Tag Archives: Category: Global

LifeSiteNews.com: On Friday at 9:45, the high court will render its judgment in the case of S.L. et al. v. Commission scolare des Chênes et al., which involves a Catholic family who took the Quebec government to court after it refused to grant their child an exemption from the province’s controversial ethics and religious culture course (ERC).

OneNewsNow.com: Town hall prayers have been banned in Britain, according to a report from a Christian organization that considers the court ruling an assault on the country’s heritage.

Catholic Culture: A February 15 meeting between Vatican officials and a visiting British diplomatic delegation ended in a joint statement emphasizing a shared commitment to promote and protect religious freedom.

AP: Three Iranians detained after accidentally setting off explosives in Bangkok were planning to attack Israeli diplomats . . .

News from The Associated Press: Civic activists say moves to ban 29 humanitarian organizations in southern Zimbabwe are a breach of the nation’s laws and affected groups need to ignore banning orders by the president’s party.

Persecution.org: “A mob of nearly 20,000 radical Muslims, mainly Salafis, attempted this evening to break into and torch the Church of St. Mary and St. Abram in the village of Meet Bashar,in Zagazig, Sharqia province,” the Assyrian International News Agency reports.

Christian Concern: The Queen began celebrations to mark her 60-year reign today (15 Feb) by publicly declaring her support for the established Church, which she said was “commonly under-appreciated” despite being “woven into the fabric of this country.”

LifeSiteNews.com: Former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was famous for his fight against Quebec separatists. So his son, Montreal MP Justin Trudeau, caused a stir this week after he appeared to support Quebec sovereignty.

LifeSiteNews.com: n a report it is presenting to a United Nations committee this week in Switzerland, the Brazilian government laments that, “The distancing from conservative positions in relation to the role of men and women in our society is happening less rapidly than would be desired.”

News from The Associated Press: Nigeria’s secret police say they are searching for an ex-soldier in connection with a Christmas Day bombing of a Catholic church that killed at least 44 people.

Norwich Evening News: Norfolk County Council has pledged to keep holding prayers before its full council meetings, despite a High Court ruling which threatened the tradition.

Asia News: Putin signs a decree to introduce the fundamentals of religion at a national level. From September, pupils can choose between Orthodoxy, Buddhism, Judaism and Islam, or opt for “moral ethics”.

Daily Mail Online: Lesbian lovers Kirsty Cox and Anna Jones have both become mothers after DIY artificial insemination from the same sperm donor.

Christian Concern: A Government ‘tsar’ for children and young people has claimed that boys should be free to wear skirts in school because the application of a traditional school uniform code was a “discriminatory practice” which could cause “serious distress” to pupils who were “gender variant”.

The Christian Institute: Roughly £100 billion is spent each year dealing with problems relating to sexual promiscuity and relationship breakdown, according to research by the Jubilee Centre.

News from The Associated Press: A gay activist in Uganda says that the country’s ethics minister, accompanied by police, broke up a meeting of gay participants.

The Washington Post: Chinese officials denied a top State Department official a visa and refused to meet with her to discuss religious freedom issues days before this week’s high-profile visit by China’s vice president to Washington, according to rights advocates and others.

BBC News: More than 1,000 campaigners for same-sex marriage have taken to the streets of Edinburgh to urge the Scottish government to change the law.

LifeSiteNews.com: Should Canada’s Christians have the right to defend their beliefs without losing their job? Damian Goddard plans to put this question front-and-centre in May as he heads to the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

LifeSiteNews.com: While data released last week from the 2011 Canadian census shows a “small increase” in the country’s overall fertility rate, demographers from Statistics Canada are warning that without a “substantial increase in fertility,” Canada’s population growth in 20 years will be “close to zero.”

Religion Clause: According to Haaretz, a trial court in Israel on Sunday ruled that a U.S. request for extradition of a convicted hit-and-run driver should be denied unless it is assured that the driver will have access to kosher food while serving his sentence

CNSnews.com: A top Muslim Brotherhood official has warned that any cuts in U.S. aid to Egypt could affect Cairo’s peace treaty with Israel . . .

WorldNetDaily: Reports coming out of Iran say persecution of Christians is only growing more bold and brazen, as Iranian authorities once again raided a house church – this time in Shiraz – and arrested between 6 to 10 members of the congregation.

LifeSiteNews.com: Experts working for the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics at the University of Barcelona, Spain, are calling for a national registry of doctors who will not perform abortions, in order to “improve” women’s access to “pregnancy termination.”

