RELIGIOUS freedom for everybody, with all its messy and unpredictable consequences, has always been a serious matter in the United States, ever since the republic's creation. That might sound like a statement of the obvious, but its implications are anything but trivial.
In the News
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June 19th, 2016
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June 19th, 2016
A historic gathering of Orthodox Churches has opened on the Greek island of Crete, despite the absence of four denominations including the Russians.
The Holy and Great Council had been billed as the first meeting of fellow Church leaders since 787 AD.
The Russians decided to stay away after the Churches of Antioch, Bulgaria and Georgia refused to take part after disputes about the meeting.
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June 19th, 2016
The actor Rupert Everett has warned about the dangers of children having sex change operations, suggesting there should be a way for them to embrace the "ambivalence" of their gender rather than resorting to medical procedures.
The 57-year-old, who is gay, revealed he wanted to be a girl as he grew up and dressed exclusively as one when he was a child. He suggested that Caitlyn Jenner, the TV personality and Olympian who was formerly Bruce Jenner, had made a mistake in undergoing gender transition and had "no clue" what being transsexual involved.
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June 19th, 2016
A dating website has been set up to help men find second wives, and it already has 35,000 members.
It has proved so successful among Muslim men that another site, this time for Westerners, has opened for business - and is especially popular with women.
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June 19th, 2016
The UK government needs to do more to respond to the refugee crisis, the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has said.
Dr Williams, who is now the chairman of the charity Christian Aid, said the rhetoric in the media which suggested the UK was "full" was "unfounded".
"The UK must not turn a blind eye to this crisis. We must do more," he said.
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June 19th, 2016
One hundred and thirty-five years after the Isle of Man became one of the first places in the world to extend the right to vote to women, a small group of the island’s residents are launching a campaign to secure another fundamental right for Manx women – access to abortion.
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June 19th, 2016
One of the greatest achievements of the Enlightenment in Europe and the United States is the principle of free speech and reasoned criticism. Democracy is underpinned by it. Our courts and parliaments are built on it. Without it, scholars, journalists, and advocates would be trapped, as their ancestors had been, in a verbal prison. It is enshrined in the First Amendment to the US Constitution, in the words
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June 18th, 2016
Several thousand people have demonstrated in Warsaw against a proposal for an almost total ban on abortions in Poland.
The "March for Dignity" was organised by ordinary women to defend women's rights and also focused on violence against women.
Poland's laws on abortion are already among the most restrictive in Europe.
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June 18th, 2016
An injunction filed by a woman who was denied an abortion on legal grounds in 2013 will soon be discussed by the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN), and could well trigger the de-facto legalization of abortion at the federal level.
The case of Margarita Pino Salazar was turned over Thursday to the first chamber of the Supreme Court, which could decide that the criminalization of abortion is unconstitutional, and that women have the right to decide if they wish to terminate their pregnancy.
Presented by Justice Arturo Zaldívar, the case proposes that current sanctions on abortion, as prescribed by the federal Penal Code, violate the rights to personal development, sexual and reproductive health and freedom from discrimination.
"An abortion is a drama for any woman. To criminalize them is not a solution that can be upheld from a constitutional point of view," said Saldívar.
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June 18th, 2016
A bus driver has been arrested over claims he verbally abused a young gay couple and barred them from his bus.
The incident is alleged to have taken place on board a McGill's bus in Glasgow on Friday 10 June.
The driver is reported to have sworn and told the two 20-year-old male passengers that "people like you" should not be on the McGill's bus.
Police Scotland confirmed a 46-year-old man was arrested under a law that deals with homophobic offences.