A leading religious freedom campaigning organisation has warned that a Council of Europe resolution promoting homosexual rights poses a serious risk to religious freedom.

An Irish Examiner survey looking at the sexual behaviour of Irish 18-35 year olds has found that a massive 71 per cent in this age group have had at least one ‘one-night-stand’. while 11 percent have had 11 or more one-night-stands.

The Oireachtas committee proposing a children’s rights referendum will recommend an amendment that will lower the threshold for State intervention in the family.

A single parent campaign group has called for the Department of Social and Family Affairs to make a “definite call” on the age at which certain family income supports will cease.

Up to 30,000 girls in first year in secondary school are to be offered a vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV), which is passed on through sexual contact, from later this year, Minister for Health Mary Harney has announced.

David Cameron has hinted that any Tory tax break for married couples will be modest, saying that the policy is aimed at sending a message to voters, not at changing their financial circumstances, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph.

A leading UK author and broadcaster has accused Richard Dawkins of “parading his own failure of imagination” by failing to consider the possible existence of God.

Children would be taught how to say no to sex under a Conservative Government, David Cameron says.

One of President Obama's nominees to serve on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, has compared traditional moral teachings on homosexuality with racism and has said that society should “not tolerate” any “private beliefs,” including religious beliefs, that may negatively affect homosexual “equality.”

The number of elderly people worldwide will outnumber children for the first time in 2045, according to a new United Nations report.

A former head of the English and Welsh judiciary, has said that equality laws shouldn’t force people to provide goods or services in a way that conflicts with their conscience.

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, has said that children attending faith schools should be taught that homosexuality is "normal and harmless". The proposal has been attacked by one Church of England bishops as “frighteningly fascist”.

In an interview with homosexual magazine, Attitude, he called on all the political parties to prove that they supported full equality for homosexuals, and accused David Cameron, the Conservative leader, of being untrustworthy on the issue.

The Liberal Democrats support measures forcing teachers, including those working in faith schools, to implement policies to combat ‘homophobic bullying’, with lessons teaching that same-sex relationships are “normal”.

Mr Clegg said: “Crucially faith schools should have a requirement to have an anti-homophobic bullying policy at their school.”

The Liberal Democrat leader also called for lesbians and homosexual men who have undergone a civil partnership ceremony to be given the formal and symbolic status of a “married” couple.

Rules which bar homosexual men from giving blood should be scrapped, and refugees who flee persecution on the grounds of their sexuality should receive an automatic right of asylum in the United Kingdom.

Mr Clegg also questioned Mr Cameron’s commitment to homosexual rights on the grounds that he voted against the repeal of Section 28.

The measure, introduced by the Conservatives in 1988, banned the promotion of homosexuality by public bodies and became a totemic cause before its repeal in 2002.

Clegg's proposals were quickly condemned by Church leaders and pro-family groups.

One senior Anglican bishop, who was not identified, told The Independent, “I think this will go down badly even among the not overtly evangelical. Instituting something that must be taught, come what may, is frighteningly fascist.”

Janina Ainsworth, chief education officer for the Church of England, said she saw no reason for changing the current laws governing sex education in schools. “The Church’s traditional teaching is that sex should be set within the framework of a faithful marriage, and sex education in church schools will be delivered within that context,” she said.

"Further upheaval of the guidance for sex education would not be welcomed by many schools, church or otherwise,” Ainsworth added.

Norman Wells of the Family Education Trust, told the Daily Mail, ''Not only is Nick Clegg showing a woeful lack of respect for faith schools, but he is also totally disregarding the deeply-held views of parents."

"The vast majority of parents do not want their children’s schools to be turned into vehicles to promote positive images of homosexual relationships. It is a fundamental principle of education law that children must be educated in accordance with the wishes of their parents."

Wells further charged that "Nick Clegg is pushing a radical social agenda which would only cause confusion among vulnerable young people and expose them to increased risks to their physical and emotional health."

An international think-tank has suggested that the Government set up new state-run primary schools to cater for the new multi-ethnic pupil population.

The defence of traditional marriage is "one of the premier social justice issues of our time", according the head of the US Catholic Bishops committee to defend marriage.

New Jersey's Democrat-controlled Senate has rejected a proposal that would have made it the sixth state in the US to allow marriages involving same-sex couples.

The parents of an estimated 30,000 children eligible for the Government's ‘free’ pre-school year have not enrolled in the scheme, it has emerged, which may indicate that demand for paid childcare is lower than estimated.

The increasing secularisation of Europe, not Muslims, is to blame for the continent's increasing Islamisation, a leading European cardinal has warned.

Minister for Education, Batt O'Keefe, has said he believes that the controversial Stay Safe child programme should be mandatory in all schools.