some 4,655 children were adopted in England and Wales, 15 per cent fewer than the peak of 5,477 in 2002, the lowest level for 11 years, the Office for National Statistics said. Read more...
Family breakdown ‘costing £100 billion annually’
~Divorce and the decline in marriage is costing the UK up to a staggering £100 billion a year, a leading Government minister has said. Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said that children raised in single parent households were nine times more likely to begin a life of crime than those who were raised by both parents. Read more...
New code of conduct could target teaching of religion
~A new code of professional conduct for teachers could lead to religion teachers being found guilty of “professional misconduct” for teaching core parts of their faith such as sexual morality and the truth of their own religion. Read more...
Big wins for marriage supporters in US mid-terms
~American pro-marriage activists have welcomed the landmark defeat of the three Iowa Supreme Court judges who ruled last year in favour of same sex marriages. The result marked the first time in Iowa history that any of its supreme court justices had been rejected by the voters. Analysts said that the result would have major implications for judicial elections across the country. Read more...
Row over UN report on "right" to sex education
~Delegates to the UN have denounced a report that promotes a new ‘human right’ to explicit sexual education for young children. Representatives of the African and Caribbean blocs led the attacks on the report by registering their “strong rejection” and “strong disapproval.” Read more...
Thirteen years old to be given Pill
~Girls as young as 13 on the Isle of Wight may be given a month’s supply of contraceptive pills without being referred to a doctor or informing their parents, under a divisive new scheme. The programme is set to target girls who are seeking a morning-after pill from a participating pharmacy, indicating that they are already sexually active. Read more...
Faith-schools admissions policy ‘discriminating’
~The head of the UK's Office for Schools Admissions has warned that faith schools' admission procedures could be discriminating against immigrant families. Many Roman Catholic and Church of England primary schools, facing oversubscription, are using points based systems to rate the religious commitment of prospective parents. Read more...
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