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Two midwives at the Southern General in Glasgow want to have no part in the chain of the abortion procedure, claiming it is an affront to their religious beliefs. They are seeking a ruling at the Court of Session that their right to conscientious objection under the 1967 Abortion Act extends to refusing to delegate, supervise and support staff involved in the work.

Sir Nicolas Bratza accuses the British Government of pandering to the tabloid press in its criticism of the European Court of Human Rights and says senior British politicians have betrayed their ignorance of the institution's history and legal position by joining the clamour for its reform.

Why is no one defending freedom of expression?

Why aren't MPs and ministers insisting on the vital role of free speech ?This intimidation and censorship is shocking.

Two Church of England vicars conducted hundreds of sham marriages to enable illegal immigrants to stay in Britain, a court was told.

Private clinics that carry out abortions for profit are to get the go-ahead to promote their services with TV and radio adverts. Anti-choice campaigners protest.

Also, good access to birth control in those countries resulted in fewer unwanted pregnancies and therefore abortions.

Ministers are to bring to an end an "absurd" benefits regime which has seen husbands with multiple wives able to claim extra welfare payments.

Sadakat Kadri said religious courts such as the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal, could serve the community as a whole

Thousands of Muslims using it to settle disputes each year, but women's groups and some others are objecting.

A new resolution introduced at the United Nations Human Rights Council has free speech advocates concerned about a potential backlash against religious minority groups.

Student union backs away from call for Jesus and Mo cartoon to be withdrawn from society's Facebook page

A constitutional convention is due to review the Republic's constitutional text in the coming months.

The Commission on Assisted Dying - set up and funded by campaigners who want to see a change in the law - said the current system was "inadequate".

A senior bishop has described plans to allow assisted suicide for the terminally ill as morally unacceptable.

A judge said it was "quite staggering" that he could only impose a fine on a former soldier who admitted making racist remarks about Muslims (even though Islam is not a race).

We are talking about sharia in the sense of a legal code that is enforced, rather than in the secondary sense of a codification of Islamic principles of daily life that individual Muslims may choose to live by.

Egypt's richest man and figurehead of the liberal movement for the country's political leadership, is to be put on trial for insulting religion over cartoons he put on Twitter showing Mickey and Minnie Mouse in traditional Muslim clothing.

One rule for government, another for everyone else.

Christianity provides a 'moral code' to counter riots, expense scandals and Islamist extremism, says the prime minister

For the first time in more than a decade, the U.N. General Assembly condemned religious intolerance without urging states to outlaw "defamation of religions," an appeal critics say opened the door to abusive "blasphemy" laws.

The SNP administration used its Holyrood majority to bulldoze through its Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications bill.

Holyrood has made it a criminal offence to make comments intended to incite religious hatred.

The limits coercively imposed in the name of Islam on fundamental freedoms of religion and speech.

New York State lawmakers plan to revisit lifting time limits on lawsuits by victims, an issue that has pitted the Roman Catholic Church and other institutions against advocates for children.

A Delhi court ordered websites such as Facebook, Google and Youtube to remove “anti-religious” or “anti-social” content.

Pagan prisoners are allowed to choose two out of eight festivals on which to take a day off from the work they would normally do in jail, which might be cooking, cleaning and so on.

Watering down British laws 'would send a dangerous signal to undemocratic states'

The Government was slammed for refusing to support a group of Christians fighting for their rights in the European courts.

The council said the wording had changed because some had different faiths or were not religious.

The beheading took to 73 the number of executions in Saudi Arabia this year.

Ban on face and full body veils during immigration ceremony is 'matter of deep principle', says citizenship minister

Around 2,000 Catholic traditionalists demonstrated in Paris over the staging of what they consider a blasphemous play depicting the crucifixion.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, a group of men with no background in law or medicine, have quietly influenced all of the major anti-abortion legislation over the past several years.

A gang of Somalian women who repeatedly kicked a young woman in the head walked free from court after a judge heard they were "not used to being drunk" because they were Muslim.

An Australian man in Medina while making the Muslim pilgrimage of Hajj sentenced to 500 lashes and a year in a Saudi Arabian jail.

The importance of marriage is to be taught to every pupil at the Government's flagship free schools and academies.

The banning of prayers being said before full Gloucestershire County Council meetings was about being fair to all religions.

The Supreme Court let stand a ruling that religious groups cannot use public schools facilities for worship services outside of normal school hours in a case about church-state separation.

A probe by the Vatican into the handling of clerical child sex abuse in Ireland will be published and not kept secret, a senior aide to the Pope has pledged.

A Grimsby bakery – found to have discriminated against a headscarf-wearing Muslim woman on religious grounds – is asking top judges to block a similar case being brought by her husband.

The National Secular Society is arguing that the religious ritual is ''inappropriate'' in what should be ''a secular environment concerned with civic business''.

Muslim student not entitled to perform prayer during school as act had created "very severe conflicts," court rules.

Members of the medical, legal and nursing professions are to sit on a 14-member expert group being set up to address the outcome of last year’s European Court of Human Rights ruling on abortion rights in Ireland.

The views of the woman on the Croydon tram may be repugnant, but laws that criminalise hate speech usually backfire

Christians are not being persecuted in Britain. Christians are being persecuted in places such as Pakistan, the Sudan and even Israel.

THE Scottish Parliament has been told it is a matter of “disappointment and incredulity” that Catholics cannot ascend the UK throne.

A Bill of Rights is ‘absurd’

 A clause protecting freedom of expression has been added to a part of controversial legislation aimed at tackling religious sectarian hatred in Scotland

The Rev Mark Sharpe claims that he and his family have been subjected to four years of cruel harassment.

 The reports by the National Board for Safeguarding Children were completed months ago.

“Liberal Democrats will not allow a small number of out-of-touch people to hamper this important step in our fight for full equal rights for LGBT couples”.

Sabir Hussain sentenced to 10 weeks for kicking and slapping pupils at mosque in Keighley, West Yorkshire

“UnHate” campaign includes, the Pope kissing Ahmed Mohamed el Tayeb, a Muslim imam from Egypt.

A man from Dortmund has filed charges against Pope Benedict XVI for failing to wear a seatbelt while being driven through Germany in the Popemobile during an official visit in September.

