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A school board in Ontario has become a flashpoint in the religious accommodation debate over Muslim prayers in school. The board says the matter is settled but detractors say the fight far from over.
Pages torn from a Koran. Cries of "that's a hate group" and "there is no peace in Islam".
In March, a public meeting of one of Canada's largest public school boards descended into chaos over a policy of religious accommodation that has been in place for more than 15 years.
People at risk of HIV in Scotland are to be given drugs on the NHS that will protect them from infection, it has been announced, in a move that Aids campaigners say will put pressure on the authorities in England to end delays in providing the same medication despite two major court rulings.
In a major victory for campaigners, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) said pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) would be free on the NHS to those who need it because they were at risk – for instance, if they have a partner with HIV. Access to the drugs could begin within weeks.
Willie Parker is an abortion doctor. He says he's not ashamed of that. Willie Parker also says he is a born-again follower of Jesus Christ. That one's more complicated. His new book on why Jesus would support his abortion practice shows us the end-result of a cultural Christianity in which the self can redefine anything: Jesus, the gospel, morality, justice, even life itself.
Parker is a kind of circuit-riding abortionist, spending time at various abortion clinics all over the South. The book, Life's Work: A Moral Argument for Choice is one part an autobiography, and one-part a political manifesto for the legality—and even the goodness—of abortion. Even as one who has to wade through all sorts of material assaulting human dignity, I found that I would gasp at the lackadaisical nature of Parker's reflections.
Two men seeking the right to an assisted death came before the High Court last month. One of the cases, concerning Noel Conway, a retired lecturer who is terminally ill with motor neurone disease, is high-profile, well-funded and backed by celebrities including Ricky Gervais. The other, concerning a man named Omid (his last name cannot be published due to a court order), has received nothing like the same level of support. He has multiple system atrophy, a neurodegenerative disorder that gradually impairs the body's autonomic functions such as heart rate, bladder function and digestion. His disease is incurable, but he is not terminally ill.
Both men are seeking permission for a judicial review into the ban on assisted suicide. The ban was upheld by parliament in 2015. A date for a permission hearing for Omid is expected in the next few weeks. Conway's case failed, and he is appealing the decision.
A growing minority of Americans are 'spiritual but not religious' and 'love Jesus, but not the Church' according to a new study by the Barna Group.
Some 11 per cent of those surveyed say they are 'spiritual but not religious' and 10 per cent say they 'love Jesus, but not the Church'.
The latter group are Christians who say their faith is important to them, but have not attended church in six months or more.
An extremist who said he supported the killing of British soldiers has been appointed a director of a controversial Muslim pressure group with influence at Westminster.
Azad Ali, head of community development and engagement at Muslim Engagement and Development (Mend), said the Westminster Bridge attack last month was 'not terrorism'.
Mr Ali said on Facebook that Khalid Masood, who murdered PC Keith Palmer and four pedestrians, should referred to as 'a lone wolf'. The Met Police has been treating it as a terror attack.
Greater Manchester Police has become the first in the country to record domestic abuse in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Its part of a new method of recording crime being rolled out across the force area.
Officers say it will help them target their response.
The Church of England has assembled a team of specialists to investigate the alleged mismanagement of cathedrals, amid reports of overspending, staff discontent and huge deficits.
Anglican leaders are concerned about the dire financial positions of some of the country's most treasured buildings, many of which rely on heritage handouts and legacies.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, and the Archbishop of York, the Most Rev John Sentamu, have established a working group to look into the way cathedrals are governed, their accountability and how financial decisions are made, according to The Observer. Its 12 members are expected to be announced today.
Simon Harris has been urged to fast-track a crackdown on misleading crisis pregnancy agencies after an Oireachtas committee scrapped a bill designed to regulate them.
The committee said that the bill, introduced by Labour, would have unintended consequences, such as punishing GPs who give crisis pregnancy advice without being registered counsellors, and that rogue agencies could get around it by describing themselves as advisers.
Last week an investigation by The Times revealed that two crisis pregnancy agencies linked to anti-abortion groups were giving misleading advice.
Andy Burnham is a former cabinet minister and, as one observer put it, is "security-cleared to his eyeballs".
So it was alarming for Whitehall to hear the shadow home secretary, as he then was, claiming last year that, as the Prevent strategy involved monitoring Muslims, they might be unable to trust the police enough to report crimes.
The MP is Labour’s candidate to become the first elected mayor of Greater Manchester, taking responsibility for police and crime if he wins office next month. He appeared at a mayoral hustings organised by Mend on Saturday.