Tag Archives: Global: Marriage and Family

Huffington Post: A measure allowing same-sex civil unions passed its first legislative step in Brazil’s Congress, where it has lingered for 16 years.

PR Newswire: WCF VI is organized by HazteOir.org (the local host committee) and The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society. Co-conveners for WCF VI in Madrid include Alliance Defense Fund, Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute and Focus on the Family. World Congress of Families is also supported annually by our 35 partners, in 11 countries. Click here for a complete list of WCF Partners.

Catholic Culture: Italian public opinion remains firmly opposed to same-sex marriage, a new survey shows.

Christian Institute: The Advertising Standards Authority has been accused of bias after its chairman publicly backed redefining marriage while it investigates adverts from a group supporting the current law on marriage. Lord Smith of Finsbury, who is a homosexual, has recorded a video for a campaign backing the redefinition of marriage – and said he personally wants to “marry”.

UKPA on Google News: Legalising same-sex marriage would “legitimise and encourage” the existence of fatherless or motherless children, according to a report.

LifeSiteNews: Dismantling of the family, attacks against parental rights and times of trouble for faith-based, mainly Catholic schools are looming large in French politics since France’s new socialist president, François Hollande, took over office from Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday morning at the Elysée, in Paris.

Christian Institute: The advertising regulator has been ridiculed for launching an astonishing investigation into ads which simply support the current law on marriage.

Christian Concern: A third Government Minister has now criticised the plans to introduce same-sex ‘marriage’, and has suggested that the Government should listen to what people are saying in response to the consultation on the issue.

Catholic Herald: As I write, news has come in that the Law Society has cancelled a forthcoming colloquium organised by Christian Concern, part of the World Congress of Families, on the subject, “One Man, One Woman. Making the case for marriage for the good of society” and due to take place at the Law Society’s headquarters in Chancery Lane later this month.

LegalWeek.com: The Law Society has called off a conference that was set to debate gay marriage at its headquarters this month due to a conflict with the society’s “role in promoting diversity.”

Religion Clause Blog: It includes differential treatment based on a broad range of characteristics: race, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, ideology, political opinion, religious beliefs, participation in organizations or lack thereof, sex, gender, sexual orientation, appearance, health and disabilities. In the past, opponents of the law, including Protestant churches and the Catholic Church, had been concerned that it could be used to legalize same-sex marriage.

NY Times: Call it bad timing. On the very day President Barack Obama gave his endorsement to same-sex marriage, the British government appeared to defer a promise to legalize it.

Christian Institute: A petition against Government plans to redefine marriage set up by Coalition for Marriage (C4M) has now passed over half a million signatures.

Examiner.com: Winston Blackmore is no stranger to money disputes. The final decision in his latest dispute lies in the hands of a federal tax judge. Blackmore, the head of a polygamous group in Bountiful, B.C. claims to be eligible for the same tax exemption granted to the Hutterites.

BBC: The Welsh government has written to all Catholic schools in Wales to remind them to give a “balanced perspective” when discussing same-sex marriage.

LifeSiteNews: “The family bond is achieved through the reality of diverse situations, among them the free will to form a family, apart from the sex or orientation of its members,” wrote the judges their verdict, issued on April 20.

Christian Institute: Two thirds of his constituents want to keep marriage as it is – between one man and one woman. That number climbs to 75 per cent amongst the people who voted for him at the last general election.

Christian Institute: One of England’s most senior family court judges says the time has come to halt the damage being done by broken marriages. Sir Paul Coleridge will today launch a new group to promote marriage and tackle Britain’s ‘divorce addiction’.

Christian Concern: A number of Tory MPs have admitted to withdrawing support for the Government’s plan to legalise same-sex marriage after expressing concerns that they were “haemorrhaging” votes over the controversial proposal.

Christian Institute: The Conservative Party could lose up to 30 Parliamentary seats and over 1.1 million votes if it bulldozes ahead with plans to redefine marriage, a new poll shows.

Telegraph (4/8/2012): The age of the aspirational marriage with women looking for a man to keep them in style is over, according to a study by a left-leaning think tank.

Ruth Institute: Some of the most interesting debates on family policies are taking place in the European countries of the former Soviet bloc. In 2008, Lithuania passed legislation to define “family” as the married union of a man and a woman together with their children, adopted or biological. The point was key in terms of who gets the money the state earmarks to support families.

BBC: An investigation is to be launched by the Welsh government after a Catholic lobby group urged schools to back a campaign against same-sex marriage.

Telegraph: The Roman Catholic Church contacted its secondary schools in England and Wales asking them to enourage pupils to back the campaign against gay marriage.