Lynne Featherstone, the equalities minister, will say that the ban on the ceremonies in religious surroundings will be lifted on December 5.

A Catholic Church child safety co-ordinator who was in charge of investigating sexual abuse allegations was jailed for 12 months today for internet paedophile offences.

Commonwealth leaders will amend legislation dating back to the 17th century to allow daughters of the monarch to take precedence over younger sons in the line of succession.

An Oregon judge on sentenced two members of a faith-healing church to more than six years in prison, saying the death of their newborn son was easily avoidable.

Peter Tatchell has backed a Christian housing worker demoted for posting comments on Facebook about gay marriage.

Home Secretary Theresa May should take action against the extremist Muslims Against Crusades group, a Tory MP has said after being threatened by the group at a constituency surgery.

A leading child abuse lawyer has warned physical and sexual abuse in special Muslim faith schools is going unreported and unpunished

A Christian employee of a housing association in Manchester has been demoted and had his salary slashed by 40 per cent because of his Facebook comments about same-sex civil partnerships in churches.

Controversial GP Mark Huckstep has admitted he used his Christian beliefs as a "complementary therapy" for patients

A MUSLIM physiotherapist who launched into a racist rant when a patient refused to undergo acupuncture at a Sheffield clinic has been struck off. He told the Christian woman her faith was ‘wrong’ and had ‘killed more people than any other religion’ after she said the treatment was against her beliefs.

Ann Widdecombe tells Cameron: Christians deserve same protection as gay people

The main changes would stop an elder daughter being succeeded to the throne by a younger son; abolish the law against a monarch being married to a Roman Catholic and remove from the statute books an old law which requires all descendants of King George II to ask the ruling monarch’s permission to marry.

In charging the bishop of Kansas City with failure to report child abuse, prosecutors in Missouri have done something unprecedented in the long, troubling saga of the sexual abuse scandal in the U.S. Roman Catholic Church: hold a member of the church hierarchy criminally accountable for the alleged crimes of a priest.

Reforms to England's libel laws will not do enough to protect free speech, MPs and peers say.

The religion clause case recently argued before the Supreme Court centres on the “ministerial exception,” the doctrine (elaborated over the last 40 years) that exempts religious associations from complying with neutral, generally applicable laws in some, but not all, circumstances.

If passed into law, the bill, called the Protect Life Act, would prevent federal money from going to health insurance plans that cover abortions.

 Police refuse to prosecute

Ireland rejects recommendations from six European countries that it should legislate for abortion, but pledged to act on a wide range of suggestions to improve human rights in other areas.

Theresa May's attack on the Human Rights Act is irresponsible, and diminishes democracy

In Europe an Islamic legal institution has been issuing fatwas for a long time without respecting universal ethical values -- foremost the sanctity of life

Lord Nicholas Windsor says 1967 Act should never have been passed

An Iranian actress has been sentenced to a year in jail and 90 lashes for her role in a film about the limits imposed on artists in the Islamic republic.

Participants to meet Sunday evening to sign affidavits informing the Interior Ministry of their change of status to 'without religion.'

The possible hanging of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani for converting from Islam to Christianity has exposed a division among Islamic jurists on whether Iran would be violating Islamic law by carrying out the execution.

The Scottish government announced a consultation on gay marriage last month and said it was “minded” towards marriage equality.

Even though the court found that he was not a practicing Muslim adult before becoming a Christian 13 years ago, he remains guilty of apostasy because he has Muslim ancestry.

Supporters from both sides of the Old Firm have decided to mount a sustained campaign against Alex Salmond’s  proposed anti-sectarian legislation.

A Bath independent school cancelled a visit from a top children’s author because it was concerned that her work was not in keeping with its Christian ethos.

A Pakistani girl who says she was kidnapped and gang-raped faces a new threat: honour killings, a tradition that her family refuses to carry out.

A Saudi woman who defied the Islamic kingdom's bizarre ban on female drivers has been sentenced to ten lashes.

Since France introduced its burqa ban in April there have been violent attacks on women wearing the niqab and, this week, the first fines could be handed down. But a legal challenge to this hard line may yet expose the French state as a laughing stock

The Pope and top Vatican cardinals have been accused of possible crimes against humanity for sheltering guilty Catholic priests, in formal complaints to the International Criminal Court.

MPs have rejected Nadine Dorries’ bid to change the law on abortion counselling for women by 368 votes to 118. Her amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill were debated in Parliament on September 7.

Radical reform of the European Court of Human Rights will still fail to prevent a prisoner voting-style row, the Government’s own experts signalled.

Proposed laws to crack down on bigotry in football could bring the legal system into ‘disrepute’ and undermine existing measures to tackle sectarianism.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld a decision by a Southern California school district to order a math teacher to remove classroom banners that included the phrases In God We Trust and God Shed His Grace on Thee.

Bill would not include specific provisions requiring priests to pass on information about paedophiles gleaned in the confessional

The National Secular Society has warned that subsidised parking for Sunday worshippers is ‘almost certainly illegal’ and has called for the concession to be stopped.

The leader of Scotland's Catholic community has warned that moves by MSPs to legalise gay marriage will be "strenuously opposed" by the Church.

The ASA has banned a Phones 4 U ad for disrespecting Christianity

The National Secular Society welcomed the news that schools were increasingly flouting a law requiring collective worship to take place.

THE opening of the Scottish Government's consultation on legalising gay marriage has prompted a furious backlash from evangelical Christians.

Christians Against Poverty has been forced to leave AdviceUK, an umbrella group representing the interests of thousands of advice workers, after it was judged that praying was ‘incompatible’ with membership.

Three men were hanged for 'forbidden acts against religion'.

Despite strong evidence, the government is dragging its feet over caste.

EHRC will now not support Ladele and McFarlane

Throughout almost all of the history of Christianity, capital punishment has been widely endorsed.

Middle England has its say.

Home Secretary Theresa May considering whether to add the caste system to British equality law

The UN issued a new statementsaying that laws restricting blasphemy as such are incompatible with universal human rights standards.

A new bill may be aimed at sharia courts, but there are issues for Batei Din too

A look at a sharia court in action

An Iranian man who was to have acid dripped into his eye won a reprieve after the woman he blinded forgave him seconds before the punishment was to be carried out.

