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Number getting married in US at record low
~The number of Americans getting married is at an all-time low, while those who do marry are waiting longer to marry for the first time, according to US Census Bureau figures. Just 52 per cent of adults 18 and over were married in 2010, compared to 57 per cent in 2000, according to the U.S. census data. The never-marrieds included 46.3 per cent of young adults 25-34 — the first time the share of never-married young adults exceeded those who were married, 44.9 per cent, with the rest being divorced or widowed. Read more...
Evangelical schools lead to more church-going than Catholic schools
~Students who attend US Catholic schools are less likely to go to church but more likely to attend university compared to those who attended ‘Protestant Christian schools’, according to a new survey. The study, carried out by the University of Notre Dame and Cardus, a Canadian think-tank, found that those who attended Protestant Christian schools were nearly three times more likely to attend religious services than those who attended Catholic schools. Read more...
Infidelity no longer main reason for divorce say UK lawyers
~Marital infidelity is no longer the top reason for couples divorcing, with “falling out of love” replacing it, according to a survey of divorce lawyers. The survey found that the most common reason for a marriage to end was couples claiming that they no longer felt in love and had “grown apart”. Read more...
Europe must do more to protect religious freedom says OSCE
~The impact of labour law, equality law, laws on freedom of expression and assembly, and laws related to religious communities and right of conscientious objection must be reassessed “in view of discrimination and intolerance against Christians” in European Countries, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has said in an important new statement. Read more...
Cardinal Brady attacked for defending seal of confession
~Cardinal Sean Brady has been attacked by The Irish Times for expressing misgivings about the Government's proposals to undermine the seal of confession. In an editorial today, the paper criticised as “unfair and disproportionate” his suggestion that the proposal to require priests to report confessions of child abuse to the civil authorities amounts to an attack on freedom of religion. Read more...
US health insurance move fails to protect conscience
~A new federal government mandate which will force private health insurers to cover contraception, including abortifacients, has been attacked by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) over its failure to include a conscience clause. In a statement, the legal representatives for the bishops say that the mandate provides virtually no protection for religious freedom. They called for the withdrawal of the mandate, which is set to go into effect in August 2012. Read more...
Children in care in Ireland at a record high
~There are now a record number of children in State care, according to figures from the Health Service Executive. There are 6,175 children in either foster or residential care, The Irish Times reports. In the first six months of the year the number of children in care increased by 385, about three times the number admitted into the system during all of last year. Read more...
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Cohabitation increases chances of divorce says study
~Couples who live together before they marry are significantly more likely to end up divorced, according to a new report. The study, produced by the Jubilee Centre in the UK, found that couples who have lived with each other were 15 percent more likely to get divorced than those who didn’t first live together. Read more...
Seal of Confession proposal an attack on religious freedom says Primate
~Proposed Government legislation which threatens the inviolability of the seal of confession is a challenge to the right of every Catholic to freedom of religion and conscience, Cardinal Seán Brady (pictured) has said. Speaking in Knock, Dr Brady, the Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland said confession was a sacred and treasured rite. Read more...
Parents are only as happy as their least happy children – study
~The emotional well-being of parents is strongly linked to the successes and failures of their children - especially their least happy children-even after their children are grown up, according to a new study. Researchers had assumed that having successful children would completely mitigate the effects of problem children. Surprisingly, however, they found that mothers and fathers were only as happy as their least happy child. Read more...
Teacher suspended for opposing gay marriage reinstated
~A teacher in the US state of Florida who was suspended for making comments on his personal Facebook page expressing opposition to same-sex marriage has been reinstated. Social studies teacher Jerry Buell, who was voted Teacher of the Year by pupils at Mount Dora High School last year, has said he plans to use his experience to teach his students and others outside of school about First Amendment rights, his lawyer Harry Mihet told US news website The Christian Post. Read more...
Pope defends traditional view of marriage
~Only marriages which are faithful and open to the gift of life are "adequate to the grandeur and dignity of marital love," the Pope told young people at last weekend’s World Youth Day in Madrid. Speaking to one and a half million people from all over the world, Pope Benedict said that God "many people to marriage, in which a man and a woman, in becoming one flesh, find fulfillment in a profound life of communion". Read more...
