Last week’s Westminster Faith Debate examined religion in schools in Britain. But there’s a danger that we get so sucked into our own national preoccupations that we lose perspective. My work on research and policy extends into Europe, and I want to give a wider European perspective to the United Kingdom debates. Above all, I suggest that Read more
For a brief moment, Catholics on all sides were united in defense of the freedom of the Catholic Church to define for itself what it means to be Catholic in America. They came together to defend the church’s institutions from morally objectionable potentially crippling burdens imposed by the Obama administration under the Affordable Care Act. Read more
President Obama has abandoned his stand that religious organisations must pay for birth control for workers. Seeking to end the election-year furore, particularly from the Catholic Church, Obama’s compromise meant women would still get free birth control; Obama demanding that insurance companies step in and provide the coverage. Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of New York initially called Read more
Separation of Church and State is an essential pre-condition for Western style democracies. But it is not total separation, as desired by the secularists. Church members vote and hold high office as citizens. The Churches have a part to play in the ‘public square’. In fact Evangelical Catholics are committed to robust public proclamation of Read more
The US Catholic bishops say religious freedom is being whittled away by same-sex marriage, abortion and healthcare legislation, and they are vowing to up their efforts to protect it. “For some time now we have viewed with growing alarm the ongoing erosion of religious liberty in our country,” Bishop William Lori, bishop of Connecticut told the Read more
President Obama met recently with New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, president of the US Catholic bishops’ conference, to discuss issues that have created tension between the administration and the Catholic hierarchy, reports The National Catholic Reporter. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops feels at odds with the Obama administration and Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia told students last Read more
Some commentators are suggesting that religious liberty is under threat in the United States in both the legislature and the courts. At least one Bishop thinks there is a possibility that the Church will no longer be free to preach the truth from the pulpit or to present Catholic teaching. Bishop Samuel J. Aquila of Fargo, Read more
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has established a Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty in response a number of perceived attacks on religious freedom by Federal and State Departments. Bishop William Lori will chair the committee. Archbishop Timothy Dolan, president of the Bishops’ Conference, listed six particular areas of concern: • The Department of Health Read more
The Fiji Attorney General, Sayed-Khaiyum says there are no restrictions on religion in Fiji. Sayed-Khaiyum responded to comments by Jonathan Temm , president of the New Zealand Law Society by saying his comments are “obtuse, lack any substance and it is clear that he is seriously misinformed on events in Fiji.” On August 26 Radio New Zealand International reported Read more
Catholics hope they will be able to continue to practice their faith in a rebel-led Libya. Libyan Catholics were permitted to worship under Qaddafi’s leadership and there are reports from rebel-led areas that the Church is functioning without restriction, though some uncertainty remains. “The future is very uncertain but the signs from the parts of Read more