Two Muslim teenagers have admitted drawing burkas on advertisements of scantily-clad women because they offended their religious views.

Body set up to improve Catholic church's response to abuse reveals three-fold rise in allegations in 2010

Ministers have abandoned an inquiry into the rise of Sharia councils because the Muslim courts refused to help

LONDON 2012 organisers have insisted they will not ban ceremonial daggers, carried as articles of faith, at next year's Olympics.

A former referees' chief who was sacked for sending an e-mail about the Pope and child abuse has settled his unfair dismissal case against the Scottish Football Association out of court.

Man left rashers of bacon outside religious building in South Shields and similar products outside worshippers' homes.

TWO women who were accused of physical abusive against young girls in their care while they were nuns will not stand trial in front of their accusers after a Sheriff ruled against the case proceeding.

USA: Church officials and birth control proponents are at odds regarding new legislation that could prevent pharmacy employees from denying the sale of contraceptives because of their religious beliefs.

"This is the Republic of Ireland 2011. A Republic of laws, of rights and responsibilities, of proper civic order, where the delinquency and arrogance of a particular version -- of a particular kind of 'morality' -- will no longer be tolerated or ignored."

Dutch parliament has banned all forms of slaughter without stunning, leading to claims of discrimination from Jewish and Muslim communities.

Concern about termination services is rising, with fewer doctors willing to perform the procedure, DoH says

Are rights being violated when health-insurance plans are required to cover procedures people find objectionable due to personal religious taboos?

 A system of legal pluralism based on sharia law "abounds" in Australia, according to new research by legal academics

New York State municipal clerks responsible for issuing marriage licenses are not required by law to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs. They can delegate the issuance of same-sex marriage licenses to someone else.

Dixie County has 30 days to remove a granite monument of the Ten Commandments from  the steps of the county courthouse, where it has sat since 2006, according to a federal court ruling Friday.

Austrian wanted to show the stupidity of driver license regulations permitting religious adherents to wear headgear. So he put a colander on his head and took a picture.

In a major U Turn, the Equality Commission rules that Christians who disagree with equality law should have the freedom to follow their conscience.

Proposals to strip abortion providers of their counselling role could result in women being advised at centres run by religious groups who would actively deter them from choosing abortion as an option. More here and here.

Christians who wear crosses at work or discuss their beliefs with colleagues must have legal protection from persecution, the Church of England demanded yesterday.

A select committee-style inquiry on Christianity is to be held in order to clarify how the law affects believers, amid increasing claims of religious discrimination and persecution.

Below the radar all kinds of deeply reactionary proposals are being ushered through this parliament.

Private and voluntary organisations would be able to bid to run every part of public service except national security, frontline policing and the judiciary.

The Vatican is furious over the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity as part of human rights saying that it is part of an agenda that could restrict the Church’s freedom.

After her play about abuse in the Sikh community sparked death threats in 2004, the author writes another play to confront censorship head-on

Human rights activists have raised serious concerns about a lawyer who fell foul of Iran’s Islamic regime for highlighting the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.

The supreme court in 1992 ruled that abortion is allowed if the mother's life is in danger. However, successive governments have cowered away from legislating on the decision, leaving a massive grey area.

Muslims Against the Crusades have named Yorkshire towns Bradford and Dewsbury and Tower Hamlets in East London as testbeds for blanket sharia rule.

Muslim women can be forced to remove their face veils during routine car stops under new powers granted to NSW police.

A group of conservative Islamic political and religious officials has condemned a meeting by the U.S. Embassy supporting gay rights in Pakistan as “cultural terrorism” against the country.

Gay sex was decriminalised in India in a landmark judgement in 2009 but India's health minister says homosexuality is a "disease" which is "spreading fast" in the country.

The Wilders case demonstrates the continued willingness of authorities in Europe's most liberal countries to regulate the content of speech on Islam in order to placate Muslim blasphemy demands. Wilders' acquittal does not change that.

A 'blasphemous' exhibit depicting 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' in a floral bikini is to go on show in University College Cork on June 23 -- and critics have begun attacking the 'artwork' before it's even begun.

The sentence was handed down in far less time than is usual for Pakistan`s ordinarily ponderous court system - most cases drag on for years.

Sharia remains one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented terms in the west – allegedly.

A group of 22 former students from two Catholic prep schools have started legal action against the Rosminian Order for compensation.

Far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders has been acquitted by a court in Amsterdam where he was on trial for inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims.

People are right to be concerned about the new sectarianism laws as religious groups will inevitably use them to suppress wider, legitimate opposition to their agenda.

New laws to clamp down on football hate-crime require far more funding, according to the police who will enforce the legislation.

The Church of England is using the Equality Act as a “smokescreen” for allowing gay clergymen to become bishops, according to the National Secular Society.

The Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, has made a wide-ranging intervention into the growing debate on the place of religion in modern society.

We cannot sit here complacently in our red and green benches while women are suffering a system which is utterly incompatible with the legal principles upon which this country is founded," she says.

Rushing legislation could lead to mistakes - the Government hopes to have the Bill in operation for the start of the football season on July 23.

Theological dogma should not dictate policy when it comes to assisted suicide.

The British government will begin offering Muslim workers Sharia-compliant pensions as of 2012. The funds reflect the gradual establishment of parallel Islamic financial and legal systems in British public life.

Dutch Christian Community have filed a petition to European Union appealing to repeal / amend Blasphemy Laws and stop discriminating Christians in Pakistan.

Attorneys for the Diocese contend that if a jury verdict awarding $5 million to a former altar boy sexually abused by a priest is allowed to stand, religious liberty could be undermined.

 Diane Abbott is among those opposing involvement of anti-abortion charity in possible amendment to law

Pratchett has suggested the creation of an independent tribunal to act "for the good of society as well as that of the applicant" in deciding whether they should be allowed to choose to hasten their own deaths.

Mohammed Hasnath, 18, posted stickers in London’s East End warning gays that homosexuality was wrong and that "Allah is severe in punishment".