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Sex education kit causes anger in Switzerland
~A sex education kit for primary school aged children which includes models of male and female sex organs has sparked a storm of controversy in Switzerland. Daniel Schneider, a deputy kindergarten rector for Basel who helped develop the programme, said: “Children should be encouraged to develop and experience their sexuality in a pleasurable way”. Read more...
Children do best when raised by committed parents says leading psychologist
~Mothers and fathers who are committed to each other provide the best environment in which to raise children, one of the country's leading clinical psychologists has said. Speaking on RTE Radio's Marion Finucane show on Saturday, Marie Murray said that the ideal circumstance for raising children was “a mother and father, committed to each other, whether that's through marriage or other forms, but it is a very specific committment, loving their children working together in good relationship”. Read more...
Happily married people recover faster from heart surgery
~Happily married people who undergo major heart surgery are three times more likely to survive than those who are unmarried, according to a new study. In addition, while women only enjoy the additional health benefit if they and their husband are happy together, men gained most of the benefit regardless. Read more...
New study highlights cohabitation risks
~Children raised by cohabiting parents are at a greater risk of suffering psychological stress, physical abuse and of causing trouble at school, according to a new study. The report, Why Marriage Matters, 3rd edition, published by the National Marriage Project in the US, says that cohabitation is now a bigger problem for children than divorce. Read more...
More Catholic adoption agencies lose funding over moral stance
~The US state of Illinois has been given the right to stop funding Catholic adoption agencies in four dioceses after a ruling by a Circuit Court judge. Catholic Charities, the umbrella group running the adoption services, had argued that the state did not have the right to terminate their contracts, as the reason for the termination was the organisation's religious beliefs. Read more...
Reform divorce law to save the taxpayer says organisation
~Reforms aimed at making it harder for couples to obtain divorces in the US are being touted as part of the solution to runaway government spending. According to figures from the University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project, a new single-parent family with children, created as a result of divorce, can cost the government $20,000 to $30,000 a year. Read more...
O’Rourke accuses government of child protection double standards
~Former Fianna Fáil TD Mary O’Rourke has criticised the Government for its relative silence on the child protection failures of the HSE. Speaking yesterday at the Merriman School, Ms O'Rourke noted that the Taoiseach had gotten “great kudos” for his speech condemning the Church over its failures in handling clerical sexual abuse of children. Read more...
Equality watchdog won’t defend Christians after all
~The UK's equality watchdog has performed a U-turn over its stance on reforming the law to give greater protection to Christians who have been banned from expressing their religious beliefs at work. Don Horrocks, from the Evangelical Alliance, said the Commission had been “successfully intimidated against proceeding as they initially announced”. Read more...
Law must be changed to enable adoption of married children says expert
~The head of advocacy for one of Ireland's leading children's charities, Barnardos, has said the Irish Constitution discriminates against the children of married parents because it is very difficult to adopt such children. Norah Gibbons, head of advocacy with Barnardos, made the remarks this week at the Parnell Summer School in Wicklow. However, official figures show that very few children are adopted in Ireland, whatever their family background. Read more...
Social workers wrongly accuse parents of abusing infant
~Social workers in the UK town of Bristol removed two children from their parents after mistaking a baby's brittle bone disease for evidence of abuse. The parents were also arrested by police. The children have now been reunited with their parents, but it took 18 months for social workers and doctors to realise baby Harrison was suffering from a rare form of brittle bone disease meaning the slightest touch could snap his bones in two. Read more...
Societies suffer when they don’t promote marriage says Bishop
~Societies which do not strongly promote and uphold marriage inevitably experience marital breakdown and, in some neighbourhoods “the near disappearance of a culture of marriage altogether”, the Bishop of Elphin, Dr Christopher Jones (pictured), has said. Writing in yesterday’s Irish Independent, Bishop Jones said that marriage was “essential to the common good” adding that this view was supported by extensive research. Read more...
