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In the News

  • Telegraph: The 'silencing of Christians' in the public sector
    January 3rd, 2016
    Christianity is being subtly “silenced” within the public sector in the UK because of a civil service culture which treats speaking about faith as “not the done thing”, according to a former top Whitehall mandarin appointed as Church of England’s most senior lay official.
     
    William Nye said a “secularising spirit” now permeates the machinery of government, leading to an unspoken “squeezing out of Christianity” from national life, despite public expressions of support from David Cameron and other ministers.
     
    He said ministers or the general public would be surprised to realise the full extent to which faith is now seen as “odd and unusual” within the public sector in Britain.
  • Scotsman: New anti-abortion group formed to oppose Scots law change
    January 2nd, 2016
    A new anti-abortion campaign has been launched in Scotland to fight moves which it claims could see terminations legalised “up until the point of birth” when responsibility for the matter is handed to Holyrood.
     
    The coalition, called Don’t Stop a Beating Heart, has been formed amid concerns over what it calls a “clamour” to extend the current 24-week time limit which the group says is already too liberal.
     
    Holyrood will take control of the issue later this year and although First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said the current time limit won’t be changed, her predecessor Alex Salmond and former health secretary Alex Neil were in favour of tightening the limit.
     
    The head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, is among those backing the new campaign.
  • BBC: Same-sex marriage 'could be in Guernsey by summer'
    January 2nd, 2016

    Same-sex couples could be able to marry in Guernsey by the summer, a States senior committee member says.

    Employment and Social Security Committee Vice President Shane Langlois said the UK Privy Council had given Royal Assent to the local law, passed by the States in 2015.

    It will go before the States for final approval before coming into effect. 

    Read more. 

  • BBC: India opens first school for transgender pupils
    January 2nd, 2016

    A residential school for transgender people has been opened in the Indian city of Kochi, to help adults who dropped out of school finish their education.

    Transgender people can face judgement and hostility in India, and around half of them fail to complete their schooling as a result.

    Sahaj International is the first school of its kind in India.

    It will welcome 10 pupils, aged 25-50.

    Read more. 

  • Independent: Children 'at risk' in Christian fundamentalist schools in the UK, warns government watchdog
    January 2nd, 2016

    A number of Christian fundamentalist schools have been downgraded by government inspectors following an investigation by The Independent which revealed children at some schools that follow the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) curriculum are taught that LGBT people are inferior and girls must submit to men. 

    The investigation also uncovered historic allegations of corporal punishment, exorcisms being performed on children and schoolgirls being "groomed" for marriage to much older men.

    Inspectors say they fear "children are at risk" at some schools after finding in some ACE institutions safeguarding plans to be flawed or non-existent and that staff who come into contact with children sometimes have not undergone background checks to see if they are safe to work with children. 

    Read more. 

  • Christian Today: One Christian Died For Their Faith Every Six Minutes In 2016
    January 1st, 2016

    One Christian died for their faith every six minutes in 2016.

    That is the shocking new figure about to be published in the latest statistics on Christian martyrs.

    Massimo Introvigne , director of CESNUR, the Centre for Studies on New Religions, revealed the findings in an interview with Vatican Radio to mark St Stephen's Day, which follows Christmas and commemorates the first Christian martyr. 

    Read more. 

  • Guardian: Texas looks set to follow North Carolina with push for 'bathroom bill'
    January 1st, 2016

    The passage of a "bathroom bill" last March sparked a maelstrom with severe political, economic and cultural consequences for North Carolina that continued through the end of 2016. Yet Texas is poised to propose a similar law in 2017.

    In November, one of the state’s most senior politicians published his top 10 priorities for the next legislative session. A "Women’s Privacy Act" was at number six, right after banning immigration “sanctuary cities” and insisting on photo ID at the ballot box.

    The act, said lieutenant governor Dan Patrick, is necessary so that "women and girls" can have "privacy and safety in their restrooms, showers and locker rooms".

    Read more. 

  • Telegraph: Charities linked to terrorism at record high: extremists pose deadly threat by abusing fundraising groups, warns commission chief
    January 1st, 2016

    Reports of alleged links between charities and terrorism or extremism have surged to a record high, the charity watchdog has warned.

    The number of times the Charity Commission has shared concerns about links between charities and extremism with police and other agencies has nearly trebled from 234 to 630 in just three years.

    The Commission also opened eight compliance cases and four formal inquiries into "allegations of abuse of charities for terrorist or extremist purposes" in 2015/16. 

    Read more. 

  • BBC: School told atheism does not need 'equal air time'
    December 28th, 2015
    Schools in England do not need to give non-religious views "equal air time" and should continue to teach pupils that the UK is a principally Christian country, new education guidelines say.

    Education Secretary Nicky Morgan issued the advice a month after the High Court ruled that the new religious studies GCSE wrongfully excluded atheism.

    Humanist groups said the legal verdict had "implications" for the curriculum.

    But Mrs Morgan said schools had the "freedom" to make their own decision.
     
    After the High Court found against the government, ministers dropped plans to take the issue to the Court of Appeal.
     
    But the new guidance issued by the Department for Education in England clarified that there would be no need to give non-religious beliefs "equal air time" in lessons, saying the court defeat had been on a "narrow, technical point".
  • Breitbart: Transgender fad rapidly spreading in primary schools, 'clusters' emerging as children copy friends
    December 28th, 2015
    The number of primary school-aged children, some as young as four, beginning to “transition” their gender is rising rapidly in the UK. The popularity of the fad appears to be clustered, with children copying others in the same schools.
     
    Up to 80 primary school-aged children a year are now seeking help towards potentially changing their gender, the chair of Mermaids, a charity which lobbies for families who believe their children and teenagers are transgendered, has revealed.
     
    Speaking to the Telegraph, Susie Green said that, in some cases, British children as young as four are already in the process of “transitioning” to another sex.
     
    She also described how her organisation has observed a cluster effect across the country, with children following one and another in the same school; a school where there might be a teacher who promotes transgender ideology.