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In the News

  • Telegraph: Britain's 'first gay surrogate dads' want girl triplets via sex selection process illegal in UK
    December 10th, 2016

    Britain’s first gay couple to father children through surrogacy have sparked heated debate over their plans to have have triplet daughters via a sex-selection process that is illegal in the UK.

    Barrie and Tony Drewitt-Barlow want three girls to add to their four sons and a daughter. They plan to conceive the triplets through embryo sex selection, and will do so in the US, where the practice is legal.

    The couple’s youngest children, six-year-old twins Jasper and Dallas, were conceived thanks to a batch of embryos, of which there are still ten remaining in a Californian fertility clinic.

    Read more. 

  • Gatestone Institute: Critics of Islam on Trial in Europe: Wilders Convicted by Giulio Meotti
    December 10th, 2016

    After the Second World War and the horrors of Nazism and Stalinism, a central tenet of Western democracies has been that you can put people on trial, but not ideas and opinions. Europe is now allowing dangerous "human rights" groups and Islamists to use tribunals to restrict the borders of our freedom of expression, exactly as in Soviet show trials. "Militant anti-racism will be for the 21st century what communism was for the 20th century," the prominent French philosopher, Alain Finkielkraut has predicted. 

    Read more. 

  • Times (£): It’s a man’s nature, says polygamy website founder
    December 10th, 2016

    Two dating websites for men and women seeking polygamous marriages have attracted 70,000 members, according to their founder, who says he believes that they are responsible for at least 100 weddings.

    Secondwife.com was launched in 2014, followed by Polygamy.com this year, to match married men seeking more wives with women prepared to be in a multiple relationship.

    The websites came under attack this week in Dame Louise Casey’s report on social integration. She cited them as an example of how values contrary to the British way of life were being tolerated.

    Read more. 

  • Church Society: Where next on same-sex marriage? by Lee Gatiss
    December 9th, 2016

    Lee Gatiss takes a look at the same-sex marriage debate in the Church of England, and considers some of the ways forward as the bishops meet to discuss it on Monday 12th December.

    So, we have completed more than two years of ‘facilitated’ or ‘shared conversations’ about sexuality issues in the Church of England. This was encouraged by the Pilling Report a few years ago, as the way forward on this issue. But what happens now that the conversations have ended? And what, if anything, should be done?

    There are various potential options for the future of the Church on this subject. Some have listed only the different ways in which so-called “traditionalists” might be hived off into a “safe space”, or leave the Church altogether once the liberal triumph is complete. But it is far from inevitable or desirable for that to be the outcome. 

    Read more. 

  • GAFCON: Good disagreement in the Church of England? by Wallace Benn
    December 9th, 2016

    We live before a watching world. Jesus did say: ‘By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another’ (John 13.35). So there is no excuse for rudeness or cavalier attitudes to each other. Paul, in the chapter that begins to work out the implications of the gospel for our daily living and relationships, writes: ‘Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honour’ (Romans 12.10). So in that sense ‘good disagreement’ is a healthy and desirable thing to aim for.

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  • TIME: Dutch Anti-Islam Lawmaker Geert Wilders Guilty of Hate Speech
    December 9th, 2016

    A Dutch court convicted populist anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders of hate speech Friday at the end of a trial he branded a politically motivated “charade” that endangered freedom of speech.

    Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said the court would not impose a sentence because the conviction was punishment enough for a democratically elected lawmaker. Prosecutors had asked judges to fine him 5,000 euros ($5,300).

    In a tweet, Wilders called the verdicts “madness” and said that he had been convicted by three judges who hated his Party for Freedom.

    Read more. 

  • Christianity Today: Recent Research on End-of-Life Issues Reveal Holes in Our Theology by Ed Stetzer and Laurie Nichols
    December 9th, 2016

    A study by Lifeway Research recently revealed a disconcerting belief among Christians generally, and Evangelicals in particular.

    In the survey, 67% of Americans agree with the statement, “When a person is facing a painful terminal disease, it is morally acceptable to ask for a physician’s aid in taking his or her own life.” This is a shockingly high number. More disturbingly, however, are these numbers: among faith groups, more than half of all Christians (59%) agree with the statement, as do 38% of those who profess to be Evangelical. This confirms what Pew Research found in 2013 when they asked a similar question on end-of-life issues. 

    Read more. 

  • Christian Today: GAFCON Head Warns The Church Against 'Sleepwalking Into Fatal Compromise'
    December 8th, 2016

    The Anglican Church is at risk of "sleepwalk[ing] into fatal compromise", the chairman of the conservative grouping GAFCON said in his Advent pastoral letter this week.

    Most Rev Nicholas Okoh, Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria and chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council, slammed "the increasing breakdown of church discipline in the Church of England" in reference to clergy who condone gay relationships.

    "There are now clergy and bishops who openly take pride in their rejection of biblical preaching and have even launched a website to encourage the violation of the 1998 Lambeth Conference Resolution I.10 on human sexuality," Okoh wrote.

    Read more. 

  • Christian Today: More People Turning to Christ in Nepal, Which Now Hosts Over 1 Million Believers and 8,000 Churches
    December 8th, 2016

    More and more people in Nepal are turning to Christianity ever since the predominantly Hindu nation in South Asia went secular in 2008.

    Nepal has over one million Christian converts at present, with the number still rising, the Nikkei Asian Review reported, adding that the country also hosts more than 8,000 Christian churches.

    In particular, Christianity has found a growing appeal among Nepal's hill tribe minority groups, such as the Kirats and the Dalits, or those belonging to the lowest "untouchables" caste.

    Read more. 

  • Jerusalem Post: Israel to ease citizenship process for same-sex couples
    December 8th, 2016

    The naturalization process for foreign same-sex partners in Israel will be the same as that of their heterosexual counterparts, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit reported Thursday to the High Court of Justice.

    According to Mandelblit's guidelines, couples of the same sex who present foreign marriage documents will be able to undergo the same procedure to receive citizenship for the foreign partner as do heterosexual couples. 

    Read more.