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Single-parent families in UK hit 2 million mark
~There are now 2 million single-parent families in Britain, the first time this figure has been reached, according to new statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In addition, almost 40pc of British children now live with either a single parent (24 percent) or a cohabiting couple (14 percent). Some 8,000 same-sex couples now have children, the ONS figures say, while almost 8 million people are living alone. Read more...
Benefits of marriage are exaggerated says new study
~The health benefits of marriage are exaggerated and tend to fade over time according to a new study published in the current issue of the Journal of Marriage and Family. The study examined the differences between married, single and cohabiting people in terms of social ties and well-being, including mental health. The study’s authors say they “found the similarities between marriage and cohabitation to be more striking than the differences.” Read more...
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Religious ethos has no place in Irish schools says Labour TD
~'Religious ethos' has no place in Irish schools according to a prominent Labour TD. Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD, vice-chair of the Oireachtas education committee, told The Irish Catholic that “religious ethos has no place in the educational system of a modern republic''. His comments came as senior Church sources accused the Labour Party of ''bullying'' Catholic schools by falsely accusing them of breaking the law over enrolment policies that admit Catholic children ahead of other children if the school is over-subscribed. Read more...
Catholic midwives take conscientious objection case
~Two Catholic midwives in the UK are suing a health board for refusing to recognise their conscientious objection to supervising staff involved in abortions. Mary Doogan, 57, and Concepta Wood, 51, told NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde that delegating, supervising or supporting staff who were participating in abortions would go against their conscience. However officials rejected their position and the two women hope to have that ruling set aside in a judicial review. Read more...
Cameron faces revolt over same-sex marriage
~Prime Minister David Cameron (pictured) is facing the threat of a backbench Tory revolt as up to 100 MPs may line up to oppose government plans to legalise same-sex marriage. According to The Guardian, Tory MPs who have raised concerns about the move with ministers at meetings of the 1922 committee behind the threat. Mr Cameron announced his support for same-sex marriage at the Conservative Party Conference last year, but the move was heavily criticised by a range of prominent Tory figures. Read more...
Fathers’ names must appear on birth certs in proposed new law
~New legislation which would make it compulsory for fathers' names to be registered on their children's birth certs, whether or not he is married to the child's mother is being planned by the Government. The Department of Social Protection is planning to include the provision in legislation to be published this year, and it is currently taking legal advice on the practicalities of such a move, according to a report in the Sunday Times. Families, Fathers and Children, a charity representing fathers' rights, has welcomed the move. Read more...
Surrogacy couple to take legal case
~A couple who commissioned a child through a surrogate mother in India and cannot obtain an Irish passport for it are planning to take a case to the Supreme Court after a Circuit Court ruling refused to recognise them as the legal parents of the child. In Ireland only the birth mother of a child is recognised as the legal mother. The couple, Michael Coffey and Catherine Maye, have asked a firm of solicitors to take a case to force the Government to legislate, according to a report in the Sunday Times. Read more...
US religious leaders issue religious freedom warning
~The “full arsenal of government punishments and pressures reserved for racists” will be applied to religious communities if same-sex marriage becomes legal across the US, an open letter signed by leaders of some of the largest American religious communities has said. The letter, entitled “Marriage and Religious Freedom: Fundamental Goods That Stand or Fall Together,”, was issued to voice the shared concern of a range of religious leaders for marriage and religious freedom. Read more...
Beware of marrying someone in your profession says study
~Marrying someone from your own profession is likely to lead to longer working hours for both and a poorer work-life balance, psychologists claim. Those with very different careers tend have a better work-life balance, a new study of 650 academics has found. According to the study, reported in The Daily Telegraph, spouses who work in similar jobs are more likely to work long hours and be more committed to their profession. Read more...
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Marriage still the bedrock of society says Church of England bishop
~Marriage is still the bedrock of society which promotes love, care and forgiveness in relationships, an senior Church of England bishop has said. Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu (pictured) made the comments following the publication of a report backed by the Anglican church which found one in 11 children was unhappy with their lives. The Good Childhood Report 2012, launched by the Archbishop, found stability at home was an important element in making children happy. Read more...
Catherine McGuinness to monitor anti-Christian discrimination
~Former Supreme Court judge, Catherine McGuinness, has been appointed to the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and will monitor of global anti-Christian discrimination as part of her duties. Read more...
