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In the News

  • Mail: Extremism fear over new faith schools: PM faces revolt amid claims religious selection could lead to 'ghettoisation' and radicalisation among pupils
    September 10th, 2016

    Theresa May faced a revolt yesterday over her faith school plans amid claims they could unwittingly lead to classrooms becoming incubators for extremism.

    Under the proposals, faith schools will be allowed to select more pupils based on religion. Current rules limit oversubscribed new free faith schools to only selecting half of their intake by reference to faith.

    Yesterday, Mrs May swept away this limit to the delight of the Catholic church, which has over 2,000 schools in England, educating almost 820,000 pupils.

    Read more.

  • CNS: Repealing the 8th in Ireland: An Open Door to Abortion On-Demand Without Limit by Nora Sullivan
    September 9th, 2016

    For the last several years, Ireland has been under siege.  The small country has been under near constant attack by pro-abortion activists who – supported by the essentially limitless funds of American mega donors such as George Soros as well as institutions like Amnesty International – have sought to overturn Ireland’s constitutional protection for the unborn.

    Read more.

  • BBC: Theresa May to relax faith schools admissions rules
    September 9th, 2016

    A source said the admissions cap, which limits oversubscribed new faith schools to only selecting half of their intake by reference to faith, had failed.

    It comes as the education secretary said ministers will take a "pragmatic" look at new grammar schools.

    Justine Greening insisted these plans would not be a return to "the past".

    Read more.

  • Christian Today: Leading conservative Christians respond to latest 'gay' letter
    September 9th, 2016

    Leading conservative Christians in the Church of England say gay lobbyists are right to call for more clarity from bishops over their stance towards gay Christians.

    In an open letter sent to bishops before their meeting later this month, synod members call for "greater clarity and consistency" in the Church's approach to the LGBT community.

    Read more.

  • Christian Today: Donations to Church of England hit a record high
    September 9th, 2016

    Christian worshippers have given record amounts of money to aid the mission of the Church of England, latest figures show.

    Planned giving, through schemes such as giving a regular amount each week and tithing, has increased by £6 million to £329 million. Total direct giving is also up, through the collection plate and other direct means, now amounting to £481 million.

    Read more.

  • BBC: UK woman allowed to use dead daughter's eggs in US
    September 9th, 2016

    A woman wanting to use her dead daughter's frozen eggs to give birth to her own grandchild is being allowed to export them to the US for treatment.

    The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) granted permission following a Court of Appeal decision in her favour a few months ago.

    The daughter, who died in 2011, is said to have asked her mother, now 60, to carry her babies.

    Read more.

  • PinkNews: Government funding projects to tackle homophobia in faith schools
    September 8th, 2016

    Under funding pledged by former Minister for Woman and Equalities Nicky Morgan, the Department for Education today announced the recipients of a £4.4million fund for LGBT anti-bullying initiatives in schools.

    Two of the 10 projects, from Stonewall and Bernado’s, are specifically aimed at LGBT-inclusivity among religious communities and in faith schools, where LGBT-inclusive education can often be the most lacking.

    Read more.

  • Premier: Gay priest Jeremy Pemberton set for appeal tribunal against Church
    September 8th, 2016

    In November last year Nottingham Employment Tribunal dismissed all claims made by the vicar.

    He married Laurence Cunnington last April but had his right to officiate removed by the then acting Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham Rt Revd Richard Inwood following the wedding.

    The clergyman then had a job offer as a chaplain for Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust withdrawn, which he claims was caused by the Church of England discriminating against him because of his sexual orientation.

    Read more.

  • Guardian: Scottish 'named person' child support scheme delayed by a year
    September 8th, 2016

    The Scottish government’s controversial “named person” scheme for supporting children has been delayed for a year after the supreme court ruled that data sharing provisions were in breach of human rights.

    In a statement to the Holyrood parliament on Thursday, the Scottish education secretary, John Swinney, said he hoped the scheme, which has been dubbed a snooper’s charter by family rights campaigners, could be implemented by August 2017, twelve months after originally planned. Swinney said this would follow a period of “intense engagement” on necessary amendments, including with young people themselves.

    Read more.

  • The Australian: Religious schools and organisations under attack by new Labor proposal
    September 8th, 2016

    A bill aimed at restricting freedom of employment threatens religious schools and organisations in Victoria.

    The Victorian Labor Party last week introduced a bill into Parliament aimed at establishing an inherent requirement test for the employment decisions of religious schools and organisations. The proposed changes would prevent religious groups from making adverse employment decisions on the grounds of religion, sex, sexual orientation, lawful sexual activity, marital status, parental status or gender identity unless they can satisfy the inherent requirement test.

    This would require religious bodies to prove that conformity with the ‘doctrines, beliefs or principles’ of the religion is an inherent requirement of a position and the person is unable to meet that inherent requirement because they have one or more of the characteristics.

    Read more.