In Bristol, a man pleaded guilty to causing racially or religiously aggravated harassment and could have been jailed for up to two years, but walked free from Bristol Crown Court with a suspended six-month prison sentence because he had returned to the mosque to apologise for his actions.

The mother of a 16-year-old claims her daughter was poisoned during a religious ritual. The church denies the fasting ritual caused the girl's death.

Two years ago, Patrick Strudwick began challenging therapists who claimed they could change a patient's sexuality. In a landmark ruling this week, one  was found guilty of "treating" a patient for his homosexuality.

A company did not indirectly discriminate against a Muslim security guard by preventing him from attending Friday prayers at a Mosque, an Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) has ruled.

A Saudi Arabian woman who was jailed for driving a car has been released after nine days, having pledged to take no further part in a campaign to persuade the Saudi authorities to allow women to drive.

Minister said a formal ban on veils that cover the face and body seemed to him "unavoidable," with a ban on veils in public services as a minimum step.

Almost three-quarters of the electorate voted to legalise divorce in Malta. With a 95% Catholic majority, Malta is the only EU country not to allow it.

Advocacy group Justice for Magdalenes is taking the case to the United Nations, alleging the abuse amounted to human rights violations.

The lack of rights of women under Islam

An employment tribunal held that a Muslim employee had been harassed on grounds of religion when a company director forwarded an email to all staff which was offensive and derogatory to the Islamic faith.

 A Sikh prison officer at Dovergate prison sacked for wearing a religious dagger in jail has lost a legal challenge against his dismissal.

REGENTS Theological College in West Malvern has successfully opposed a compensation claim for discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief.

When a Bangladeshi teenager was raped by her cousin, their village council issued a fatwa ordering a public whipping as punishment — 101 lashes for her, 201 for him. She collapsed after 70 lashes and died six days later.

A teenager who stabbed her mother five times as she slept has walked free from court after claiming she was possessed by the spirit of her dead grandma.

Americans closely divided between "pro-choice" (49%) and "pro-life," (45%) in Gallup's 2011 update on U.S. abortion attitudes.

Dutch courts have not prosecuted a blasphemy case since putting a novelist on trial in 1966.

A committed Christian GP has been accused of harassment and told by the medical regulator that his behaviour was unprofessional after talking about his religious beliefs with a patient.

'We have the laws to tackle bigotry - but police just aren't using them,' says top historian.

A brother avenged his sister's sharia divorce in an "honour attack" on her former husband

Early projections in Zurich referendums show 80% are against proposals to outlaw 'suicide tourism'

A report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops about sexual abuse by priests is hogwash according to lawyer with over 100 clients claiming abuse

The Australian government has rejected a call from a leading Muslim group for the introduction of a non-extremist version of sharia law.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has promised to introduce tougher laws which crack down on people who shout sectarian abuse in football stadiums or "peddle religious hate" online.

A Christian GP dismissed as a Government drugs adviser over his views on homosexuality has launched a legal bid to win his job back.

Ugandan lawmakers failed to debate a new anti-gay law, proposed by an ambitious evangelical Member of Parliament, that calls for the death penalty for some homosexual acts – but he will try again.

THE VATICAN and Ireland are criticised in connection with child protection issues in the Amnesty International Report 2011: The State of the World’s Human Rights

A taxi driver was banned from displaying a crucifix on his dashboard after a teenage customer complained that it looked “phallic”.

A lawsuit filed Wednesday in the US Federal court accuses the Vatican of directly covering up the accusations of sexual abuse by U.S. priests

Religious privileges in the UK undermine claims of persecution.

The Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy has not been pardoned and freed by the Pakistani president, despite rumours.

A leading legal campaign group has called for the end of separate Catholic education as the only way of "confronting and counteracting sectarianism" in Scotland.

 A former BBC employee who strongly believes in the ethos of public service broadcasting will be allowed to bring a discrimination case against the corporation under laws designed to protect religious faiths, a tribunal has ruled.

Objectivity could be lost when lawyers are committed to cases such as those alleging religious discrimination.

President of Danish Free Press Society and International Free Press Society found guilty of hate speech for drawing attention to child abuse and violence against women in Muslim culture.

Despite government assertions over its implementation, no fines have been imposed

LGBT can legally be denied social services and employment from religious groups, including teaching jobs in their schools, as well as adoption services.

When pluralism is reflected in many different religious views, it is sometimes the role of the courts to arbitrate how to balance the various interests involved.

Christian Legal Centre have promised to step up their campaign against the marginalisation of religion in society as they prepare to fight more than 50 cases.

A ruling by one of the eight advocates general to the European Union's Court of Justice on the issue of stem cells looks set to kill off a bioscience discipline that could revolutionise medicine in the 21st century.

The secular movement is a variant of the man-made philosophies that failed in the last Century – humanism, fascism, communism. The time is ripe for a review of the equality laws.

Leeds-based agency Catholic Care told it must consider gay and lesbian couples as prospective parents

The Royal wedding highlights the absurdity of the constitutional arrangements which require Britain to be reigned over by a White Anglo-German Protestant monarch.

A ruling from a federal judge in Oregon marks the first time that an American court has ever issued an order requiring the Vatican to hand over documents in a sex abuse case.

New EU proposals have steered away from labelling meat from ritually slaughtered animals as Halal or Shechita to avoid causing religious offence

Christian thinktank says electrician barred from displaying a cross in his van does not appear to be a victim of anti-Christian discrimination, since the rule in dispute does not single out any particular religion or belief.

Bosses at the publicly funded Wakefield and District Housing have demanded he remove the eight inch long cross made from woven palm leaves from his dashboard.

Mr Salmond said he had written to Mr Cameron to demand any consideration for reform must also include the provision in the 1701 Act of Settlement which bars Roman Catholics from ascending to the throne.

The Vatican has been served with court papers stemming from decades-old allegations of sexual abuse against a now-deceased priest at a Wisconsin school for the deaf

The U.S. Supreme Court made a decision that turned the whole concept of separation of church and state on its head.

More than 30 of the hundreds of people convicted under the blasphemy laws have been killed by vigilantes.

A Jehovah's Witness on trial in Siberia was found innocent on of charges of "inciting religious hatred and enmity," in a case that was being watched as a litmus test of religious freedom in Russia

 The prospect of any attempt to ban the Islamic full veil in public in Britain has been firmly ruled out by Theresa May, the Home Secretary.

