A British doctor lost his National Health Service job because he refused to renounce his belief that gender is determined at birth. When his instructor said reports must only refer to the patient – or “client” – by the sex that person identified themselves as, the doctor says a discussion took place among the medics Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Religious freedom’
Christian conversion can lead to 10 years in jail
Monday, May 14th, 2018
Christian conversion is not for the fainthearted in Iran. It can be a crime leading to a decade in jail. The Iranian government uses the Internet to censor and monitor activists and to enforce official religious interpretations. Surveillance cameras watch Catholic churches. They’re looking for Muslims going into Christian churches, Iranian-born journalist Sohrab Ahmari says. Read more
Religious freedom conditions worsen
Monday, April 30th, 2018Religious freedom conditions worsened across the globe in the past year. The U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom’s 2018 report says abuses against religious freedom include genocide, enslavement, rape, imprisonment, forced displacement, forced conversions, property destruction, and bans on religious education of children. The report was released last week. Read more
New Zealand tops Commonwealth religious freedom list
Thursday, April 26th, 2018
New Zealand has been named in new research as the Commonwealth member country where people enjoy the greatest religious freedom. The Council of Christians and Jews (CCJ) statistics were unveiled ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting which took place on April 19 and 20 in the United Kingdom. The figures show that the 53-state Read more
Eight priests beaten, vehicle burned
Monday, December 18th, 2017
Eight priests who were beaten by 100 Hindu extremists outside an Indian police station and had their vehicle burned say the police did nothing to help them. “They [the Hindu mob] set our vehicle on fire, forcing us to take shelter inside the police station,” Fr Anish Emmanuel says. He says he and his confreres Read more
Religious freedom scarcely exists
Thursday, October 26th, 2017
Religious freedom is an oxymoron for about three-quarters of the world, according to a United Nations investigator. Ahmed Shaheed, who is a human rights expert, has been investigating religious rights. He has asked for the repeal of all laws that undermine people’s right to freedom of religion or belief, or discriminate against that right. “Increases Read more
Bishops hail new healthcare mandate as return to common sense
Thursday, October 12th, 2017
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is praising the change to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Affordable Care Act healthcare mandate regarding funding contraception. The USCCB says the change is a “return to common sense, long-standing federal practice, and peaceful coexistence between church and state.” The change provides “a Read more
Australia’s PM believes in religious freedom more strongly than in same-gender marriage
Monday, September 18th, 2017
“As strongly as I believe in the right of same-sex couples to marry, even more strongly do I believe in religious freedom,” says Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. A supporter of same-gender marriage, Turnbull defended the right of a church to refuse to marry a young couple who had posted support for same-sex unions on social media. He Read more
Nepal bans evangelisation, religious conversion
Monday, August 28th, 2017
Nepal will pass a bill next week criminalising religious conversions and banning ‘hurting religious sentiment’. Once it is signed, a clause in Nepal’s new constitution barring religious conversion will come into effect. Anyone convicted under the new law could face up to five years in prison for seeking to convert a person or “undermine the Read more
Vanuatu a Christian nation says new President
Thursday, July 13th, 2017
Vanuatu’s new president Tallis Obed Moses says there is only one religion in the republic and it is Christianity. He said the country’s motto of ‘Long God Yumi Stanap’ simply meant that Vanuatu is a Christian nation. RNZ correspondent said Moses’s stance it falls into line with the Vanuatu Christian Council’s position that the freedom of Read more