Skip to content

Archive site notice

You are viewing an archived copy of Christian Concern's website. Some features are disabled and pages may not display properly.

To view our current site, please visit christianconcern.com

In the News

  • The Courier: Christian offended by discount chain's OMG slogan
    May 6th, 2017

    Lizette Franklin was "absolutely disgusted and appalled" when she headed into the Dunfermline branch of discount chain Poundland to find it covered in OMG – most commonly standing for Oh My God! – stickers and posters.

    Now the South African, who has made her family home in Kinross, said she will boycott what is still one of her favourite shops until the offending campaign ends.

    Mrs Franklin, who bore no ill feeling towards Poundland, estimated she has spent a minimum of £100 every month for the last three years at the branch in Dunfermline's Kingsgate Centre.

    Read more.

  • Life News: UN Tries and Fails to Pressure Honduras to Legalize Abortion
    May 5th, 2017

    Honduran lawmakers refused to legalize abortion despite intense pressure from UN experts and international abortion activists. Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández commented on the failed attempt to lift the 1983 criminal ban on abortion saying, "Only God has the right to take one's life."

    Last week, article 196 of the new criminal code failed to make it to the Honduran Congress because it failed to make it out of committee. The article intended to legalize abortion in the case of rape, potentially life-threatening circumstances for the mother, and when the unborn child is thought to be fatally impaired.

    On Thursday, the article was finally struck down by the Parliament, with a historical pro-life victory: 77 votes in favor, 5 against, and 8 abstentions.

    Read more.

  • Catholic Herald: Bishop Egan: find out where election candidates stand on abortion and assisted suicide
    May 5th, 2017

    Catholics should think "first, and foremost" how candidates in June's General Election will protect human life from conception to natural death, the Bishop of Portsmouth has said.

    In his weekly e-newsletter, Bishop Philip Egan said Catholic voters have a "crucial contribution" to make to the democratic process, and urged them to examine party manifestos and parliamentary candidates in light of Church teaching.

    In particular, they should find out whether candidates oppose liberalising abortion laws and embryo experimentation, as well as their views on assisted suicide and euthanasia.

    Read more.

  • Krone Zeitung: Eizellen vertauscht: Familie verklagt den Arzt - Skandal in Bregenz
    May 5th, 2017

    Vor drei Jahren hatte die in der Bregenzer Fortpflanzungsklinik gezeugte heute 26 Jahre alte Schweizerin Kristina V. mittels DNA-Test herausgefunden, dass sie nicht mit ihrer vermeintlichen Mutter Miluska V. und ihrer eineinhalb Jahre später zur Welt gekommenen Schwester verwandt ist. Der Vater war zu diesem Zeitpunkt bereits verstorben, Gewissheit bezüglich seiner Vaterschaft zu erlangen, schien unmöglich. Vor Kurzem erhielt die Familie aber histologisches Material des Vaters von einer Klinik, in der der aus dem früheren Jugoslawien stammende Mann kurz vor seinem Tod operiert worden war.

    Ein in der Gerichtsmedizin St. Gallen vorgenommener DNA-Abgleich schloss, wie erwartet, die Vaterschaft Tomislav V.s für Kristina V. aus. Allerdings stellte der Test auch fest, dass Tomislav V. auch nicht der genetische Vater von Kristinas Schwester sein kann, die ebenfalls durch eine Behandlungstherapie im IVF-Zentrum des Fortpflanzungsmediziners Herbert Zech gezeugt wurde. "Daran hat meine Schwester nie gedacht", berichtete Kristina V. am Freitag bei einer Pressekonferenz in Bregenz von der immensen Erschütterung innerhalb ihrer Familie. Schließlich hatte 2014 ein DNA-Abgleich die genetische Übereinstimmung mit der Mutter bestätigt.

    Read more.