Since when has it been possible to commit a public order offence in the privacy of one's own garage?

Despite some high-profile protests, France’s banning of the burka is enormously popular with the public.

How will the French police proceed in dealing with a law that they say is unworkable?

The punishment was also meted out to another couple during the event in the city of Jantho.

 The court’s conclusion was based primarily on the idea of “margin of appreciation”.

New report into decades of child abuse coverups — and how a Cork bishop kept crimes in his diocese secret long after the Irish church issued orders to tell police.

 A Christian couple whose views on homosexuality are a bar to them becoming foster carers are resubmitting their application to Derby City Council.

A federal judge has ruled  that a lawsuit filed by the Atheists of Florida to stop prayer before meetings of the Lakeland City Commission can continue.

Police in France have been instructed to refrain from burka "hunts" or "public unveilings" of women wearing the full Islamic veil when a ban on the garment comes into force.

Opponents say the case of a woman with crippling arthritis who died at Swiss clinic shows a shifting of the goalposts.

Controversial Florida pastor Terry Jones has vowed to step up his provocative campaign against Islam.

A dress code for Muslim women when in public institutions would free up faith from the grip of fanatics and reintegrate Muslims

Under Bangladeshi sharia law a woman normally inherits half as much as her brother. But under the new rules, every child would inherit an equal amount.

Seven leaders of the Baha’i faith, currently in prison, have been informed that their original 20-year prison term has been reinstated. The judgment came days before the blasphemy trial of five members of the Church of Iran is due to begin.

Politicians should stop criticising human rights ruling as they are to blame for tying the hands of courts, the country’s most senior judge signalled yesterday.

Islamic countries set aside their 12-year campaign to have religions protected from "defamation", allowing the U.N. Human Rights Council to approve a plan to promote religious tolerance

Vatican condemned a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution in support of gay rights. The resolution was sponsored by 85 countries including the United States.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi: 'States can and must regulate behaviours, including various sexual behaviours'.

The maximum jail term for sectarian hate crimes will rise from six months to five years under plans being considered by the Crown Office.

The Vatican welcomed as "historic" a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in the Lautsi case that said displaying crucifixes in schools in Italy did not breach the rights of non-Catholics. This marks a reverse for European secularism.

The publication of a draft Defamation Bill is an important step towards correcting the flaws in the current law.

Sharia law is being used by house buyers posing as Muslims to dodge stamp duty. A scheme, brought in by Labour in 2005, allows followers of Islam to buy property without paying the tax.

Decision will infuriate Tory rightwingers unhappy at what they believe is Strasbourg judges' interference in UK rights

If the Tories really want public engagement in the new review, why did they bury the last one?

Views on foxhunting have been placed on the same legal footing as religion after a landmark ruling said an animal rights campaigner’s opinions amount to philosophical beliefs.

The judgment in the case of a Pentecostal couple who wanted to foster children, but refused to accept homosexuality, is an important statement of secular principles .

The National Secular Society has formally complained to the European Commission accusing the British Government of eroding legislative protection from religious discrimination for teachers.

Cameron appeared to back the courts by saying Owen and Eunice Johns had been dealt with in an ‘appropriate way’, and added that Christians must be ‘tolerant and welcoming’ towards homosexuality.

A Muslim extremist's poppy-burning may be insulting, but we must tolerate it for the sake of freedom of speech.

A commission will be set up within days to consider whether the Government should bring in a "British Bill of Rights" following mounting controversy over rulings by the European Court of Human Rights.

The Daily Mail holds forth.

Veils that cover the face to be illegal from next month, with President Sarkozy accused of trying to win far-right votes

Executive asks Department for Social Development to draft legislation that would presume public benefit in the case of religious charities

Shahbaz Bhatti, a Catholic, had been a vocal opponent of Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law. His death comes two months after the governor of Punjab province, who also campaigned against the law, was assassinated.

One of England’s largest health authorities has said it is not opposed to assisted suicide and called for a change in the law to give patients more “choice” over how they die.

TWO GERMAN lawyers have initiated charges against Pope Benedict XVI at the International Criminal Court, alleging crimes against humanity.

A Sikh priest has been convicted of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in his room at a temple in Glasgow's West End.

The Supreme Court declined, without comment, to review an order barring two Kentucky counties from displaying framed copies of the Ten Commandments in their county courthouses.

A Christian woman, Agnes Nuggo, was accused of blasphemy and arrested in the Diocese of Faisalabad, in the Punjab province of Pakistan

Gay and lesbian couples could soon win the right to marry, and straight couples be given the right to form civil partnerships.

The Conservatives had wanted to replace the Human Rights Act 1998 with a UK Bill of Rights but that was opposed by their Lib Dem coalition partners.

The government risked a clash with the Church of England by backing calls to lift the ban on homosexual couples holding civil partnership ceremonies in places of worship.

The ECHR degrades our democracy without enhancing our liberty (according to the Telegraph).

Author urges Cameron to ignore the “supernatural beliefs” of Christians who object to “assisted dying” on religious grounds and introduce new laws to end “unnecessary suffering”.

David Cameron gives MPs the green light to defy unelected judges who want to hand prisoners the vote.

A Bangladeshi teenage girl who died after being whipped for an alleged affair was murdered, a state prosecutor said Wednesday after a fresh post-mortem found that she was killed by internal bleeding.

Doctor regards homosexuality as sinful and co-wrote a paper in 2005 which claimed that there are a "disproportionately greater number of homosexuals among paedophiles".

The local mosque in Chamta village issued a fatwa, ordering that Hena, though a victim of rape, should be given a sentence of a hundred lashes.

Steve Hardie also failed to provide proper treatment to a diabetic patient he thought was ‘effeminate’, as reported.

The Church of Scientology is being investigated by the FBI over allegations of human trafficking, it has been claimed.

A fundamentalist Christian couple who tried to cure their dying toddler by praying must take their remaining children for medical check-ups as part of their sentence, which includes 10 years probation.

A Muslim Conservative councillor has received death threats after taking up the case of a Christian woman sentenced to death in Pakistan for blasphemy.

