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Religious freedom in US face “unprecedented” threat says Vatican
~Religious freedom in the United States faces threats of “unprecedented gravity” the Vatican has warned. In a letter on behalf of Pope Benedict (pictured) to U.S. Catholic group, the Knights of Columbus, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said that “concerted efforts are being made to redefine and restrict the exercise of the right to religious freedom.” Read more...
Big fall in number of Japanese teens who are sexually active
~Japan has seen a dramatic drop in the number of second level students engaged in sexual activity for the first time since the 1970s, according to a new survey. The research, conducted by the Japanese Association for Sex Education (JASE) that 15pc second level boys had had sex compared to 27pc in 2005, a 50pc drop in seven years. The decline in sexual activity was less marked among girls, decreasing from 30pc in 2005 to 24pc in 2012. Read more...
Traditional marriage constitutional, U.S. court rules
~A federal U.S. court has ruled that a Hawaiian law which defines marriage as between a man and a woman does not violate the U.S. Constitution. The ruling by Judge Alan. C. Kay on Wednesday broke a string of court losses by advocates for traditional marriage on the subject of same-sex marriage. It comes before the Supreme Court is expected to hear a case on California's Proposition 8, which defined marriage in the same way before it was struck down by the Ninth Circut Court ruled that it was unconstitutional. Read more...
Cardinal warns against “tyranny of tolerance”
~Forbidding discussion of public values in the name of 'pluralism and tolerance' is “a formula for tyranny” Chicago's Cardinal Francis George has said. In his blog this week, Cardinal George warned that the context in which discussion of controversial issues such as abortion or marriage takes place often narrows very quickly and dangerously. And he warned that appeals “to pluralism and toleration gradually become tyrannical”. Read more...
Death of Indian girl highlights egg donor risks
~The death of an Indian girl who had been donating eggs only two days before she died is set to shine a spotlight on the use by wealthy Western couples of eggs from young women from the developing world. The girl, Sushma Pandey, who was 17, died two years ago today. Hospital records also indicate that she was admitted there on August 8, 2010, at 8.30 am and discharged the same day at 7.30 pm. The next day, she complained of abdominal pain. On August 10, 2010, she died. Read more...
New poll claims Ireland among the least religious countries in the world
~Ireland has experienced a big fall in the number of people who describe themselves as religious, and has one of the highest percentages of atheists in the world, a new international poll has claimed. The survey was commissioned by Gallup, and carried out in 57 countries throughout the world. Red C carried out the poll in Ireland, using an online sample of 1,000 last December. Read more...
Society must work to renew marriage says Cardinal Dolan
~Renewed efforts must be made to build strong marriages, which serve as the foundation of any healthy society, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York (pictured) has said. He said that Catholics believed that “the best way to get a hint of how God loves us now, and in eternity, is to look at how you, married couples, love one another”. Cardinal Dolan, who serves as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, delivered the keynote address at the Knights of Columbus' States Dinner in Anaheim, California on Tuesday. Read more...
Judge rules same-sex couples can inherit each other's property
~A law in the US state of Minnesota which defines marriage as being between a man and a woman does not deny same-sex partners the "benefits of marriage," including the right to inherit each other's assets. The ruling, handed down last Wednesday, doesn't set pa recedent because it upholds a lower court's ruling, but it could affect cases in other states with laws barring same-sex marriage, the Star Tribune reported. Read more...
Childcare more expensive than a mortgage: report
~Childcare costs have shot up for many families, according to a new survey by the Irish Independent. However, figures from the Central Statistics Office from 2009 show that demand for childcare is less than usually assumed. And in 2010, it emerged that 30,000 children eligible for a Government scheme to provide a free pre-school year did not enroll, suggesting that demand for paid childcare was lower than estimated. According to the survey, some families are paying more for childcare than for mortgage repayments, with some paying up to €1,100 a month to have just one child minded. Read more...
Cohabiting couples having more children, report shows
~Cohabiting couples in America are having more children, according to new US government figures. The number of births overall to cohabiting women increased from 14pc of all births in 2002 to 23pc in 2006-10, according to the first US government report since 1990 on intended and unintended births. Data released last month by the National Center for Health Statistics show that more than three-quarters of all births to married women were planned, compared with about half of births to cohabiting women and a third of births to women who are unmarried and not cohabiting. Read more...
Evangelicals like “totalitarian Muslims” says government adviser
~A senior UK Government advisor has compared evangelical Christians to “totalitarian Muslims”. In an article in the Daily Telegraph, Alan Judd, an advisor to the Secretary of State for Education, was commenting on recent free school applications by Evangelical Christians. Mr Judd wrote: “To ban believers from setting up free schools would be to exclude a large number of able, well-meaning and experienced people who can do much to raise levels generally. Read more...