Cameron moves to protect stay-at-home mothers
~Proposals to scrap child benefit for some earners in the UK are set to changed to protect families with stay-at-home mothers, David Cameron has signalled. Under the current proposals, child benefit is to be removed from any household which has someone earning above the higher-rate tax threshold of £42,745. Read more...
US Supreme Court makes landmark religious freedom ruling
~The US Supreme Court has upheld the right of Churches in the US to hire and fire their own ministers in a ruling that is being hailed on the most important on religious freedom in several decades. In a ruling yesterday, the rejected the stance taken by President Barack Obama's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) which would have allowed the Government to regulate who churches could and could not fire. Read more...
Marriage not simply a social convention says Pope
~The family based on marriage between a man and a woman is “not a simple social convention” but is “the fundamental cell of every society” Pope Benedict has said. Speaking this week to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Vatican, he said that the proper education of young people needed appropriate settings. “Among these, pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman,” he said. Read more...
Two women to be list on birth cert as parents of child
~A court in the US state of Iowa has ordered that state's Department of Public Health to issue a new birth certificate listing both members of a same-sex marriage as the legal parents of a 2-year-old girl. No mention will be made of the biological father. Polk County District Judge Eliza Ovrom ordered the new birth certificate Wednesday as part of her ruling in a lawsuit brought by Melissa Gartner, 41, and Heather Gartner, 40. Read more...
Tax and benefits system encouraging lone parent families says expert
~More British children are being raised by single parents because the tax and benefit system “encourages transient shack-ups,” according to a leading family expert. One in five British children live with a single mother or father. This figure is some 35 per cent higher than in Germany and 50 per cent higher than in France. Read more...
2000 children taken into State care last year
~Two thousand children were taken into State care last year, the Health Service Executive has confirmed. In addition, 26 girls in State care became pregnanty, including some under the age of consent. The figures were obtained by the Irish Daily Mail under the Freedom of Information Act. An independent review into the deaths of children in care was presented to the Government just before Christmas. Read more...
Marriage declines among US Catholics
~The number of marriages among American Catholics has declined along with the marriage rate of the rest of the US in recent decades, according to a spokesperson for the US Catholic bishops. Sheila Garcia, associate director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth told the US news website Catholic News Service that since 1972, the number of marriages celebrated in a Catholic church has fallen nearly 60 percent. Read more...
Divorced parents will have legal right to see children
~Divorced parents in the UK will be given a legal right to see their children under plans being drawn up by ministers. According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, courts will be required to ensure that both fathers and mothers are given access to children in divorce settlements. Parents who refuse to accept the orders will be in contempt of court and risk serious penalties or even jail. Read more...
New study confirms differences between men and women
~Men and women really do have fundamentally different characteristics, according to research which has confirmed many longheld gender sterotypes. A survey of 10,000 people found that women tend to be more “sensitive, warm and apprehensive” than men while men tend to be more “emotionally stable, dominant, rule-conscious and vigilant”, experts said. Some previous research had suggested that the average personality differences between men and women are small. Read more...
UK establishment no longer understands Christianity, says bishop
~Britain’s Christian heritage is no longer understood in the “corridors of power” an influential Church of England bishop has said. The former Bishop of Rochester, Rt Revd Michael Nazir-Ali was commenting on Prime Minister David Cameron's recent speech on the place of the Bible and Christianity in British life. In an article for The Sunday Telegraph, the Bishop welcomed much of what David Cameron said, but he cautioned that religious literacy is an issue in the Civil Service, Parliament and local authorities. Read more...
Ireland must prevent falling birth rate says academic
~Ireland must take action to avoid a falling birthrate, a leading academic has said. Dr Margret Fine-Davis, Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Social Attitude and Policy Research Group at Trinity College, cited a prediction by the Central Statistics office that Ireland's Total Fertility Rate (TFR) would reach the European average of 1.5 children per woman of childbearing age. “This is significantly less than the population replacement level of 2.1,” she added. Read more...
Birth mother and genetic mother both parents of child says court
~A Florida court has recognised both the birth mother and the genetic mother as the parents of a child involved in a custody battle between the two women. One of the women insisted she is the mother because she donated the egg but her estranged partner claimed she was better qualified because she had the fertilised egg implanted into her womb and gave birth to the child. Read more...
