Shahnaz Bi recently took her two daughters, Fatimah and Maryam, out of their Birmingham school for a fortnight. As the child of a headmistress I know the chaos this causes in term time, but she was taking them to learn about their culture. They weren’t lying on a beach or shaking Mickey’s hand at Disneyland; they were going on a pilgrimage to Mecca that Ms Bi said she could only do on those dates. I thought she had a case until she ruined it by threatening to pull them out and send them to a private religious school.
In the News
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May 25th, 2016
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May 24th, 2016
The sister of an NHS doctor who fled from his family in the UK to join Islamic State in Syria has said their parents “will never forgive him”.
Najla Abuanza spoke out following reports her brother Issam deserted his wife and two children from Sheffield in 2014 to join the militant group.
The revelation was unearthed in Islamic State recruitment documents leaked to the BBC.
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May 24th, 2016
Having rushed the “Medical Aid in Dying Act”– A10059/S7579 was introduced just two weeks ago– the New York Assembly Health Committee yesterday narrowly approved the measure, 14-11. Eight Democratic members of the committee are sponsors of the bill.
It is urgent that you contact your legislators in the Assembly immediately and urge them to vote NO on A10059/S7579.
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May 24th, 2016
Many have been shocked by this week's comments emerging from the Chief Executive's Office of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM). Cathy Warwick, who leads the RCM, has supported the scrapping of time limits on abortion and the removal of all current legal restrictions. The situation emerged when Professor Warwick signed the RCM up for a campaign led by Britain's biggest abortion provider, BPAS, calling for complete decriminalisation of the procedure.
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May 24th, 2016
A former acting head teacher at a Birmingham school at the centre of the 'Trojan Horse' inquiry said Ofsted inspectors should be ‘sitting here too’ after they had seen its Muslim practices and praised the school as ‘fantastic’.
Arshad Hussain, 39, who worked at Park View School and later at Nansen Primary in Alum Rock , admitted there was an ‘Islamic ethos’ at the school, and said teachings on homosexuality were not done ‘as closely’ as in other schools.
He denied that there was an ‘Islamising agenda’ at the schools, although he conceded there was an ‘ethos’ of daily calls to Muslim prayer, prayer posters and regular Islamic assemblies at the non-faith state schools.
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May 24th, 2016
UNICEF Canada is pushing for assisted suicide and euthanasia for children — or “mature minors” — arguing that this conforms with the Charter, Canadian legal precedent and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
That would include euthanasia or assisted suicide for mature minors who suffer from a non-terminal illness or disability, according to UNICEF Canada’s policy director Marvin Bernstein.
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May 24th, 2016
Labour has edged closer to supporting the “snooper’s charter” after the home secretary, Theresa May, agreed to order an independent review of proposed state surveillance powers.
Andy Burnham, the shadow home secretary, who had raised concerns about the wide-ranging nature of so-called bulk collection powers in the investigative powers bill, welcomed the concession.
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May 24th, 2016
Christians still have a “mission to convert” Muslims and members of other religions to Christianity even in the face of persecution in the Middle East, one of Pope Francis’s most senior aides has insisted.
But Cardinal Kurt Koch, the Vatican’s head of ecumenical relations, emphasised that Roman Catholic teaching rules out missionary activity aimed at Jewish people because they are regarded as God’s “chosen” people.
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May 24th, 2016
There’s always a moment, on Sunday at about lunchtime, when I’ll bump into one of our neighbours on my way back home. Polite chitchat is exchanged, and they ask me what I’ve been up to. “We’ve just been to church”, I say, as brightly/quickly/straightforwardly as possible – thus eliciting a range of reactions, from polite surprise and admiration of my supposed virtue to a faint sneer of disdain.
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May 24th, 2016
Explosive new evidence has surfed today showing the Houston district attorney behind the bogus charges against pro-life advocate David Daleiden colluded with attorneys for Planned Parenthood.
Daleiden posted bail last month in response to what his attorneys and pro-life groups explain are bogus charges related to his undercover investigation and exposure of the Planned Parenthood abortion business selling the body parts of aborted babies. Dozens of pro-life advocates turned out to support him. He turned down a plea deal and Daleiden’s attorneys and supporters countered that Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson is biased because of her association with an attorney for an abortion practitioner.