Britain’s Roman Catholic leaders have branded a proposed EU Equal Treatment Directive an “instrument of oppression”.

Only 11 per cent of children of primary school age are in child care, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has said his country's ban on gay marriage would remain, despite moves within his Labor Party to have it overturned. Labor policy also opposes civil unions.

Religion is the most popular voluntary group activity, according to new figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Amnesty International Ireland head Colm O’Gorman has said opposition to same-sex marriage and adoption is "rooted in bigotry".

Choirs have been told they are no longer welcome to sing Christmas carols in areas of Parliament because it puts MPs off their lunch, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph.

Divorce or the death of a spouse severely damages a man or woman's long-term health even if they remarry, according to a new study of over 8,000 people.

The head of the British Government's watchdog on IVF has said that the longstanding ban on selling sperm and eggs should be reconsidered to address a shortage of donors.

A Sunday school teacher has been told she can’t put up a poster at her local library to advertise a church children’s event because it ‘promotes religion’.

Fathers and mothers each play a valuable but different role in raising children, according to research published by New Scientist magazine.

Ireland now has a marital breakdown rate of 27.5 per cent, based on figures from the Courts Service Annual Report for 2008.

A Catholic nurse in New York is taking legal action after her employers obliged her to assist with a late-term abortion.

Leading gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has welcomed the decision of the House of Lords to keep a free speech protection in a controversial ‘anti-hate’ law.

An experienced paediatrician is to lose her place on an adoption panel because she doesn’t think adoption by same-sex couples is best for children.

Dr Sheila Matthews, who has worked with parents and children for 18 years, was told by Northamptonshire County Council that her beliefs on gay adoption were incompatible with equality legislation and council policies.

Dr Matthews was barred from the panel after asking to abstain from voting on the rare occasions when applications from same-sex couples were being decided.

The married mother of one said: “I don’t feel that placing children for adoption with same-sex couples is the best place for them.

“As a Christian, I don’t believe it’s an appropriate lifestyle and I don’t believe the outcomes for children would be as good as if they were placed with heterosexual couples.”

Dr Matthews says she is happy to continue providing the panel with unbiased medical reports on other potential adopters.

But rather than debate the issue every time the panel was to consider a same-sex couple’s application, Dr Matthews decided it would be better to abstain from the final votes.

However, the Head of Children’s Services at the Council, Martin Pratt, said in a letter that her stance raised “significant problems”.

Mr Pratt said Dr Matthew’s position violated the law and would create difficulties for the Council when trying to attract a wide range of potential adopters.

“I believe that we could not allow a panel member to continue to participate in the process who is unable to consider, on the merits of the application alone, applications to adopt,” wrote Mr Pratt.

Andrea Minichiello Williams, head of the Christian Legal Centre (CLC), which is backing Dr Matthew’s case, said: “This is a further example of how a well respected professional who holds conscientious views on sexual practice, informed by Christian faith, is being asked to choose between her faith and her job.

“Recent anti-discrimination legislation is having the opposite effect and devout Christians are suffering the consequences.”

Gay adoption has been allowed for some years, and since the introduction of equality laws in 2007 it has been illegal not to consider applications from gay couples. Catholic adoption agencies have been forced to close as a result.

However, Dr Matthews points to research supporting her position that “a same sex partnership is not the best family setting to bring up children”.

She added: “Professionally and personally I cannot recommend placement in a same-sex household to be in the best interest of a child, despite what politicians may have legislated for.”

The 50-year-old doctor said men and women bring different skills to parenting and added that children of same-sex parents were likely to face bullying.

“I don’t want to be put in a position of doing something I don’t believe in. That is my human right. Instead I have been accused of discrimination”, said Dr Matthews.

Mrs Williams warned: “This is not the mark of a free and civilised society where freedom of speech and religion is carefully guarded.”

Dr Matthews is the latest case to emerge where a Christian has faced problems at work over their beliefs.

Earlier this month a London council sacked a Christian employee, Duke Amachree, for referring to his beliefs. The council says staff are not allowed to say “God bless” at work.

In June it was reported that a Christian registrar at Islington Council was disciplined and threatened with dismissal because of her beliefs about civil partnerships.

Theresa Davies was given the ultimatum of being demoted to an entry-level post or being dismissed from the Council because her Christian beliefs prevented her from registering same-sex civil partnerships.

Her story echoes that of her colleague Lillian Ladele, another Christian registrar who was bullied and threatened with the sack by the same council after she asked to be exempted from registering same-sex unions.

An Employment Tribunal upheld Miss Ladele’s claim of religious discrimination last year, but the ruling was overturned at an Employment Appeals Tribunal and Miss Ladele is now seeking a further appeal.

Lynne Featherstone, the MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, recently said public sector workers who face a conflict between their job and their faith should get another career. Miss Featherstone was one of the MPs scrutinizing the new Equality Bill at Committee Stage.

According to a recent Sunday Telegraph poll, thousands of Christians are losing out on promotions and being hassled at work because of their beliefs.

More than half of the Christians surveyed said they had suffered some form of persecution for being a Christian.

Charity shops are seeing an increase in the number of volunteers since the onset of the recession, as the newly unemployed seek to occupy themselves and retain some job skills during the downturn, according to a report in the Irish Times.

The number of people aged over 65 is on course to overtake the number of children under the age of five for the first time in world history, according to a study published yesterday.

Handing over schools currently run by the Church to “complex State bureaucracies whose efficiency has certainly yet to be proven” is not the way forward for Irish education, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said.

A London teacher who was suspended and threatened with the sack for expressing his Christian beliefs at work will be back at work next term.

A prominent secular British MP has attempted to use the Equality Bill to force the Scout Association to scrap the age-old tradition of new entrants pledging allegiance to God.

Most unmarried couples who live together aren't trying to test their relationship, according to a new US study of dating and cohabitation.