Religious people are healthier says leading sceptic
~“Religious people are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors, such as visiting dentists and wearing seat belts, and are less likely to smoke, drink, take recreational drugs and engage in risky sex”, compared with non-religious people, according to an article in Scientific American by Michael Shermer. Shermer, an atheist, cites a number of studies, including a meta-analysis of more than three dozen studies in 2000 by psychologist Michael E. McCullough showing a strong correlation between religiosity and lower mortality. Read more...
Europe needs Christianity says President of European Parliament
~Christianity is one of the greatest strengths Europe has, and if it is lost, “we will be condemned to the erosion of the European spirit,” the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek (pictured), has said. He defended the display of Christian symbols in public spaces. In an address at the European Prayer Breakfast, Mr Buzek, the former Prime Minister of Poland, and a Protestant, reminded his audience that “the founding fathers of the united Europe were active Christians”. Read more...
Judge launches foundation to reduce UK divorce rate
~A senior High Court judge in the UK is launching a foundation to defend marriage and reduce of the "scourge of society" of family breakdown. Sir Paul Coleridge wants to halt the "appalling and costly impact of family breakdown" and said people are looking to "recycle" partners instead of trying to fix their marriages, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph. He said the prospect of 3.8m children in the family justice system was a "complete scandal" and "almost every dysfunctual child is the product of a broken family". Read more...
Government considering outright ban on smacking
~The Government is considering an outright ban on parents smacking their children, Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald (pictured) has confirmed. A new law to ban corporal punishment in the home is one of two options under consideration, according to an Irish Times report. The other is an amendment to existing laws to restrict the circumstances in which parents can plead a defence of “reasonable chastisement” of their children. Read more...
New ruling makes it easier to adopt children of married couples
~A Supreme Court judgment delivered last month may make it easier for the children of married couples to be adopted, according to a child law expert. Geoffrey Shannon (pictured), the Government’s rapporteur on child protection and chairman of the Adoption Authority said the ruling also has implications for the children’s rights referendum. Read more...
Sexualised clothes for children could soon be banned
~Shops could soon be banned from selling sexually suggestive clothing such as padded bras to children if new guidelines being considered for retailers are passed. Read more...
Christianity remains the largest religion in the world
~Christians are still the largest religious group in the world number 2.2 billion in total, according to a new study. The research, compiled by the Pew Research Forum on Religion & Public Life, shows that most Christians now live in Africa, Asia and the Americas rather than Europe. Around one-quarter of the world's Christian's live in Europe today compared to two-thirds a century ago when the European share of the world’s population was much higher than it is today. Read more...
Fathers may be forced to sign birth certificates
~Fathers in the UK may have to sign their child’s birth certificate under new proposals being considered by the Government. The idea is just one of a number of options being considered by the Prime Minister David Camerson in a bid to bolster the role of the father in UK society. It is thought by signing the birth certificate new fathers will feel an increased responsibility to their child. Read more...
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Rise in cohabitation driving increase in non-marital births
~The rise in the number children born outside marriage in the US is being now being driven by a big increase in the number of children who are born to cohabiting couples, according to a new study. More than one-half of non-marital births occur within cohabiting relationships. In 2001, 52 percent of all nonmarital births took place within a cohabiting union, compared with 38 percent in the early 1990s. Read more...
Married parents are happiest says new report
~Parenting is easier for those with partners, whether cohabiting or married, but married parents report the highest levels of happiness, according to a new report. The report, ‘When Baby Makes Three, How Parenthood Makes Life Meaningful and How Marriage Makes Parenthood Bearable’, also found that married parents experience more meaning in their lives than their childless peers, and a substantial minority of married parents are "very happy" in their marriages. Read more...
Peter Tatchell offers to defend Christian worker disciplined over attitude to civil unions
~Peter Tatchell (pictured), one of Britain’s leading gay rights activist has offered to testify in defence of a Christian employee who was disciplined because of comments he made online about same-sex civil partnerships. Read more...
Fear of divorce preventing young people from marrying
~Fear of a traumatic divorce is preventing many young couples from walking down the aisle, according to a new academic report. The study comes as new figures show the share of married adults is in the United States is at an all-time low of 50pc, with the trend especially marked among young people. In Ireland as well only 50pc of adults over 18 are married. Read more...
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