  • Anglican Ink: Irish synod rejects gay apology motion
    May 5th, 2017

    The Church of Ireland's General Synod has declined to apologize to same-sex couples whose relationships the church has refused to bless. On 5 May 2017 the synod meeting at the South Court Hotel in Limerick rejected Motion 12, affirming the church's traditional teaching on marriage and human sexuality.

    The authors of the motion, Dr. Leo Kilroy and the Rev. Brian O'Rourke, said their motion did not seek to change the church's teaching on same-sesx marriage. It was a pastoral measure that sought to acknowledge the "injury felt by members of the church who enter into loving, committed and legally recognised, same-sex relationships, due to the absence of provision for them to mark that key moment in their lives publicly and prayerfully in church".

    It further "respectfully requests the House of Bishops to investigate a means to develop sensitive, local pastoral arrangements for public prayer and thanksgiving with same-sex couples at these key moments in their lives, and to present their ideas to general synod 2018, with a view to making proposals at general synod 2019."

    Read more.

  • CMF: Exposing the dark side of egg 'donation': the headlines this week should be just the start
    May 5th, 2017

    At last! The media has finally picked up on the ethical and exploitative mess that is egg 'donation'.

    I have blogged on this, included it in submissions, asked questions in conferences and, most recently, raised it when giving oral evidence to a Parliamentary Select Committee in April. The aim being to expose the industry around egg 'donation' and egg freezing that exploits women's health and purses.

    Now, thanks to the Daily Mail's front page undercover investigation, the Humn Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has said they are investigating several fertility clinics accused of exploiting couples desperate to have children. Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt says the allegations are serious and worrying.

    Read more.

  • Premier Christianity: Why GAFCON's decision to appoint its own bishop is good news for the Anglican Church
    May 5th, 2017

    Rev Gavin Ashenden explains why he believes GAFCON's decision to appoint a bishop is the first step toward restoring the Anglican communion to biblical faithfulness

    Jesus warned the Church of two things in particular. It would always be under attack – both spiritual and political, and that some of that threat would come from within the Church just as much as without.

    That's the context of the struggle going on throughout the Anglican churches is what is called the 'Communion'. The Church of England is the missionary birthing church, but there are something like 80 million Anglican around the world. Only 600,000 of them are left in the C of E.

    Read more.

  • Christian Post: Islamic Mega-Mosque Opens in Atheistic Sweden
    May 5th, 2017

    The largest mosque in Scandinavia has opened in Sweden, which is one of the least religious and most atheistic nations in the Western world, reports have said, costing the Qatari government $3.30 million to build.

    Qatar's Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs reported the news on Wednesday, explaining that the Umm Al-Mu'minin Khadijah Mosque in Malmo, expanding to 19,278 square feet (1,791 square meters), will be able to accommodate up to 2,000 worshipers.

    Breitbart News noted that Qatar is an absolute monarchy largely ruled by Sharia law, and has been accused by U.S. officials of funding radical Islamic terrorism.

    Read more.

  • Christian Today: Young evangelicals more liberal than parents on gay rights, remain conservative on abortion
    May 5th, 2017

    An influential religious research group says young evangelicals have more liberal opinions than their parents' generation on some social issues – but remain conservative on others.

    The Pew Forum found that LGBT rights is the most high-profile hot button issue where younger evangelicals take a more inclusive stance than the older generation.

    The pew article states that, 'Evangelical Protestants who are Millennials (those born from 1981 to 1996) are considerably more likely than older evangelical Protestants to support same-sex marriage and to say homosexuality should be accepted by society.'

    Read more.

  • Irish Examiner: Morning-after-pill to be available to medical card holders
    May 5th, 2017

    Medical card holders will no longer have to go to their GP for a prescription for the morning-after-pill from July 1.

    nstead, women can go straight to the pharmacy, as private patients have been able to do for the past five years.

    The extension of the GMS scheme to include the provision of emergency contraception will be announced today by Health Minister Simon Harris at the annual meeting of the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) in Croke Park.

    Read more.