A man was dismissed from his volunteer post as a phone bank manager for the Yes To Fairer Votes campaign because of a joke he tweeted and could face disciplinary action from his employers at Kidbrooke School in Greenwich.

In addition to the death penalty, the man received two fines of 200,000 and 10,000 rupees plus 3 years imprisonment.

The arguments about family law rights in Britain's Muslim communities are bound up with racism and sexism.

Lord Mackay of Clashfern weighs in.

A Dublin hospital sought a High Court order sanctioning a blood transfusion for a baby against the wishes of his parents

Perhaps we have reached the long-foreseen moment at which 'Muslim rights' meet 'gay rights' in the battle for supremacy.

 A RELIGIOUS group, accused of “brainwashing” a former RAF officer into signing over his £800,000 home says it will lodge an appeal against a court decision ordering its return.

The attorney for a man who says he was sexually abused decades ago by a now-deceased priest at a Wisconsin school for the deaf alleged Sunday that the Vatican refused to be served with a lawsuit over the matter.

In the commotion surrounding the Christian hotel gay discrimination case, it is easy to forget that there is a long-standing principle that English courts will not decide matters of religious doctrine.

A Christian health worker who faced the sack after giving an NHS colleague a booklet about the dangers of abortion has been allowed to return to work.

 The Christian owners of a Cornwall hotel who unlawfully refused to allow a gay couple a double room have appealed.

Whose right to live as they choose takes precedence?

 We need a lot more clarity on the subtle relationship between law and religion.

 Government accused of risking the wellbeing of women

Doctors decided the only way to save the boy was by transfusion and when the parents refused they sought and received a court order.

Seven men accused of burning a copy of the Koran in a Gateshead pub car park will face no further action.

An investigative journalist who exposed a Christian psychotherapist offering “cures” for homosexuality has denied that he tried to intimidate witnesses to a disciplinary hearing.

 As the controversy about the blasphemy laws heats up, the imam of a mosque and his son are jailed for life for blasphemy

The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal’s decision that condemns underhanded discrimination against same-sex couples is a victory not only for a long-disadvantaged group but also for society in general.

THE National Secular Society has demanded the Scottish Football Association reinstate Hugh Dallas, the referee sacked for sending a "gratuitously insulting" e-mail about the Pope.

Blasphemy is not a protector of religious freedom, as the UN maintains, but its mortal enemy

 Up to 50,000 people have staged a protest in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi against a proposed softening of strict blasphemy laws.

 Under the ban, men and women who are not related are also barred from walking together or chatting in public.

The Catholic board chose to end the contract in January 2007 after discovering their membership in the cult, which claims that humans were planted on Earth by benevolent extraterrestrials

 The real tragedy is for Pakistan's long-suffering minorities, who have lost their bravest champion.

British politicians are launching a new bid this month to rewrite the rules of succession, a move aimed at giving Roman Catholics and female members of the royal family equal status with men and Protestants under the 310-year-old legislation governing the order of those in line to the throne.

Iranian authorities say it is 'possible' original sentence could be dropped but offer no comment on whether she could be hanged

Elderly women are used as scapegoats for all ills in large parts of Ghanaian society – leading to exile, and sometimes murder

Margaret Forrester was told at a disciplinary hearing that unless she promised never to repeat her actions she could be fired.

Preacher Dale Mcalpine was held for seven hours and charged with a public-order offence in April 2010 after telling a police community support officer that homosexuals were acting against the word of God.

 On Dec. 20, 2005, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones  issued a landmark ruling that the "overwhelming evidence" at trial demonstrated that intelligent design was indeed a religious view. It was, he wrote, "a mere relabeling of creationism and not a scientific theory."

 For all the qualifications and attempted reversal, the Roe v Wade decision still provides American women with a right to abortion which has no European counterpart.  

Warning over “Combating defamation of religions” that such measures” violate fundamental freedom of expression and are counterproductive to efforts to confront the  problems of bias-motivated violence, discrimination and other forms of intolerance.

A culture war has broken out at the UN over whether gay people should be offered the same protections as other minorities whose lives are threatened.

A group of village elders and clerics sentenced Sufia Begum under Sharia law to 40 lashes for adultery. Bangladesh banned such punishments in the name of religious edicts or fatwas by Muslim clergy earlier this year.

 The Grand Chamber of European Court of Human Rights has ruled by a majority that abortion must be more accessible in Ireland for women whose lives are at risk. It rejected applications that abortion must be more widely available in other circumstances.

Ahmadinejad caused hilarity when he said gay people don't exist in Iran. But his regime's treatment of them is no joke

Peter and Hazelmary Bull say their faith precludes them from letting unmarried couples share a room under their roof

Footage sparks international condemnation as police laugh and joke as they administer whipping to screaming woman

The European Court of Human Rights will this week issue a ruling on whether Ireland’s restrictions on abortion violate women’s human rights

An Iranian man who blinded his lover's husband is to suffer a similar fate in a tit-for-tat sentencing - by having acid poured into his eye

At least seven US states, including Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah, have proposed laws banning sharia. Tennessee and Louisiana have enacted versions of the law banning use of foreign law under certain circumstances.

Police have been ordered to pay compensation to a Christian street preacher who was arrested for saying that gays will go to hell.

 The Imam of Hajji Osman Alaf Mosque in Iraqi Kurdistan’s second largest city, Sulaimaniyah, has told his followers that anyone who believes female circumcision is not a recommendation from the prophet Mohammed is “ignorant.”

 Libel laws that restrict scientists and doctors scrutinising each others' ideas and practices are dangerous

Archbishop Mario Conti has welcomed the Scottish Parliament's rejection of The End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill.

Margo MacDonald suggests that MSPs who voted against her End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill were unduly influenced by the churches and religious people.

New Zealand’s Jews won a partial victory when the Minister of Agriculture agreed to allow kosher slaughter of chicken.

A Pakistani court temporarily blocked government-proposed amendments to relax blasphemy laws, amid renewed protests from rights activists and religious minorities

The Bill was defeated in a free vote by MSPs but the public debate it has prompted has provided new insight into the ethical and practical difficulties in legislating on this issue.

Blasphemy is not freedom of speech. Insulting or profanity against any person is inexcusable and more so when it is directed against a person who is held in high esteem.