NY Times: Three years ago, Salma Khatun’s husband divorced her in a fit of rage after a quarrel, pronouncing what is known as the triple talaq in the presence of witnesses. The triple talaq is a formula of repudiation. The first two times it is pronounced, it can be revoked, but the third time it makes a divorce binding, according to some interpretations of Islamic law.

Catholic Herald: Neil Addison, the director of the Thomas More Legal Centre, said that the Prime Minister’s assurances to the Church that they would not be compelled to perform religious marriage for gay couples are worthless. He said two judgments by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg combined with a Court of Appeal ruling in 2010 clearly showed that the Government would be acting illegally if it legalised civil gay marriages without permitting them on religious premises too.

BBC: Thanet District Council has become the first local authority in Kent to officially support the government’s proposals for same-sex marriage.

Christian Concern: Grassroots Conservatives have had enough of their party’s plans to rewrite the definition of marriage, the head of the oldest Tory think-tank has said. Ben Harris, Chairman of the Bow Group, said: “What we are seeing here is genuine fatigue among a party rank and file, disappointed both at the suggested policy itself, and the reasons behind it.

Reuters: Saudi Arabia is edging closer to setting a minimum age for marriage, a Justice Ministry official was quoted as saying on Wednesday, following international criticism of cases of child brides.

NY Times: The Supreme Court had intervened in the three cases in recent weeks, “sequestering the women from their parents and their new husbands to consider their future without pressure,” Mr. Masood writes. “The court ruled on Wednesday that all three had freely chosen to remain Muslim.”

Christian Institute: A petition opposing the redefinition of marriage has been presented to Scotland’s Deputy First Minister. Representatives from a Roman Catholic group handed the petition, which was signed by 1,000 people, to Nicola Sturgeon at her surgery.

David J. Rusin at Islamist Watch (also at National Review): Presidential candidate Rick Santorum got jeered for comparing the legalization of same-sex marriage to that of polygamy, but, whether or not the comparison is rationally sound, thoughts of the former’s facilitating the latter bring a smile to many Islamists. If the definition of marriage can evolve in terms of gender, some Muslims ask, why not in terms of number?

DAWN.com: At a recent public debate on intermarriage in Doha, much of the discussion focused on the tensions between cultural practices and the science cautioning against consanguineous marriage – defined as marriage between second cousins or closer.

AllAfrica.com: A NEW bill on marriages will spell the end of polygamous marital arrangements, if it goes through as it now stands.

NZ Herald: The Australian Opposition leader Tony Abbott reaffirmed his disagreement with same-sex marriage yesterday, quashing hopes by campaigners of a change of heart in the wake of revelations that his sister, Christine Forster, is in a gay relationship.

Telegraph: The European Court of Human Rights has upheld a German court’s conviction of a man for an incestuous relationship with his younger sister, with whom he had four children.

Telegraph: Consider question No 3. Any member of the public who decides to give the government his or her views on same-sex marriage is firstly asked “What is your sexual orientation?”, is secondly asked “What is your gender?”, and is then asked the following: “Is your gender identity the same as the gender you were assigned at birth?” You what? There are so many weird things in that sentence it is hard to know where to start.

NY Daily News: Two bills approved by the Indian cabinet on Thursday will make registration of marriages compulsory, irrespective of religion. The intent is to prevent the harassment of women in divorce cases .

Telegraph: The majority of Conservative MPs believe David Cameron’s same-sex marriage plan is doomed to failure and is a source of deep concern for their constituents.

ChristianConcern.com: Prime Minister David Cameron told Christian leaders this week that he wants their biblical values to guide the nation, despite his strong support for same-sex ‘marriage’.

Bloomberg: “I think there’s something of a fightback going on, and we should welcome that,” the prime minister told guests including church ministers and Christian politicians at an Easter reception in his official Downing Street residence in London today. “The values of the Bible, the values of Christianity are the values that we need.”

Brisbane Times: Dr Catt’s contribution appears under a St John’s Cathedral letterhead but he makes clear it is a personal submission and is not endorsed by the Anglican Church of Australia’s Brisbane Diocese.

Independent: Foreign Office reveals cases from Italy, Holland, Australia, Indonesia and Nigeria, with one in five victims a man, and ages ranging from five to 87.

Boston Globe: The issue is also setting up the biggest internal party rebellion since the Conservatives returned to power in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. Strategists say that as many as a third of Conservative lawmakers may vote against the plan, which might nevertheless pass in Parliament with the backing of Cameron’s Liberal Democrat coalition partners and the opposition Labor Party.

Belfast Telegraph: More than 200,000 people are divorced or separated in Ireland, it has emerged.

Coalition for Marriage

ADF Chief Counsel Benjamin Bull at Townhall: Throughout the world, the moniker of “human rights” has long been a cloak for a number of so-called rights that cannot be justified in any other way . . . But the European Court of Human Rights recently bucked the trend by ruling that same-sex “marriages” will not be recognized under that subterfuge.