Civil weddings outnumber church weddings in Scotland
~Civil wedding ceremonies outnumbered church weddings in Scotland last year, according to new official figures. The figures, produced on Thursday by the General Registrar's Office for Scotland, showed that just over half of all marriages (52 per cent) were civil ceremonies, carried out by a registrar. Just over half of these civil ceremonies took place in registry offices, with the rest taking place in ‘approved places’ such as hotels. Read more...
Row over pro-traditional marriage chain continues to grow
~The row over the US fast food chain Chick-fil-A due to its support for traditional marriage continues to grow with gay rights campaigners declaring they plan a “kiss in” at various outlets of the chain. However, supporters of the chain are flocking to its restaurants in solidarity with long queues forming outside some branches. After the founder of Chick fil A declared his support for traditional marriage, the mayors of Chicago, Boston and San Francisco said that the company was not welcome in their cities. Read more...
Judge rules 10 year old girl can change faith
~A British judge has ruled that a 10-year-old Jewish girl can convert to Christianity after a judge rejected her mother's claims that she had been “brainwashed” and instead agreed with her father that she can change her religion. The girl’s parents, who are divorced were in dispute over the girl's wish to be baptised at the church her father, himself a convert from Judaism, now attends. The parents have equal access and custody rights. Their daughter spends alternative weeks with each of them. Read more...
‘Anti-religious freedom’ insurance mandate goes into effect
~A controversial mandate introduced by the Obama Administration, which insists that religious employers place their workers in insurance schemes that provide them with free abortifacient and sterilisation services, went into effect yesterday. Opponents of the measure seemed willing to let the landmark date pass without much comment as they prepare for future court battles. Read more...
Civil marriages surge in popularity in Northern Ireland
~Almost one-third of all marriages in Northern Ireland were celebrated by a civil ceremony, according to new figures from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). In 2011, 2,732 out of 8,366 marriages were by civil ceremony. Meanwhile, only 89 civil partnerships between same-sex couples took place last year compared with 116 in 2010. Read more...
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New Census figures show huge marriage gap between the social classes
~The latest Census figures released by the CSO show a huge ‘marriage gap’ between the social classes with marriage being much stronger in middle class areas than in more disadvantaged areas. The new Census figures allow for analysis at the level of electoral districts and lower. They show, for example, in the electoral district of Ballymun D, 73 percent of children under 18 are being raised in lone parent families. Read more...
Cardinal defends restaurant chain at centre of same-sex marriage row
~Cardinal Francis George of Chicago (pictured), has come out in defence of fast food chain Chick-fil-A, after the company was condemned by the mayors of Boston, Chicago and San Francisco because its owner supports traditional marriage. The owner of the chain, Mr Dan Cathy was asked about same-sex marriage and he reiterated his support for the traditional understanding of marriage. In response, the mayors of Boston, Chicago and San Francisco condemned the fast food retailer. Chicago mayor, former chief of staff to President Obama, Rahm Emanuel, said that the chain's values “are not Chicago's values”. Read more...
First new Church-run secondary schools in 20 years get green light
~The first Church-run secondary schools in over 20 years have been approved by Education Minister, Ruairi Quinn (pictured). Le Chéile Schools Trust, a Catholic organisation, will have responsibility for a school in Mulhuddart, Dublin 15, which is set to open in September 2014. The Department also announced that a new Church of Ireland school was to be established in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, which is also set to open in September 2014. Read more...
Irish academic attacks male circumcision as ‘mutilation’
~An Irish academic has called for male circumcision, which is a central religious practice in Judaism and Islam, to be banned, calling it “a gross breach of the bodily integrity of baby boys”. Writing in today's Irish Times, politics lecturer Dr Kenneth Houston says the practice is “barbaric” and termed it “male genital mutilation” (MGM). Dr Houston, who lecturers in Webster University in Thailand, welcomed the recent decision of a court in Germany which held that male circumcision amounted to bodily harm. Read more...
Court finds in favour of father in access dispute
~The British Court of Appeal has ruled that a mother who denied a father's access to his children for three years breached his rights. The court, made up of three judges, that it was not acceptable for the mother to block the father’s reasonable efforts to see his two daughters. The judges urged all separated parents to consider the harm that such legal disputes cause children. Lord Justice McFarlane said mothers and fathers had “a responsibility and a duty” to help children remain in touch with the other parent, the Daily Telegraph reports. Read more...
Ireland backs convention which says ‘gender is a social construct’
~Ireland is set to sign a new convention which defines gender as “a social construct”. When a module called ‘Exploring Masculinities’ was introduced to Irish schools a number of years ago which defined gender in the same way, it caused widespread controversy. The notion that gender is a social construct is backed by feminists and says that the differences between the sexes, apart from the physical ones, are the result of our upbringing rather than nature. The convention is entitled “Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence”. Read more...
Church in Scotland attacks move to legalise same-sex marriage
~The Catholic Church in Scotland has described same-sex marriage as “a dangerous social experiment on a massive scale”. It was responding to the announcement by the Scottish Government that it is set to become the first part of Britain to legalise it. Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish Deputy First Minister, today confirmed she will bring forward legislation but said it will include “important protections” for clergymen, teachers and parents who oppose the move. Read more...
