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In the News

  • Reuters: Supreme Court dodges major decision on Obamacare birth control
    May 16th, 2016

    The ideologically deadlocked Supreme Court on Monday failed to resolve a major case involving the Obamacare law's mandatory birth control coverage, telling lower courts to reconsider the matter after tossing out their rulings favoring President Barack Obama.

    With four conservative justices and four liberals, the court did not rule on the merits of the legal challenge by nonprofit Christian employers who objected to the 2010 healthcare law's requirement that they provide female workers with medical insurance paying for contraceptives.

    The court's action avoided a possible 4-4 split that would have affirmed the lower-court rulings. The justices, shorthanded following February's death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, threw out seven rulings by federal appeals courts around the country that had backed the Obama administration.

    Read more.

  • Guardian: No straight people allowed: students share views on LGBT-only halls
    May 16th, 2016

    Should UK universities introduce LGBT-only halls? Though LGBT-only dorms are commonplace in American colleges, Birmingham University is currently the only institution in the UK to have a separate LGBT housing option.

    Some students are now campaigning on the issue, arguing the option would protect LGBT students from discrimination. But they are meeting resistance. Simon Thompson, the director of a student accommodation website, says this would be “a backwards move”.

    “Segregation will only lead to more victimisation, it will not solve any problems. I believe this is the view of a very small minority.”

    Read more.

  • Telegraph: Same-sex unions are not enough, say Italy's exiled gay parents
    May 16th, 2016

     

    When the Italian parliament this week gave the green light to same-sex couples - becoming the last western European country to do so - the Trevi fountain in Rome was lit up in rainbow colours to celebrate, hailing the move as a major step forward for LGBT rights.

    But for Italian families living abroad, the spectre of discrimination against gay couples lives on in restrictive adoption laws which can lead to gay parents having no legal rights over their children by a largely conservative, Catholic and sometimes hostile court system.

    Read more.

  • Life Site: World legal experts, politicians call on Norway to release Christian children
    May 16th, 2016

    One hundred lawyers, law professors, and European parliamentarians have jointly petitioned the Norwegian government to reunite a family whose five children were seized in November by social services because of their Christian upbringing and allegations of physical abuse.

    The five children of Marius and Ruth Bodnariu, including, briefly, their three-month old baby, were split up among three foster homes and, claims the petition, "no longer go to Church, are raised by individuals who do not share the Christian faith or the belief in God” and have even been “dismissive and derisive of the children’s religious feelings."

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  • Christian Today: Clergy must be retrained to deal with abuse claims, bishops to be told
    May 16th, 2016

    Senior clergy must be re-trained in order to properly tackle disclosures of sex abuse, bishops will be told next week.

    The Bishop of Crediton, Sarah Mullally, will present an action plan to the Church of England's House of Bishops in York, according to the Guardian. In it she will recommend that bishops' local power be curtailed so that a consistent, nationwide response can be implemented.

    The Archbishop of Canterbury asked Mullally to compile the report amid accusations the Church continued to ignore or even bully those who came forward with allegations of sex abuse.

    Read more.

  • BBC: Witchcraft child abuse cases investigated by Met rise by over 50%
    May 16th, 2016

    The number of child abuse cases involving witchcraft that were dealt with by the Met has risen by over 50% in three years, the force has revealed.

    In 2015, Scotland Yard investigated 60 cases where youths had been accused of being possessed by evil spirits.

    Experts say children are often subjected to "brutal" treatment such as being beaten or having chilli rubbed in their eyes during exorcisms.

    Read more.

  • Mail: The great IVF rip-off: Clinics preying on anxious couples are selling 'add-ons' that may not work and could be harmful
    May 16th, 2016

    Couples seeking fertility treatment are being sold expensive add-ons despite little evidence some of them work - and concerns they could even be harmful - experts have warned.

    Fertility doctors say couples attending private clinics are being increasingly sold treatments aimed at boosting IVF success, including immune system-suppressing drugs, pre-implantation testing and time-lapse photography.

    In a series of interviews published by The Independent, experts claim clinics were handing out 'expensive, potentially harmful stuff like Smarties', or announcing breakthroughs that were closer to marketing "hype".

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  • Crossway: 10 things you should know about abortion
    May 16th, 2016

    1. Pro-life advocates present a formal case for their position.

    That case is summarized in the following syllogism:

    P1: It is wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human being.
    P2: Abortion intentionally kills an innocent human being.
    C: Therefore, abortion is wrong.
    2. A pro-life advocate can defend that syllogism in 1 minute or less.

    "I am pro-life because the science of embryology establishes that from the earliest stages of development, you were a distinct, living, and whole human being. You didn’t come from an embryo; you once were an embryo. True, you were immature and had yet to visibly develop, but the kind of thing you were was not in question. And there is no essential difference between the embryo you once were and the adult you are today that justifies killing you at that earlier stage of development. Differences of size, development, environment, and dependency are not good reasons for killing you then but not now."

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  • Guardian: Ofsted finds 100 suspected illegal schools in England
    May 16th, 2016

    The chief inspector of schools has called on ministers to tighten the rules on home education, claiming they are being exploited by a growing number of illegal schools across England.

    More than 100 suspected unregistered schools have been uncovered by inspectors in the past five months. At some of them children are being taught in “unsafe and unhygienic premises” by staff who have not been properly checked.

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  • Parliament: Legal Recognition for People Who Do Not Associate with a Particular Gender
    May 16th, 2016

    That this House recognises the support expressed during the last parliamentary session to address the issues faced by people whose identities are neither male nor female; believes that people are compromised and diminished as a result of inappropriate gender references on their personal identity information; acknowledges that all passports issued by HM Passport Office are currently gender-specific and it is therefore not possible to obtain a British passport that contains no reference to gendered identity; understands that the International Civil Aviation Organisation standard specification for machine-readable travel documents (ICAO Document 9303) permits X (unspecified) alongside F (female) and M (male) under a mandatory sex category; notes that citizens of Australia and New Zealand are able to obtain a non gender-specific X passport and that India, Nepal and Pakistan make provision for their citizens when neither M nor F are appropriate; further believes that similar provision is needed in the UK where current discriminatory policy denies non-gendered and bi-gendered people a legitimate identity; and therefore urges that the Government and HM Passport Office make non gender-specific X passports available in the UK to people who do not identify with a particular gender.

    Read more.