Vancouver.24hrs.ca: The B.C. government has given a special Crown prosecutor the power to lay possible polygamy charges in the RCMP’s ongoing investigation into the closed fundamentalist Mormon community of Bountiful, B.C.

Christian Institute: Mario Conti, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow, cautioned against those who want to redefine marriage “without any reference to children” and also warned of a further descent into “ethical confusion”.

Turtle Bay and Beyond: Yesterday, Slovenia held a post-legislative referendum on the new Family Code that was adopted in the Slovenian parliament in June 2011.

The Christian Institute: A judge has this morning stopped a Christian from using human rights arguments in his legal case against his employer who demoted him because of his moderate comments about gay weddings in churches.

Christian Institute: David Cameron’s plan to rewrite the definition of marriage is not a vote winner, an influential Conservative commentator has warned.

Time of India: Women may be able to stake claim to marital property if an amendment to matrimonial laws is accepted by the Cabinet.

Telegraph: The pair, Valerie Gas and Nathalie Dubois, had tried to establish marriage rights under anti-discrimination laws but the judges said there had been no discrimination. The court heard how the women had wanted Miss Gas to be allowed to adopt Miss Dubois’s 11 year-old daughter. But the judges in Strasbourg said: “The European Convention on Human Rights does not require member states’ governments to grant same-sex couples access to marriage.”

Christian Institute: A Sikh Peer and a senior Jewish rabbi have both spoken out against redefining marriage as opposition continues to mount against the Government.

The Christian Institute: The UK could be thrown into a constitutional crisis if marriage is redefined, a Tory MP has warned.

Christian Institute: Now the Muslim Council of Britain has warned that plans to rewrite the definition of marriage are “unnecessary and unhelpful”.

Christian Institute: British Muslim men reportedly bring about 12,000 brides to Britain each year, leaving UK-born Muslim females struggling to find a husband.

Jon Milbank at ABC.net.au: The controversy surrounding gay marriage has now reached a fever pitch in countries like Australia and the UK, as governments have begun to move past debate and towards legislative change. While such intensity can have the benefit of clarifying just what is at stake – on both sides of the argument – it can also obscure some of the deeper, intrinsically related issues.

Christian Institute: The Westminster Government has today started a consultation on its controversial plans to redefine marriage. In response to the growing opposition to the proposals, the Government has added a question that asks the public whether they agree with the idea.

Christian Institute: The Westminster Government’s official consultation on redefining marriage has been branded a “sham” which will ignore any opposition.

Catholic Culture: The poll of 1,004 Scottish adults, conducted by Opinion Research Business, found that 53% of respondents agreed that homosexuals “should not be allowed to redefine marriage for everyone else.”

Christian Concern: A Christian bus driver is facing disciplinary action after circulating a petition backing traditional marriage at work during his break.

Christian Institute: A senior QC has warned that English law could refer to fathers and mothers with terms like “Progenitor A” and “Progenitor B” if marriage is redefined. Labour Peer Lord Brenna . . .

The Tablet: The government has promised to “champion” marriage and families in an effort to reduce social breakdown.

Channel 6 News: Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt on Tuesday said the government will introduce draft legislation this week to legalize same-sex marriages later this year, a move which had been expected for years.

Sydney Morning Herald: The issue has returned to the forefront of the election campaign after Katter’s Australian Party launched a TV commercial questioning whether a vote for Mr Newman is vote for gay marriage.

Catholic Culture: The Scottish National Party (SNP) will lose support for its goal of independence by backing same-sex marriage, the Catholic bishops of Scotland have predicted.

Christian Institute: The Government would be “playing with fire” if it goes ahead with its contentious plans to redefine marriage, the Bishop of Oxford has warned. Rt Revd John Pritchard said: “It is not up to society or the Government to define marriage at will.”

Christian Institute: Openly gay popstar Will Young believes vicars who describe gay marriage as ‘abhorrent’ should be prosecuted for hate crimes.

Vatican Information Service: This morning in the Vatican Benedict XVI received a group of prelates from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, who have recently competed their “ad limina” visit. Extracts of his English-language remarks to them are given below:

Christian Institute: Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali also affirmed the Church’s right to defend marriage, warning that the issue is a matter of significance. “The Church is not in this to protect its own interest, it is in this discussion for the sake of wider society in this country generally,” he said.

Christian Concern: A new poll has found that 70 per cent of the public oppose the Government’s plan to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples, agreeing that marriage should remain a “life-long exclusive commitment between a man and a woman”.

Christian Institute: Archbishop Vincent Nichols – the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales – has written a letter to be read out in 2,500 churches this weekend.

USA Today reports: Marriage for Enrique Iglesias, Anna Kournikova?