LifeSiteNews.com: A Christian couple who were fined £3,600 for refusing to allow two homosexual men to share a bed in their guesthouse, lost their appeal of the conviction in a ruling handed down by the Court of Appeal of England and Wales on February 10.

WorldNetDaily: Analysts have begun warning that the recent increase in violent protests in Egypt is putting the nation’s millennia-old minority Christian community in great danger, and members may be forced to leave their homeland.

Christian Concern: Bishops in the Church of England are resisting calls from a secular campaign group to ban the use of NHS money to fund hospital chaplains.

Telegraph: A Roman Catholic Bishop has urged MPs “of Christian conscience” to rebel against their party leaderships and vote down plans to legalise same-sex marriage.

Religion Clause: The New York Times reported yesterday that Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgari was stopped by Malaysian authorities at Kuala Lumpur airport on Thursday and was deported back to Saudi Arabia at the request of the Saudi king where the journalist will face blasphemy charges . . .

The Christian Institute: The saying of prayers as a ‘formal’ part of local council meetings has been ruled unlawful by the High Court today in an extraordinary judgment. The judge, Mr Justice Ouseley, said there is no law that gives councils the power to do so. But critics hit back, saying the ruling also means a council has no power to formally start its meetings with the national anthem.

News from The Associated Press: Two bills to allow gay marriages in Australia were introduced in Parliament on Monday but may fail because of political conflicts.

Christian Concern: Street Preacher Mike Overd was today (10 Feb) cleared by Taunton Magistrates’ Court of a ‘Hate Crime’ for preaching against homosexual conduct.

News from The Associated Press: Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein last threatened to use his veto in September to block a plan to legalize abortion.

News from The Associated Press.

BBC News: A High Court ruling that a Devon town council acted unlawfully by allowing prayers to be said before meetings has sparked a mixed reaction.

The Guardian: A Christian street preacher told two gay men they were “sinners” who would “burn in hell” as they walked past him on a busy high street, a court has heard.

The Washington Post: Despite continuous attacks on Coptic Christians, a delegation of Egyptian Christian leaders said Wednesday (Feb. 8) they do not support the development of a Christian political party as a possible solution.

Burton News & Staffordshire Newspape: PRIME Minister David Cameron should take back control of more than 100 crime and policing laws from the European Union, two Conservative MPs have said.

Turtle Bay and Beyond: After the passage of Spain’s liberal abortion law in 2010 the government began subsidizing abortion on demand, providing it at no cost to the mother.

The Courier-Mail: THE national legislature will on Monday become the Pink Parliament with a total of four gay marriage bills being up for consideration.

CNN.com: Spain’s best-known judge will be suspended for 11 years from the bench after his conviction Thursday for improperly ordering wiretaps while investigating a financial corruption case, the nation’s Supreme Court ruled.

Stratford Gazette: Perth County has dropped the long-standing tradition of reciting the Lord’s Prayer at the beginning of council meetings.

Friday Fax: C-Fam: Last week UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told African nations to repeal criminal laws that sanction homosexual conduct and to stop discrimination because of sexual orientation or gender identity.

JURIST: The Parliament of Uganda [official website] on Tuesday reintroduced legislation that would criminalize certain homosexual activities.

News from The Associated Press: Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is calling on the country’s ruling generals to sack the current military-appointed government . ..

LifeSiteNews (includes video of the arrest): A pro-life activist was arrested in Calgary on Saturday after a police officer objected to his signs, which featured images of aborted babies.

The Guardian: General Synod puts off split over ordination of female prelates by delaying legislation for fine tuning until final approval in July.

The Christian Institute: Nearly two thirds, 60 per cent, of the public think that the curbs should be scrapped.

Religion Clause: The High Court in the Indian state of Gujarat today ordered the state government to pay compensation to over 500 religious structures that were damaged in riots in 2002 . . .

News from The Associated Press: British lawmakers from across the political spectrum voiced anger Tuesday at a court decision to release an imprisoned extremist cleric, saying the man described as one of Europe’s leading al-Qaida figures could be free during the London Olympics.

Mandatory public, private school classes with graphic, church-bashing content
caused public outcry, lawsuit

Telegraph: Two senior judges ruled it would be “manifestly unjust” to stop them helping him prepare a legal challenge to the law on assisted suicide – even if doing so could assist his suicide, which would be illegal.

