The California Supreme Court last week suggested that it was ready today to uphold Proposition 8, the November ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage. However, it also seemed likely to rule that the marriages of same-sex couples who wed before the vote would remain valid.

New proposals to take away the rights of faith schools' to admit pupils on the basis of religion are "perverse and unjust", according to the Britain's religious leaders.

Religious people are less likely to panic under pressure than those with no religion, according to the results of a new experiment.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has blasted as "ludicrous” the punishment of people for expressing their beliefs, such as the nurse recently suspended for offering to pray for a patient.

The idea that children have a right to a mother and father is “absurd” and “nonsensical”, Senators David Norris and Ivana Bacik have said in a Seanad debate. During the debate, children’s minister, Barry Andrews, indicated he was open to the idea of adoption by same-sex couples and said the only real impediment to it was the Constitution.

Protocols securing Ireland's unique stance on social and moral issues ahead of a second Lisbon referendum are an important part of ensuring that the “competence creep” of EU law does not interfere with our laws on family and abortion, according to the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin.

A former head of the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), Baroness Deech, has said that new regulations governing IVF are “ putting the rights of the parents way above those of the child”.

A leading Australian human rights expert has warned that a human rights charter being championed by some campaigners is "a device for the delivery of a soft-Left sectarian agenda".

Twenty children in State care have died over a six-year period, according to figures reported in the Irish Times.

The US government is funding a $5 million national media campaign that launches this month, extolling the virtues of marriage for those ages 18 to 30.

The draft manifesto of the European People's Party (EPP) for the 2009 European Parliament elections has removed the reference to “unique ties between man and woman” in the context of the family and replaced them with a reference to family diversity.

Fathers have a prior duty to provide financial care for their marital children over and above any duty to non-marital children, the High Court has ruled.

The court found that the Constitution did not allow courts to make a property adjustment order in favour of a non-marital child, where the non-marital father already has a wife working in the home looking after dependent children, according to a report in the Irish Times.

The ruling related to a Circuit Court order made in November 2007 for €500,000 to enable the child’s mother to buy a house for them both along with an order for €1,200 a month in maintenance for the child. The father appealed the ruling to the High Court, where Mr Justice Sheehan upheld it in the past week.

The Government's proposed Civil Partnership law, which will gives almost all marriage-like rights to same-sex couples, and a more limited set to opposite-sex cohabiting couples, is set to allow courts to make orders of this kind to provide dependent partners with financial reliefs. However, any such orders will be subject to the interests of spouses and other children.

The case concerned a child born in 2000 to a father who had separated from his wife, with whom he had three children. He lived with the child's mother from 1999 to August 2002 and from August 2003 to June 2004. The man also has another non-marital child.

At the time of the hearing in July and October 2008 the sole source of income for the father was rental income from the property company he ran with his estranged wife, who was a notice party to the proceedings.

His assets were estimated at €1,869,000 including a pension worth €366,994, and his share of the rental income was €35,000 a year, though his assets were written down by 10 per cent in the light of the current economic circumstances.

He had made €175,742 from a previous transaction, much of which was spent over the past four years.

Mr Justice Sheehan said it was clear he would have to return to work.

The mother at the centre of this case had steadily built up her singing career, from which she earned €19,000 in 2007, and was “heading for a significant increase” in 2008. She also had lone parents’ and children’s allowance, giving her a total income of at least €35,000.

The judge found that since the Circuit Court hearing there had been a marked improvement in the mother’s financial position, and a marked decline in the value of the father’s assets. The mother had sought a property adjustment order in favour of herself and the child, arguing that the Guardianship of Infants Act of 1964 allowed for it. She also sought a carer’s allowance to be paid to her, as well as maintenance for the child.

She cited a previous case in support of her claim for a property adjustment order, but Mr Justice Sheehan pointed out that this referred to a couple who were married, and so it did not apply here.

He said that in interpreting the Guardianship of Infants Act the court must look at the constitutional position of the wife in this case, “who is a wife working in the home and is entitled to special protection by virtue of Article 41”.

Article 41.2 states that the State recognises the support given to it by the work of women in the home, and pledges to ensure that a mother shall not be obliged by economic necessity to work outside the home “to the neglect of her duties in the home”.

He also referred to a 1996 High Court ruling, Ennis -v- Butterly, which said that there had not been any attempt on the part of the legislature to confer rights akin to those of married persons, like the right to maintenance, on non-marital unions.

Taking all this into account, Mr Justice Sheehan said that the Circuit Court had no jurisdiction to make an order directing the payment of the €500,000 to provide a home for the mother and child.

He also said she was not entitled to a carer’s allowance for herself, but upheld the order for payment of €1,200 a month in maintenance for the child.

The Government needs to ensure that the Irish Constitution, and not Europe “reigns supreme where sensitive social issues are concerned,” in considering its approach to any second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, Senator Ronan Mullen has said.

The radical Yogyakarta Principles, which are aimed, among other things, at legalising same-sex marriage and adoption world-wide, as well as banning ‘hate speech’ against homosexuals, is being considered by special committee of the Council of Europe (CoE) is meeting this week in Strasbourg.

Religion is important in the daily lives of over 80 per cent of the world’s population, according to a new poll conducted by Gallup. Approximately 1,000 adults were surveyed in almost every country in the world 2006, 2007, and 2008. It asked respondents how important religion was to them in their daily lives.

Contemporary British society regards Christians as "mad" because they are motivated by compassion and not money, according to a leading Anglican clergyman

Children should be taught the Bible or they will fail to understand culture and and literature, according to the UK's leading poet.

New guidelines for teachers drawn up by the UK's General Teaching Council (GTC), mean that teachers may face disciplinary action if they discuss their religious beliefs with children, according to reports. The guidelines say that teachers must "promote equality and value diversity".

This week Ireland's first-ever Marriage Week has been taking place. The event consisted of a programme of events to support and encourage married and engaged couples, has been welcomed by Mary Hanafin, Minister for Social and Family Affairs.

Boston College (BC), a renowned US Jesuit university, has decided to reintroduce crosses into its classrooms. The move, which was made last month, is part of an ongoing drive to make the college's Catholic identity more public. Two years ago, the college installed a new statue of Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order.