A Scottish town has decided to put Christmas back into Christmas instead of calling it ‘Wintermas’.

New UK research suggest that faith schools are better at tackling extremism and promoting race relations than State run schools.

UK social services have been accused by a couple of "kidnapping" their nine week-old daughter for adoption.

The Civil Partnership Bill is set to be debated in the Dail next week, according to a statement from the Green Party.

The European Commission has begun legal action against the UK government over its employment law exemptions which allow church bodies to employ on the basis of their ethos.

A resolution insisting that EU member states protect freedom of conscience and religion has been adopted by EU foreign ministers, according to a report in the Irish Catholic.

The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, has accused a leading Australian human rights figure of attempting to “intimidate” Christians on moral issues.

The Catholic Church is the organisation most turned to by Irish people for emotional comfort and reassurance after spouses, partners, family and friends.

Two prominent Anglican bishops have urged Christians to turn back the tide of political correctness by wearing religious symbols during the Christmas period.

The Rt Rev Jonathan Gledhill, the Bishop of Lichfield, told worshippers to wear crosses or fish symbols to demonstrate that Christmas is a religious holiday.

He also criticised “politically-correct” companies and local councils who sought to make the period a secular celebration.

Bishop Gledhill said: “Companies’ sacking those who want to wear a cross or fish lapel badge and councils rebranding Christmas out of fear of offending ethnic minorities are decisions made out of sheer ignorance.

“I think it wouldn’t be a bad thing if in December all Christians wore a fish badge or cross necklace and sent out a loud message that Christians aren’t going to disappear quietly from the Christmas market place.”

His intervention has been welcomed by other bishops and comes only one week after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that crucifixes should not be displayed in Italy’s schools.

The landmark judgment could force a near Europe-wide review of the use of religious symbols in state-run schools and other public places. A panel of seven judges in Strasbourg said the display of Christian crosses violated the principle of secular education.

Only last week Dundee City Council renamed its Christmas Lights switch-on the ‘Dundee Winter Light Night’ in apparent fear of offending members of other religions. The traditional telling of the Christmas story has also been dropped from the council’s festive programme.

Many Nativity plays have been banned and Christ’s birth is often celebrated as “Wintermass’’ rather than Christmas.

Rt Rev John Hind, the Bishop of Chichester, called for Anglicans to speak up more loudly for their faith and religious traditions. He said: “Our faith cannot avoid being a public matter as it affects every aspect of our lives including our social and political attitudes.

"In other words, we can’t keep it to ourselves. There is growing hostility in the public towards witnessing our faith in society and this has been shown in a number of recent attempts to marginalise the meaning of Christmas or to suppress the rights of believers. I hope all Christians respond enthusiastically both by wearing external symbols of our faith.”

The transfer of control of certain secondary schools from orders to lay trusts does not mean the Church is getting out of education, a leading Bishop has said.

Fewer couples are separating in the High Court due to the credit crunch, according to leading family law barrister Gerry Durcan SC.

Austria's new civil union legislation will not allow same-sex couples to register their partnership in a ceremony at their local registry office.

The children of religious parents in the UK are being targeted in an anti-religion advertising campaign by the same humanist group that was behind atheist bus ads.

A leading gay rights campaigner in the UK believes that it may be appropriate to force Churches to host homosexual civil unions eventually.

The BBC has rejected demands from atheists that they should muscle in on Radio 4’s three-minute religious slot, Thought for the Day.

Lesbians make better parents than heterosexual couples, a senior Government parenting adviser has stated.

Proposals to give cohabiting couples in the UK the same rights as those who get married are "bad for commitment" and degrade relationships, according to the chairperson of one Britain's legal bodies.

Christians must influence EU policy by “getting involved on a day to day basis with its work”, former Taoiseach John Bruton has said.

Nearly 10 percent of children from broken families say that the process has left them suicidal, according to a new study. Other children involved in the process said they later sought solace in drink, drugs or crime.

Scientists have created and fertilised an egg with two biological mothers and one biological father, sparking ethical fears about babies grown from three-parent embryos.