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A Christian prison worker has lost his latest appeal in the courts over his discipline by HMP Littlehey.
Rev Barry Trayorn who worked as a gardener, but volunteered in the chapel, fell into trouble after delivering a talk to prisoners about homosexuality and sin.
Following a complaint, he was disciplined then later resigned.
Doctors and nurses wishing to practise in sexual and reproductive health have been granted more liberty to exercise freedom of conscience under new guidelines published earlier this year.
The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH), a faculty of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), has relaxed its stance on conscience in new guidelines issued in April so that those with an ethical objection to certain procedures can now obtain qualifications which they were previously excluded from.
Christian doctors and nurses in the UK are practising in an environment that is increasingly hostile to their beliefs and values. We have accordingly come to expect new constraints on our freedom of conscience almost as a matter of course. So this is a refreshing backtrack by the College.
The National Secular Society's Executive Director, Keith Porteous Wood, has criticised Church of England leaders for their record on gay rights after they spoke out on the subject.
Writing in the online Pink News, he said the Archbishops of Canterbury and York should be "judged by their actions rather than their words".
He was responding to a piece by Justin Welby and John Sentamu, written last week in the same magazine to mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality. Under the unedifying title 'Gay people are not more sinful than anyone else', the Archbishops wrote that "Sin is not a characteristic of a particular group of people".
The state of Wisconsin and its capital city of Madison cannot legally force a Christian photographer to photograph same-sex weddings, a court has said.
Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian conservative legal group defending evangelical Christian photographer Amy Lawson, announced that Dane County Circuit Court vowed in a hearing Tuesday to issue an order declaring that Lawson is exempt from city and state laws that could force her to photograph same-sex weddings or face crippling punishments.
ADF explained in a press release that although the court has not yet officially issued a preliminary injunction in the case, it is expected to do so in the coming weeks.
An Open Letter containing a Resolution from St John, Newland PCC, 17th July 2017
To his Grace, the Archbishop of York,
The PCC considers the response by the Archbishop of York to Mrs Andrea Williams' amendment of Item 48 at the July General Synod of the Church of England, 2017, in terms of what was said, to indicate theological ineptitude at best and error at worst; and how it was said, as intemperate and ungodly. As such there was a failure to meet the standard required of a bishop according to Titus 1:7-9. Neither did the Archbishop display his canonical duty to 'with all faithful diligence…. banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrine contrary to God's Word; and both privately and openly to call upon and encourage others to the same' in relation to Item 58.
The UK's Education Secretary has said the Church of England should 'keep up' with modern attitudes in society and allow gay marriage in its churches.
Same-sex marriage remains illegal under the Church of England's canon law, though the Church remains divided on its future direction.
Justine Greening, the British Education Secretary since 2016, told Sky News yesterday: 'I think it is important that the church in a way keeps up and is part of a modern country,' according to The Telegraph.
Under new government plans, adults will be allowed to change their gender without a doctor's diagnosis.
This will mean that the current rule where people have to live for two years as their desired gender before they can officially change sex will go.
The current rule where people must be diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a condition where a person's biological sex and identity does not match, will be scrapped.
Same-sex marriages have been legal since 2014 but many religious institutions – including the Church of England, Catholic church, United Synagogue, and Muslim Council of Britain – have chosen not to recognise the unions or perform the ceremonies.
Justine Greening, the Women and Equalities Secretary, said that religious institutions should "keep up" with public opinion – which has been shifting towards acceptance of same-sex marriage.
"It is important that the church, in a way, keeps up and is part of a modern country," she told Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme.
A consultation will be launched in the autumn on the current provisions of the Gender Recognition Act, which currently requires a person to live for two years as their desired gender before they can officially change sex.
The Government is also suggesting scrapping the requirement for people to be formally diagnosed with "gender dysphoria" before applying to switch gender.
The current law says people wanting to be legally recognised as the opposite to their birth gender in the UK need to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate.
Hardcore porn use has become a new normal. Young people access it freely and regularly, older people do the same but pretend not to, and many Christians wrestle with it as a 'secret struggle'. Now law-makers in the UK are aiming to restrict its use among under 18s with an ambitious new Act of Parliament. But will it really work?
The way that young people consume pornography has changed to a terrifying extent over the last two decades. Since the dawn of widespread Internet access in the mid 1990s, we've moved from secret viewing of so-called 'hardcore' images, to easy and unlimited access to highly explicit video, to near-normalisation of both. Estimates on the average age of first exposure range from about 8-12. Young people discuss their favourite sites, and swap links to videos, as if they were talking about football transfer rumours or trading Pokemon cards. Porn isn't just mainstream in youth culture, it's everyday.