May 21, 2012
Since Barack Obama has introduced the new healthcare bill, he has faced an onslaught of opposition against the birth control mandate, which obliges most employers to include birth control coverage in company health care packages, regardless of the organization’s stance on the issue. It was an effort by the government to improve health care for ...
Tags: America,
birth control,
Catholic,
contraception,
law,
morals,
Obama,
Obamacare,
public healthcare,
religion,
reproductive rights,
University of Notre Dame,
US Healthcare,
women's rights
May 8, 2012
Anti-bullying legislation is under attack by religious groups in Ontario. The proposed bill seeks to challenge homophobic bullying in schools but the religious groups opposing it say that it is an attempt to push a “gay lifestyle” on their children. Passing a bill to stop bullying in schools may sound a bit extreme. You might ...
Tags: Bill,
Bill 13,
Bill 14,
bullying,
Canada,
Canadian legislation,
hate speech,
homophobia,
LGBT,
religion,
schools,
sex education,
sexual orientation
February 8, 2012
The Church of England is in the middle of a sizzling debate over whether women will be permitted to act as bishops. The conflicting views are trying to be calmed by meeting Christian folk half-way. “The Manchester Diocesan motion proposes ‘co-ordinate jurisdiction.’” While this may sound refreshingly communal, the compromise would mean women would be ...
January 10, 2012
Laws against acts of hatred based on sexual orientation are being tested in the first case being brought to court this week in the UK. The first case involves five men accused of handing out leaflets calling for the death penalty for homosexuals outside a Mosque. Hatred laws have included acts against homosexuals since March ...
January 10, 2012
Should polygamy be banned in Canada? It’s still a valid question, but do former special prosecutor Richard Peck a favour and leave him out of it. The Vancouver lawyer was appointed to the polygamy investigation in 2007, where he recommended not pressing misconduct charges against Bountiful, B.C. individuals, but now makes it clear he wants no role ...
Tags: Bountiful,
Canada,
child marriage,
child sex trafficking,
criminal,
faith,
FLDS,
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,
love,
marriage,
misconduct,
plural marriage,
polygamy,
polygamy ban in Canada,
religion,
Richard Peck,
Sister Wives,
special prosecutor,
Supreme Court of Canada,
Warren Jeffs
December 16, 2011
A priest with pixellated face and the Virgin Mary staring aghast at a positive pregnancy test. Is this art imitating life, or is it offensive sensationalism? Banksy’s Cardinal Sin sits amongst 17th Century religious art in Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery. His face is sawn off and replaced with small, square bathroom tiles, creating a pixellated ...
Tags: Auckland,
Banksy,
Cardinal Sin,
Catholic Church,
Christmas message,
Liverpool,
New Zealand,
pedophilia,
pregnancy,
pregnancy test,
pregnant Mary,
priests and sex,
religion,
sacreligious,
sex abuse,
sex scandal,
St Matthew in the City,
UK,
unplanned pregnancy,
Virgin Mary,
Walker Art Gallery
November 23, 2011
Today the Supreme Court of Canada decided whether polygamy is a constitutional right or simply a marriage option for people with varying tastes. The court has been listening to arguments for and against why polygamy should be legalized. This topic was brought to the court’s attention in relation to the Mormon fundamentalist group residing commune ...
Tags: Bountiful,
Canada,
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,
feminism,
freedom of religion,
gay marriage,
law,
Mormon,
Mormon fundamentalists,
plural marriage,
polygamy,
religion,
sexual abuse,
sisterwives,
Supreme Court of Canada,
underage marriage,
underage sex
November 4, 2011
Justin Trudeau, Montreal Liberal MP and son of former Liberal prime minister Pierre Trudeau, is in hot water this week. And not the steamy kind. He has been accused of not being Catholic enough after stating his pro-choice beliefs. The Clarington Catholic School Board asked him to speak to 300 students from six high schools ...
October 12, 2011
Very few things make me nauseous just by reading about them. This one succeeded. Next week the American Congress will vote on the “Protect Life Act.” Nicknamed the “Let Women Die Act,” this bill would allow federally funded hospitals to deny abortions to women even if not having them would cause them to die. The ...
Tags: abortion,
abortion access,
abortion law,
America,
congress,
deny abortions,
feminism,
hippocratic oath,
Let Women Die Act,
medicine,
pro-choice,
Protect Life Act,
religion
October 6, 2011
Hidden away in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, a sect of Hasidic Jews, called Lev Tahor, have resided for years. Women and girls dress in head-to-toe veils, marry young, and are allowed barely any contact outside the community. Two teenage girls, age 13 and 15, were found by authorities on their way to Lev Tahor and ...
Tags: Canada,
chador,
child abuse,
child marriage,
courts,
covered women,
Hasidic,
Israel,
Jewish Taliban,
Judaism,
judge,
Lev Tahor,
marriage,
Orthodox Jews,
private community,
Rabbi Shlomo Elbarnes,
religion,
sexism,
veil