Family breakdown targeted by Cameron in aftermath of looting
~Government policies which undermine the family will be vetoed, Prime Minister David Cameron (pictured) has pledged, in response to last week’s arson and looting. In a defining speech yesterday, Mr Cameron returned to themes which he has stressed since becoming leader of the Conservative Party, promising to tackle what he calls “broken Britain”. Read more...
Educated people more likely to attend church says new study
~The more highly educated a person is the more likely he or she is to be religious, according to a new study. The research found a link between higher levels of education and increased levels of church attendance and bible reading. The study will be published in an upcoming edition of the journal Review of Religious Research. Read more...
Nurses win battle not to perform abortions
~A British hospital which tried to force two Catholic nurses to participate in abortions has backed down after their lawyer cited equality legislation in their defence. The two nurses, who were Filipinos, objected to being placed on duty at a weekly abortion clinic in a busy central London hospital. The were instructed to hand out abortifacients to women. Read more...
Religious freedom on the decline says new report
~Religious freedom is declining globally, according to new research. The report, published by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, shows that more than 2.2 billion people live in countries where government restrictions or social hostilities involving religion are increasing. The survey also finds that Europe had the largest proportion of countries in which social hostilities related to religion were on the rise from mid-2006 to mid-2009. Read more...
Politicians don’t properly value marriage says bishop
~Most politicians have no idea of the value of marriage to society, according to the Bishop of Elphin, Dr Christopher Jones. Bishop Jones asked: when is the last time anyone “ heard of a politician or a Minister of Government speak of the importance of marriage, of family life for parents, for children and for the State.” Read more...
Study finds teenage motherhood is ‘contagious’
~A new study has suggested that teenage motherhood is ‘contagious’ within families. Researchers from Bristol University found that the sister of a teenage mother is twice as likely to follow in her footsteps as a girl with no family experience of early motherhood. And the ‘peer effect’ on girls aged 16 to 19 was shown to have a far more powerful impact than any education or advice they are given at school. The closer the sisters were in age, the more powerful the effect was. Read more...
Equality Authority calls for same-sex marriage
~The Equality Authority has called on the Government to legalise same-sex marriage. Speaking at the launch of the group's annual report for 2010, Angela Kerins (pictured), the chairwoman of the Authority said she welcomed the passage of the civil partnership bill last year, according to the Irish Times. Read more...
Atheist parents object to Brownie pledge to God
~Two atheist parents are threatening to pull their seven-year-old daughter out of the Brownies because the Brownie pledge asks members to do their best “to love God”. The pledge says: "I promise that I will do my best, to love my God, to serve the Queen and my country, to help other people and to keep the Brownie Guide law." Read more...
San Francisco authorities target pro-life counseling agencies
~Officials in San Francisco are proposing a new city ordinance to target pro-life pregnancy centres, alleging that such centres are engaged in misleading counseling and advertising. Advocates for the centres say the proposal aims at prohibiting crisis pregnancy centres from using the word "abortion," in what are known as internet tags or key words, to reach out to women considering the procedure. Read more...
Christian pharmacists could face the sack in UK
~New guidelines by the regulating body for pharmacists in the UK mean that Christian pharmacists could face the sack if they refuse to sell the morning-after pill. Many pharmacists have conscientious moral objections to dispensing ‘emergency contraception’ and have in the past refused to do so because the drugs can work as abortifaecients. Read more...
Equality Commission’s new commitment to religious freedom in doubt
~The recent commitment given by the UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to protect religious liberty in the workplace has been put in doubt by one of its own commissioners. Angela Mason, fomer head of gay activist group Stonewall and a member of the EHRC has said commission will break its promise to support the principle of ‘reasonable adjustment’ for the religious beliefs of staff in the workplace. Read more...
Christian electrician suspended over cross
~A Christian electrician who faced the sack in April for displaying a small palm cross in his company van has now been suspended from work, reportedly for speaking out in the media. Earlier this year Colin Atkinson, who works at Wakefield and District Housing (WDH), faced losing his job over the small cross in a row about ‘neutrality’. Mr Atkinson has been supported by the Christian Legal Centre during his ordeal. Read more...
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