Asia News: The attack on the colleges of St. Joseph Anegal (40 km south of Bangalore) occurred on January 27. Reason for the assault, failure to display the Indian flag during celebrations for the national holiday.

LifeSiteNews.com: Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s “ironclad” control over Conservative MPs is shutting down debate on public policy, a pro-life MP warned in a recent radio commentary.

Fox News: An Australian couple are seeking $10.6 million in damages from their IVF doctor because their son was born with a rare, genetic defect and will suffer a lifelong handicap.

Religion Clause: Authorities in Gothenburg have formally notified the Namdars that they will be fined the equivalent of $2400 (US) per week if they do not enroll their children in a Swedish school by Feb. 1.

English pravda.ru: For the first time in the history of Europe, Islamic organization can participate in the elections. Party For Muslim Netherlands wants to get into parliament in 2015. The Netherlands could become the first country on the continent where the Islamists will participate in the legislature. The far-right sentiment is increasing in the country as well.

Boston.com: An Orthodox Christian church famed for its valuable icons was set alight in southern Macedonia overnight, authorities said Tuesday, as religious tension between Christians and minority Muslims grew over a carnival in which men dressed as women in burqas and mocked the Quran.

BBC News: Labour’s Johann Lamont, the Tories’ Ruth Davidson, the Lib Dems’ Willie Rennie and Scottish Green Patrick Harvie are united on the issue.

ChicagoTribune.com: “This is a treaty outside of the EU,” British leader David Cameron insisted Tuesday at the House of Commons. “We are not signing it. We are not ratifying it. We are not part of it.” The decision by Cameron and Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas to reject the deal leaves Europe with a clumsy compromise and has thrown up legal questions about using EU-wide institutions like the European Court of Justice to enforce the pact.

NYTimes.com: The young Afghan woman gave birth to a third girl three months ago — to a husband, the authorities say, who had been demanding a boy.

News from The Associated Press: Police say suspected Islamic insurgents have killed five people in attacks on security targets in Nigeria’s restive northeast.

News from The Associated Press: The only movie ever banned in Britain for blasphemy was finally approved for distribution Tuesday, 23 years after it was outlawed.

NYTimes.com: The insults were furious. “Infidel!” and “Apostate!” the religious protesters shouted at the two men who had come to the courthouse to show their support for a television director on trial on charges of blasphemy. Fists, then a head butt followed.

IrishCentral: An unaccountable European elite is ignoring the basic principles of democracy and betraying the founding vision of the EU.

TheBureauInvestigates.com: For many the mention of the Court of Human Rights conjures up the image of complex cases dealing with genocide, war atrocities and tyrannical dictatorships, not the legal wranglings of aggrieved celebrities, disgruntled drug dealers or convicted asylum seekers.

LifeSiteNews.com: eventy-four percent of Christian Britons believe that discrimination against Christianity and Christian freedom of expression is on the rise in their country, according to a recent poll. This is a significant increase from 66 percent in 2009 according to an independent research group, ComRes.

Christian Concern: Girls as young as nine are being forced to marry in mosques in Islington, according to the findings of a leading women’s rights group.

BBC News: wenty-five of the EU’s 27 member states have agreed to join a fiscal treaty to enforce budget discipline.

Andrew Brown at the Guardian.co.uk: In the end, the church may have to choose between communion and establishment. Sentamu has often, loudly, and rightly defended “Britishness” and British traditions. And if it comes to a choice between the Anglican Communion and the Church of England, British history, and British tradition, would then demand that the Anglican Communion be told, politely, to go away and commune with itself: that the archbishop of Lagos has no more jurisdiction in this country than the bishop of Rome.

OneNewsNow.com: Thirty-five Christians have been jailed in Saudi Arabia for worshiping in their own homes according to a recent report. The news only surfaced this week that the Christians have been imprisoned for over a month.

Religion Clause: Yesterday’s Christian Science Monitor reports that as the fighting goes on in Syria, the conflict is moving from a popular uprising to a confrontation between Sunnis and Shiites . . .

Christianity Today: It’s definitely a trend,” said Roger Kiska of the Alliance Defense Fund in Slovakia. “Two or three years ago, you never would have thought that within a year you would have three pro-life [victories] in the courts.”

News from The Associated Press: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says African nations should stop treating gays as “second-class citizens, or even criminals”.

News from The Associated Press: Police say suspected members of a radical sect have attacked two more police stations, leaving two people dead in a north Nigerian city where 185 people were killed just over a week ago.