Parliamentary Prayer Scotland update

Current Issues update

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The Scottish Government is set to announce a new five-point plan to tackle Scotland's growing drugs problem

The number of abortions carried out in Scotland is continuing to rise, according to official statistics published today.

There were 13,703 terminations carried out in 2007, compared to 13,163 the previous year.

"This is consistent with the pattern seen in recent years," according to today's statistics.

Abortion levels stand at about a quarter of the number of births in Scotland which hit 57,781 in 2007.

The overwhelming majority (99.3%) of the total abortions were carried out in 2007 on NHS premises, the Scottish Government figures today show.

The rate is highest among younger women with 16-19-year-olds (24.9 per 1000) and 20-24-year-olds (24.5 per 1000), showing the highest rates of termination.

"It is deeply disheartening to see the abortion figures continue to rise and rise, year after year," said a spokesman for Archbishop of Glasgow Mario Conti today. (Source: The Herald)

The '60s liberal revolution has left Britain with a moral vacuum which will be filled by radical Islam, an Anglican Bishop has said.

Fathers are being "airbrushed" out of society, warns a former leader of the Conservative Party.

The Home Office review into tackling the demand for prostitution and associated trafficking comes to completion at the end of June.  The six month review began in January in response to a proposed amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, which if accepted would have made it illegal to buy the services of a person in prostitution.  The amendment was originally inspired by similar legislation introduced in Sweden in 1999.  Since this time, there has been a remarkable decrease in the number of people trafficked into Sweden for prostitution.

Both CARE and NCAP have been involved in discussions with the Home Office during the review.  Please consider sending an email to your MP asking them to contact Vernon Coaker MP, the Minister responsible for reducing exploitation and trafficking, urging him to consider implementing legislation similar to the Swedish approach.  More information and points to include in your email can be found here

UK Town Council Issues 10,000 Right-to-Die Cards
(Source: LifeSiteNews.com 26 May 2008) - The city council of Salford, in the northwest corner of England, has implemented a pilot scheme to issue 'right to die' cards to the general public, to be made available in pubs, banks, libraries, GP surgeries and even some churches. The "Advanced Decision to Refuse Treatment" card instructs doctors not to treat the holder if he has lost the capacity to make decisions because of an accident or illness. Pro-life advocates predicted that such provisions will put patients at risk who do not fully understand the new sweeping powers given to doctors under the Labour government's Mental Capacity Act.

The Charity Commission has launched a 'sector specific' consultation which specifically focuses on how the new 'public benefit' test will apply to religious groups.   Click here for Charity Commission's 'sector specific' guidance.

A general consultation on 'public benefit' ended last June. This second, more specific, consultation will close on 30 June 2008.

The Charities Act 2006 removes the presumption that religious groups are for the 'public benefit' and are therefore charitable. In the future, a religious group will have to demonstrate 'public benefit' in order to be a charity.

DUBLIN, May 29 (Reuters) - Ireland's three biggest political parties put on a show of unity on Thursday, rallying around their shared goal of securing a "Yes" vote in what looks set to be a close referendum on the European Union's reform treaty. Irish voters go to the polls on June 12 to vote in the only referendum on the treaty planned by an EU state, meaning one of the bloc's smallest nations could sink a project designed to end years of wrangling over reform of its institutions

Tony Blair will today launch his long awaited Faith Foundation in New York, saying that he wants religion to be seen as a force for good in the world. The new organisation will focus on developing better understanding between faiths as well as fostering concrete action on fighting poverty and disease.

The Foundation, according to Blair, is an attempt to do something a different from inter-faith bodies and organisations that already exist, and to complement it rather than duplicate it.

Full story (Source: Ekklesia)

 

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E-mail:  anne.pps@btinternet.com 

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