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In the News

  • Standard: Sadiq Khan urged to launch new campaign against FGM and to make London 'zero cutting city'
    April 25th, 2017

    Sadiq Khan was today urged to lead a new campaign against female genital mutilation as a report called for London to be turned into a "zero cutting city" to protect girls from barbaric violence.

    The London Assembly said that "positive progress" was being made in the battle to eliminate FGM, with police, health staff and teachers all working to tackle the problem.

    But it warned that "new cases of FGM in London are still being discovered" and called for the Mayor to begin a publicity drive to spell out the dangers of mutilation.

    Read more.

  • Times (£): Ireland paves way for referendum on allowing abortions at 12 weeks
    April 25th, 2017

    Ireland is likely to hold a referendum to liberalise abortion after a citizens' assembly voted overwhelmingly for reform.

    If Irish people opted for reform, it would mean changing the Republic's constitution to overhaul its abortion laws, which are among the most restrictive in Europe.

    Abortion is available in Ireland only when there is a proven risk to the woman's life, including through suicide. Many pregnant women travel to Britain or have an illegal termination with pills bought online.

    Read more.

  • ADF: Redefining marriage? EU Court to rule on national marriage laws
    April 24th, 2017

    In a landmark case that could lead to the EU-wide imposition of same-sex marriage, ADF International submitted its observations as a third party intervener to the Court of Justice of the European Union. In the case of Coman and others, the Court in Luxembourg must decide whether the terms 'spouse' and 'family member' in the EU free movement laws also apply to a same-sex partner. Legal experts now fear that the decision may undermine the principle of subsidiarity. To date, the EU has recognized marital law as a national competence of its Member States.

    "In times where the EU is drifting apart, the Court would further the division of the Union if it decides to redefine marriage and family for all Member States. The Court should not sacrifice respect for national competency and cultural diversity by telling Member States that their national legal order does not matter. Many European countries recognize and protect marriage as a union between a man and a woman in their laws and constitutions, as is their right. A Member State should remain free to affirm in their laws that a mother and father are both essential in a child's life," said Sophia Kuby, Director of EU Advocacy for ADF International, based in Brussels.

    Read more.

  • Fox: Swedish midwife to take abortion beliefs fight to higher European Court
    April 24th, 2017

    The Swedish midwife who lost her legal battle to be exempt from assisting in abortions—an act she has said violates her religious freedom—has decided to push her case to the European Court of Human Rights even though she likely will not return to Sweden.

    "In the beginning, I was hoping to stay in Sweden," Grimmark said in a phone interview with Fox News from her new home in Norway, where she moved two and a half years ago after she was let go from three different hospitals in Sweden."But we have now made Norway home. I have a job here where they are not concerned with my beliefs."

    Grimmark lost a two-year-plus legal battle to be exempt from participating in abortions on April 12 in Sweden.

    Read more.

  • Prof. Andrew Sandlin: Miniaturizing the Gospel
    April 24th, 2017

    An early evangelical ministry was the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International. By "full gospel" they meant the charismatic gifts. Whatever your view of those gifts, this ministry did get one thing right: the gospel is full, not partial. The full gospel means that the gospel is designed to touch and redeem every area of life — our minds and hearts, family, church, education, music, architecture, politics, technology, law, science, economics, and everything else.[1]

    One problem is that too often evangelicals have been soterians, not really evangelicals.[2] That is, they have reduced the gospel to personal salvation, soteriology. So, when we hear "gospel," we immediately think of people "getting saved" and little else. But in biblical terms, this simply isn't the entire gospel. The gospel is much fuller. To be evangelical in the full sense is to stand for the gospel. To be a soterian is to stand for personal salvation. We should be evangelicals in the biblical sense.

    Read more.

  • PinkNews: BBC's 'bold and provocative' Gay Britannia set to rule the airwave
    April 24th, 2017

    The BBC will air a "bold and provocative" season of LGBT programming to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality.

    Actors Vanessa Redgrave and Simon Callow, Sandi Toksvig and Years and Years singer Olly Alexander will feature in TV and radio shows about the LGBT community.

    Viewers will see the stories of famous LGBT figures throughout history.

    Read more.

  • Evening Times: Hate-crime probe after Koran reading in Glasgow cathedral
    April 24th, 2017

    Police are investigating possible hate crimes in connection with the controversy over the reading of the Koran at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow.

    The provost of the cathedral, The Very Rev Kelvin Holdsworth, received violent and abusive homophobic and Islamophobic messages after religious text was read out at the church.

    Mr Holdsworth believes the recent referendums on independence and Europe had played a part in encouraging the kind of online abuse he had received.

    Read more.

  • Financial Times (£): UK politicians preach their own brands of Christianity
    April 24th, 2017

    For both Theresa May, the prime minister, and Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats, the messages reflected their serious, personal commitment as Christians.

    Mr Farron has since come under fire for appearing to duck the question of whether he thinks homosexual sex is sinful.

    On Sunday, he insisted in an ITV interview that "being gay is not a sin" but complained that "in this country [ . . .] it appears you have to pretend you haven't got [a faith] to be taken seriously".

    Read more.

  • BBC: Sadiq Khan launches London online hate crime hub
    April 24th, 2017

    A police unit to help tackle online hate crime and provide better support for victims in London has been launched by the capital's mayor.

    The Online Hate Crime Hub is made up of five specially trained Met police officers who will try to identify, prevent and investigate online abuse.

    Sadiq Khan said officers would "work with community experts to develop the police's understanding of online hate".

    Read more.

  • Telegraph:Transgender students should not have to declare birth gender when applying to university sports teams, NUS expected to rule
    April 24th, 2017

    Transgender students should not have to declare their birth gender when applying to university sports clubs, the National Union of Students (NUS) is expected to rule.

    At the moment transgender or intersex students are only allowed to join the teams that they were assigned to at birth rather than the gender that they identify with now.

    This can act as a "barrier" from transgender students which can sport "inaccessible" and "unwelcome", according to a motion due to be debated on Tuesday at the NUS annual conference in Brighton.

    Read more.