Skip to content

Archive site notice

You are viewing an archived copy of Christian Concern's website. Some features are disabled and pages may not display properly.

To view our current site, please visit christianconcern.com

In the News

  • Guardian: Inside Britain's sharia councils: hardline and anti-women - or a dignified way to divorce?
    March 1st, 2017

    On a freezing, rainswept Sunday in a conference room in Birmingham Central mosque, a young woman in a black padded jacket is crying quietly. Her name is Zaynab and as she lifts up her glasses to rub at her eyes, one of the three religious scholars sitting opposite her starts to speak.

    "The panel is in agreement, this marriage is to be dissolved today, Zaynab," says Dr Amra Bone, one of the only female sharia council judges in the country. "It doesn't have the ingredients of an Islamic marriage; there is no love, trust, compassion or respect. You have an iddah [waiting] period of three menstrual cycles and you are then free to marry again."

    As Zaynab collects her paperwork, Bone's colleague, Shaykh Talha Bukhari, an elderly man with a white beard, turns to me. "Marriage is not for shedding tears," he says quietly, "but here they are rolling down."

    Read more.

  • Birmingham Mail: Birmingham has 'not learned lessons of Trojan Horse' warns Government tsar
    March 1st, 2017

    A government integration expert has condemned a councillor for stepping in to insist a Catholic school allow a four-year-old girl to wear the hijab Islamic headscarf - in defiance of its uniform policy.

    Dame Louise Casey, who last year produced a hard-hitting report on social cohesion in Britain, said the row has echoes of the Trojan Horse affair in which governors imposed a hard-line Islamic ethos on several inner city schools.

    The Government's Integration Tsar has written to council Labour leader John Clancy over the behaviour of his cabinet member for equalities Waseem Zaffar.

    Read more.

  • Telegraph: Nicky Morgan calls for end to legal loophole which risks 'outing' transgender people
    March 1st, 2017

    Transgender people should be protected from the unintended public disclosure of their former names, Nicky Morgan will say today.

    The former Education Secretary will introduce a Bill to the House of Commons this afternoon which would close a legal loophole and protect the publication of any company details that could "out" a former Director.

    The Tory MP will argue transgender persons should have the right to demand that Companies House withhold their personal information from the public record.

    Read more.

  • Right to Life: Person-centred values and beliefs: The case against anti-conscience pharmacy standards
    March 1st, 2017

    The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is the independent regulator for the pharmacy profession in Great Britain. Last year, the GPhC held a consultation on new proposed 'standards' (broad regulatory principles to which pharmacists would be held accountable), that would replace the current standards already in place since 2012. These were structured by nine 'principles', under which the new standards were expressed.

    The first of these principles was the concept of 'Person-Centred Care', defined somewhat vaguely as "when pharmacy professionals understand what is important to the individual and then adapt the care to meet their needs – making the care of the person their first priority" (pg. 10).

    Read more.

  • Mail: 'I fear new Down's test is a slippery slope to eugenics'
    March 1st, 2017

    On the surface, it seems unalloyed good news: a new test for families that is simpler and more accurate than the current one in screening unborn babies for Down's syndrome.

    A new technique - Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing - is set to be rolled out across the NHS from next year after winning backing from ministers four months ago. The simple blood test, already available privately, has near perfect results by showing fragments of 'rogue DNA' in a foetus.

    The test can be carried out early in pregnancy and reduces the need for more invasive procedures such as amniocentesis, which involves inserting a needle into the womb, that trigger 350 miscarriages a year.

    Read more.

  • Mail: 'I fear new Down's test is a slippery slope to eugenics'
    March 1st, 2017

    On the surface, it seems unalloyed good news: a new test for families that is simpler and more accurate than the current one in screening unborn babies for Down's syndrome.

    A new technique - Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing - is set to be rolled out across the NHS from next year after winning backing from ministers four months ago. The simple blood test, already available privately, has near perfect results by showing fragments of 'rogue DNA' in a foetus.

    The test can be carried out early in pregnancy and reduces the need for more invasive procedures such as amniocentesis, which involves inserting a needle into the womb, that trigger 350 miscarriages a year.

    Read more.

  • Telegraph: Ban early pregnancy blood test curb abortion of baby girls, ethics body demands
    March 1st, 2017

    A blood test which reveals the sex of a baby after nine weeks should be banned for routine use because it promotes sex-selective abortion, a Government-backed think tank has said.

    The Nuffield Council on Bioethics has warned that unscrupulous private clinics are offering non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) to parents who only want to find out whether or not they are having a boy.

    It comes amid fears some doctors are unlawfully performing abortions purely on the basis of sex.

    Read more.

  • Telegraph: Italian court recognises gay parents in landmark ruling
    March 1st, 2017

    An Italian court has ruled for the first time that two gay partners should be legally recognised as the fathers of two surrogate children. In a landmark ruling, the Court of Appeal in the northern city of Trento decided that both men can be officially named as the father - not just the parent who is biologically related.

    The children, now aged seven, were born to a surrogate mother in Canada through artificial insemination and neither they nor their fathers have been identified.

    In their decision, the judges said in Italy parental relationships should not be determined only by the biological link.

    Read more.

  • Mail: Primary pupils to have lessons in 'safe relationship'
    February 28th, 2017

    Primary school pupils will be taught about 'safe and healthy relationships' under plans expected to be announced shortly.

    Lessons about sex would also be delivered at an appropriate age, while all secondary school pupils would be taught how to protect themselves against sexting, grooming and online porn, it is understood.

    The classes would be mandatory in all schools in an effort to help youngsters deal with the growth of online porn and social media.

    Read more.

  • ITV: Street preachers guilty of being offensive
    February 28th, 2017

    Two street preachers have been found guilty of using offensive language in Bristol city centre.

    52-year-old Michael Overd from Taunton and 50-year-old Michael Stockwell from New York were convicted of a religiously aggravated public order offence.

    The men were arrested in Broadmead last July after complaints from the public. Thirteen people made statements and the preaching was filmed on a Go-Pro camera, which captured the reactions of those listening.

    The court found that the men "crossed the line" by using the platform to make derogatory comments on other religions and sexuality.

    Read more.