 Commission aims to clarify legal position both for terminally ill and loved ones. But campaigners fear sufferers could be pressured into ending life

Top Scots referee and five other SFA staff were sacked after pressure from the Vatican.

William Hague defends cost-cutting plan that reportedly includes shaving £560,000 off budget for annual report

US government funding for stem cell research is blocked after judge rules that it breaks law protecting human embryos

Two recent cases of stoning for adultery.

A Norwegian administrative court said a ban on police women wearing the Islamic headscarf was illegal, in response to a government refusal in 2009 to allow officers to don the hijab.

Pensioners should have the right to decide when they have had enough and to die with dignity.

Lord Mackay of Clashfern wants sheriffs and judges to familiarise themselves with biblical principles and apply them when presiding over court cases.

A couple who tried to flee arranged marriages to be together are stoned to death by the Taliban.

A Brussels appeals court ruled to allow an investigating magistrate to continue looking into alleged sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy

An atheist is suing to force the administrators of a towering cross in Southern Illinois to return a $20,000 state grant toward its restoration, saying Thursday it was "blatantly unconstitutional" to spend taxpayer money on a Christian symbol.

Lawyers for the Jewish community filed legal proceedings last week against the Minister of Agriculture seeking a restoration of the right to practise shechita

A man who ripped a veil from a Muslim woman's face as she walked though Glasgow has been jailed for two years.

A TEENAGER has been convicted of religiously aggravated criminal damage after smashing a window at a Salvation Army hostel.

Two Saudi clerics have declared Muslim women are exempt from wearing full veils in France, which is planning to ban them, but added they should avoid visiting it as tourists.

Authorities in Iran have issued an arrest warrant for an acclaimed Iranian lawyer and arrested his wife and brother-in-law over his involvement in the case of a woman sentenced to death by stoning

Supreme court judges predicted that "more and more" gay and lesbian refugees are likely to seek protection in Britain after a landmark legal ruling recognised the rights of asylum seekers.

Five supreme court justices said gay and lesbian asylum seekers should not be expected to "exercise discretion" in their home countries to avoid persecution.

According to human rights campaigner Gita Sahgal, "there is active support for sharia laws precisely because it is limited to denying women rights in the family. No hands are being cut off, so there can't be a problem …"

UCL INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL LAW & MAISON FRANCAISE D'OXFORD

PRESENT
Law, Religion & Education
Religious Freedom in the Sphere of Education  

Dr Myriam Hunter-Henin (Director, UCL Institute of Global Law)

8/9 October 2010

Venue:
Maison Francaise d'Oxford
2-10 Norham Road
Oxford
OX2 6SE

A Protestant primary school teacher who suffered discrimination because of her religion has been awarded £8,250 at an industrial tribunal.

It started when Cherie Booth QC (also known as Cherie Blair) — acting in her role as judge — made her now-infamous remark in court to Shamso Miah that she would not be sending him to prison despite the fact that he attacked a man for no apparent reason and broke his jaw. Recorder Booth told Mr Miah that he was being given a suspended sentence because he was “a religious man” who knew what he did was wrong. Read more...

The United States Supreme Court refused on Monday to consider an appeal by the Vatican for immunity in a paedophilia case. The case, brought in 2002, can now go ahead and the ruling paves the way for Vatican officials and, technically, Pope Benedict himself, to be questioned under oath with regard to the alleged sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic priests in the United States. Read more...

A ‘parallel’ system of justice based on Islamic law should face a test case under the Human Rights Act, a group campaigning against religious laws said this week.

The One Law for All Campaign called for a case to be initiated to determine whether Muslim arbitration tribunals and sharia councils are public authorities under the 1998 act. If found to be so, they would be prohibited from acting in any manner contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights, according to the report Sharia Law in Britain. Read more...

The Government has done a u-turn on its commitment to ensure that all children receive a broad, balanced and objective sex and relationship education (SRE). The amendment tabled by Ed Balls under pressure from the Catholic Education Service, will give an opt out to faith schools. The Government originally intended all governing bodies and head teachers to have regard to a set of "principles" which include statements that sex and relationship education should be taught in a way that endeavours to promote equality and encourages acceptance of diversity. However, the Government has now laid an amendment to this Bill which many fear would curtail the implementation of SRE in religious schools and allow faith schools to put pressure on children in relation to issues such as contraception and sexual orientation. The new amendment states that the principles "are not to be read as preventing the governing body or head teacher of a school within subsection (7B) from causing or allowing PSHE to be taught in a way that reflects the school's religious character." More

Important change for freedom of speech looks possible

Obama administration opposes defamation of religion laws as they would restrict freedom of speech

Jewish Free School in London goes to court over admissions policy

Judge sentenced man to seven years for rape, then told him: 'You have turned to Islam and this promises well for your future, particularly as you are now an adherent of a religion which respects women and self-discipline.'

Sudanese journalist's courage in challenging the absurdity of her trial, sentencing, and imprisonment for wearing trousers has spotlighted the penal codes still in force in many Arab and Muslim states.

Indonesian rights activists condemned as "cruel and degrading" a new Islamic law calling for adulterers to be stoned to death.

In a surprising twist to the Sharia Courts debate there are claims that some non-Muslims are turning to these courts to arbitrate in cases, usually in contractual matters

Avon & Somerset Police have provided female police officer with Islamic head covering to be worn when entering a Mosque

A Muslim woman in the Sudan Lubna Hussein has been charged with wearing ‘indecent' clothing namely a pair of trousers. She has it seems turned the tables on the judiciary by inviting journalist to watch the trial and punishment to raise awareness of the harsh punishment.