Ireland ‘should make UN Convention on the Rights of the Child part of its law’
~Ireland should incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) into its law, so that it is directly applicable here, a new report on children's rights has said. The report of the special rapporteur on child protection, Dr Geoffrey Shannon (pictured), while pointing out that Ireland has already signed and ratified the Convention, called the fact that Ireland had yet to incorporate the document as “disappointing”. The Convention is controversial because it gives children rights traditionally associated with adults such as freedom of association, religion and privacy. Read more...
Bans on religiously motivated circumcision widen
~The governor of the Austrian province of Vorarlberg has told hospitals there to suspend religiously motivated circumcisions. Last week, two hospitals in Switzerland, the Zurich University Children’s Hospital and the northern St Gall teaching hospital, also announced that they were delaying religious circumcision until further notice. Governor Marcus Wallner cited a recent ruling by a German regional court which held that the practice was the equivalent of causing criminal bodily harm, saying that he saw it as a "precedence-setting judgment," according to the Jewish Chronicle. Read more...
Church will remain committed to its teaching on marriage says Archbishop Martin
~The Church will remain committed to its teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman, whether the State legalises same-sex marriage or not, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said. Speaking yesterday at a question and answer session after his talk at the McGill Summer School, he said: “The Church will teach its teaching about the complementarity of man and woman as being something that is essential to marriage and that marriage is not a simple social construct which can be changed at will.” Read more...
Christian views on social and political matters must be heard says Blair
~The views of Christians on social and political matters must be heard in the public square, former UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair (pictured) has said. In a discussion in London with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, Tony Blair said that Christians should not be afraid to speak in public about faith. Read more...
Secular society must engage in dialogue with religion says Archbishop Martin
~Secular society must engage in dialogue with religion and not seek to exclude it, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin (pictured) said today. In a speech to the McGill Summer School in Donegal, he stated: “We are all tempted to succumb to the widespread opinion that Christianity is really something private and personal for our own devotion and inspiration and not something that has its relevance in the public square. Read more...
Chronic instability a key feature of Britain’s most troubled families
~Chronic relationship instability is one of the key causes of the problems facing many British families today, a new report has revealed. The report, Listening to Troubled Families, written by Louise Casey found that such families were often chaotic. The study focused on problem families who have already been the subject of a family intervention unit. Of the parents interviewed, 11 out of the 16 were under 18 when they had children. Read more...
European Court to consider transsexual case
~A Maltese law which prevented a man who underwent a ‘sex change’ operation from marrying as a woman is to be challenged before the European Court of Human Rights. The man had his birth certificate changed, but subsequently tried to marry another man, and was refused permission by the Maltese authorities. The case is Cassar v Malta. The Maltese authorities said that the alteration of the birth record was intended only to protect his privacy by making his everyday life easier, but not to alter legal effects related to marriage. Read more...
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Proposal to cut Child Benefit condemned
~Proposals to means test Child Benefit have been condemned by various charities, who claim that such a move would put more children at risk of poverty. Social Justice Ireland warned that a move to reduce Child Benefit payments risked moving “more children into poverty” which would significantly increase what they described as Ireland' s “unacceptable child poverty figures”. The remarks came after a report from the IMF on Wednesday suggested that Ireland should means test its Child Benefit payment as part of a series of reforms to its social welfare system. Read more...
Children need active father engagement in first months of life say study
~Fathers’ engagement with their children, or the lack thereof, in the first months of life may influence the development of behavioural problems later, according to a new study. The study, carried out by researchers from the University of Oxford, found that fathers who were more involved early on had children with fewer problems at 12 months, while those who were less engaged had children who were less stable and more disturbed. Read more...
Christianity largest religion amongst Asian-Americans
~Christianity is the largest religious faith among the 18 million Asian-Americans, according to new research. The study, carried out by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that 42pc of all Asian Americans were Christian. Buddhism was the religion with the second highest percentage of adherants, with 14pc. But those who said they belonged to no faith in particular were the second largest group, with 17pc. Atheists added another eight percent to the figure showing once again that those who are not religiously affiliated are frequently not atheists. Read more...
Young teens who watch sex scenes more likely to be promiscuous says research
~Young teenagers who watch sex scenes in films are more likely to be sexually active and with more people from a younger age, according to new research. Psychologists concluded that teenagers aged from 12-14 who watch more sex on screen in popular films are likely to have sexual relations with more people, according to the Daily Telegraph. The study, based on nearly 700 popular films, found that watching sex scenes could "fundamentally influence" a teenager's personality. Read more...
Relationship breakdown big factor in suicides says new study
~Relationship breakdown is one of the biggest causes of suicide in Ireland, according to a new study. The study showed that 65.8pc of the 190 people who had committed suicide in the city and county of Cork between September 2008 and March 2011 had experienced serious relationship problems in their lives. Read more...
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