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

  • Australian Christian Lobby: Now is the time to stop using taxpayers' money to abort children in developing countries
    January 27th, 2017

    This week the new administration in the USA stopped taxpayers' money from being used by organisations that promote and perform abortions in developing countries.

    In one of his first actions in office, President Trump reinstated what is known as the "Mexico City Policy" which requires Non-Government Organisations receiving US aid to sign agreements that they would not perform or promote abortions.

    This will add to the pressure on the Australian Government to follow the example set by the USA and stop taxpayer funding of overseas abortions.

    Read more.

  • Barnabus Fund: Editorial: Freedom to report the persecution of Christians threatened
    January 26th, 2017

    The freedom to report both incidents of anti-Christian persecution and the ideology motivating such attacks is central to what Barnabas Fund and other organisations have done for many years. Yet those freedoms are now under threat, particularly in the UK, but also in other Western countries. This is a three-pronged attack. 

    Read more. 

     

  • BBC: Swedish anti-abortion midwife sues officials in job claim
    January 26th, 2017

    A Swedish midwife who refuses to carry out abortions is appealing to a labour tribunal after being turned down for jobs at local clinics three times.

    Ellinor Grimmark objects to abortions because of her Christian beliefs. It is seen as a test case, partly because a big US Christian group is backing her.

    The US Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is a partner of her legal team - Scandinavian Human Rights Lawyers.

    Read more.

  • Conservative Woman: 'The Church of England is dying', warns former Queen's chaplain
    January 26th, 2017

    Rev Dr Jules Gomes interviews Rev Dr Gavin Ashenden, Former Chaplain to the Queen, who was forced to resign after he protested against the reading of the Koran at St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow. The reading on the Feast of the Epiphany explicitly denied the divinity of Christ.

    Jules: Most people view the Queen, as a "Defender of the Faith." Don’t you find it ironic that as one of her Chaplains you should be forced to resign precisely for upholding that role on behalf of Her Majesty?

    Gavin: Yes, it is ironic. But the irony can partly be explained by the fact that while the DNA of the monarchy is Christian, the country is not. The monarchy faces difficulties as it prepares for the coronation of Prince Charles at the sad moment when our present Queen dies. Secularism will try to rubbish the highly potent Christian content of the coronation; and Islam is likely to claim that it wants to be recognised within it in some way.

    Read more.

  • Family Law Week: Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) Bill set for second reading on 27 January 2017
    January 26th, 2017

    The Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) Bill is scheduled to receive its second reading on 27 January 2017.

    The Bill is a private member's bill introduced by Baroness Cox and received its first reading in the House of Lords on 25 May 2016.

    The Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) Bill would make provisions regarding the application of equalities legislation to arbitration and mediation services. It seeks to prevent providers of arbitration services from doing anything that constitutes discrimination, harassment or victimisation on the grounds of sex. It would do so by inserting a new subsection into the Equalities Act 2010 and into the Arbitration Act 1996. It would also provide clarification that discrimination includes, but is not restricted to, treating evidence from men as being of greater value than that of women, or vice versa. The Family Law Act 1996 would also be amended to allow courts to set aside any order based on a mediation settlement agreement, or other negotiation agreement, if the court believes on the basis of evidence that one party's consent was not genuine. The Bill would also place an obligation on public authorities to inform those who are married according only to certain religious practices, or those in polygamous households, that they may be without legal protection.

    Read more. 

  • Telegraph: Porn blocking legislation to cement internet filtering in UK law
    January 26th, 2017

    Forthcoming internet legislation will enshrine the rights of internet providers to block pornography websites into law, bypassing EU rules that prevent online content being filtered.

    The move, which is part of a wider crackdown on online porn, represent a threat to EU "net neutrality" laws that protect a free and open internet.

    It has been added as a proposal in the Digital Economy Bill, which has passed the House of Commons and spells out the Government's plans to block explicit websites that don't employ strict age verification.

    Read more.

  • Nature: Hybrid zoo introducing pig-human embryos and a rat-mouse
    January 26th, 2017

    Scientists have published the first peer-reviewed account of creating pig–human hybrid fetuses, a step toward growing animals with organs that are suitable for transplantation into humans.

    The team that made these chimaeras also reports the creation of mouse–rat and human–cow hybrids on 26 January in Cell1. Such modified animals could provide researchers with new models for testing drugs and understanding early human development.

    To create chimaeras, scientists generally inject pluripotent stem cells — which can become any type of organ — from one species into the early embryo of a second species. In theory, the foreign cells should differentiate and spread throughout the body, but in practice, producing viable hybrid embryos has proven difficult.

    Read more.

  • Guardian: Woman who bought abortion pills for daughter can challenge prosecution
    January 26th, 2017

    A mother who helped her 15-year-old daughter procure abortion pills online has won the right to contest the decision to prosecute her, in a groundbreaking case set to focus attention on Northern Ireland’s abortion legislation.

    A judge in Belfast granted permission on Thursday for a judicial review to be heard over the prosecution of the mother, saying that the case raised “issues of considerable public importance and public debate”.

    The case came to the attention of prosecutors because a doctor at the clinic where the girl sought advice from her GP after taking the abortion pills reported her to the police. The review will look at whether the decision by police to access her medical records without her permission represented a breach of her human rights.

    Read more.

  • BBC: Concerns raised over Commonwealth leadership
    January 26th, 2017

    The government has drafted in senior officials to support the Commonwealth amid concerns over the way it is being run, the BBC has learned.

    The Department for International Development (DfID) said last month the secretariat in London was "under performing" and needed "urgent reform".

    Senior diplomatic and political sources - speaking to the BBC off the record - have accused the secretary-general, Lady Scotland, of "poor leadership".

    Read more.

  • Guardian: Labour MP backs Tory's call for mixed gender civil partnership
    January 26th, 2017

    Labour MPs have given their backing to a Conservative MP’s campaign to open up civil partnerships to heterosexual couples.

    In a letter to the education secretary, Justine Greening, who is also the minister for women and equalities, 25 Labour MPs including the shadow women's minister, Sarah Champion, and the former shadow cabinet ministers Angela Eagle, Chris Bryant and Liz Kendall say it is an issue of fairness that mixed-sex couples are allowed the legal certainty of a civil partnership without having to get married.

    Currently, civil partnerships are only available to same-sex couples. The Conservative MP Tim Loughton introduced a private member’s bill to extend civil partnerships to all couples, but the bill was timed out before a vote could be taken.

    Read more.