A law has been passed amongst Shia Muslims- a form of Shia personal law in Afghanistan which allows a man to force his wife to have sex with him and if she refuses to starve her. A journalist tries to argue that this is not consistent with Islam, despite the basis of the law being a verse in the Quran

Earlier this week the House of Lords voted to withdraw Clause 61 from
the Coroners and justice Bill, with the implication that people with
extreme religious views will still be able to act in ways that incite
hatred on grounds of sexual orientation without fear of prosecution. More

The BBC are considering having an atheist opinion on thought for the
day, a welcome counter-point to the religious opinion already given
airtime. More

Communities may be able to ask for a police officer from their own
community to handle their case. More

A housing Officer sacked by Wandsworth Council has taken his case to
the Employment Tribunal. He was allegedly sacked for telling a woman
that her illness was as a result of her lack of faith. More

The Shadow Schools Minister Nick Gibb has told THE ‘Church Times’ that
under the conservatives there will be support for many more state run
religious schools. More

Whilst the UK has finally abolished the blasphemy laws, Ireland has
this week introduced a set of blasphemy laws which forbids causing
‘outrage’ amongst religious people. More

The debate about Sharia Councils and Muslim Tribunals in the UK
continues with some suggesting that to deny the use of them to Muslims
would be discriminatory given that Jewish Beth Din courts already
operate in the UK and Sharia Courts have existed in America for a
number of years. More

The recent Court of appeal case concerning the Jewish Free School has
highlighted the difficulty facing anti-discrimination laws when it
comes to religious faiths such as Judaism and Sikhism which both
encompass a religious group and an ethnic group. More

Baroness Scotland, the Attorney General has told a Church newspaper
that she would help Churches fight for exemptions from the Equalities
Bill for religious Organisations to discriminate against employees on
religious grounds. More

President Sarkozy of France this week suggested that the Burkah worn by Muslim women would not be acceptable in France and was a sign of enslavement. Such comments are unlikely to be made by a British Politician. Even less circumspect comments such as those made by Jack Straw drew criticism. – Here are two articles that discuss the differing views on what it means to be secular in Britain and France. Article 1   Article 2

The court of appeal decided this week that the Jewish free School discriminated against a Jewish child, because his mother was not considered sufficiently Jewish by the School and so refused entry...More

In his speech in the House of Commons about his plans for constitutional reform, the Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that he would start consultation on reforming the House of Lords...More

A Catholic adoption charity that tried to find a loophole in the law that would permit them to continue discriminating against homosexuals has lost its final appeal to the Charity Tribunal. Now the charity concerned, Catholic Care (Diocese of Leeds), is complaining that the whole process has cost it £150,000 – a huge chunk out of its operating costs. Catholic Care had wanted to use an exemption in the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 that allows charities to discriminate if their constitutions permit it... More

This year's Reith Lectures are well worth listening to. Prof Michael Sandel tackles complex issues dealing with morality and society. Compulsory listening for all secularists. More

In the wake of the shameful victory of the BNP in the recent European elections, Douglas Murray of the Guardian reports on the challenges of supporting free speech and the importance of continuing to debate with extremists in the public arena. He said "the oxygen of free societies is freedom of speech. Everything short of incitement has to be tolerated, even when it is wrong". More

In a legally interesting case a Jewish couple who own a flat have sued the management company of the their block after automatic lighting was installed in the common areas. Due to their beleifs, the couple feel they cannot leave their flat on the sabath as they would trigger the switch. The couple have sued claiming religious discrimination. More

The Saudi Gazette announced that, exactly as they promised, the Organisation of Isamic Conference is moving ahead with the creation of an "Islamic" Human Rights Commission. As the Internation Humanist and Ethical Union warned in a written statement to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2008 More

An Americal journalist discusses the need to preserve secularism in today's USA, whilst the Guardian newpaper discusses the irreconcilable nature of the abortion debate in the USA. More

Educational policies designed to bring children closer together and address sectarianism are being ignored by councils. An investigation by the Sunday Herald has revealed around 70% of local authorities have failed to open a single shared campus facility. More than half of councils have also failed to twin any Catholic schools with other institutions in the non-religious sector. More

The Government has published its new Equalities Bill. Although the Bill contains positive development for disability rights, trans-gender discrimination and discrimination by association, the Government has failed to protect teachers in faith schools from religious discrimination by removing the existing exemption from the 2003 Religion or Belief Regulations. The impact of the public sector Equality Duty on social cohesion is of concern. More

'God has no place in science lessons' says University Professor ahead of debate on religion and science at St Andrews University...More

If the retiring Cardinal of Westminster, Cormac Murphy O’Connor, is given a place in the House of Lords, it will make the most eloquent case yet for the abolition of the second chamber, said Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society. More

The Government has published its new Equalities Bill. Although the Bill contains positive development for disability rights, trans-gender discrimination and discrimination by association, the Government has failed to protect teachers in faith schools from religious discrimination by removing the existing exemption from the 2003 Religion or Belief Regulations. The impact of the public sector Equality Duty on social cohesion is of concern.  More

Judges could be forced to bow to Sharia law in some divorce cases heard in Britain. An EU plan calls for family courts across Europe to hear cases using the laws of whichever country the couple involved have close links to. More

An air stewardess has been sacked after refusing her airline's demand to wear traditional Islamic dress and walk behind male colleagues in Saudi Arabia. More

Intelligence estimates suggest more than 5,000 children have been trained by Taliban for deadly missions. TANK: Haneef Mehsud was a normal teenager who spent most of his time hanging out with friends and playing cricket before he was recruited by the Taliban...More

A new report by the LSE shows that faith secondary schools fail to improve standards and lead to greater social segregation along lines of class and ability. More

For the first time, the broadcaster will take advice on programmes like 'Thought for the Day' from a secularist. Andrew Copson of the British Humanist Association has been appointed to the BBC's Standing Conference on Religion and Belief, a new body which replaces the Central Religious Advisory Committee (CRAC), which advised on "religion-related policy and coverage". More

Churches and religious organisations should fund their own presence in hospitals, says the National Secular Society (NSS), after it discovered that chaplaincy services are costing the National Health Service more than £32million. This would pay for around another 1,300 nurses or over 2,500 cleaning staff. Both are much-needed. More

Creationism threatens to slip into science lessons in Hampshire secondary schools if the local Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) is allowed to have its way. More

Lillian Ladele, the Islington registrar who refused to conduct same-sex Civil Partnerships on religious grounds, has been refused leave to appeal against the decision of an Employment Appeal Tribunal that she did not suffer indirect religious discrimination at work. She has also been ordered to pay costs. More

The United States has withdrawn from a conference organised by the United Nations Human Rights Commission that seeks to challenge racism and xenophobia. More