News archive
News archive 2002
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Christmas:
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Christmas
message from
Revd. David Holloway
The real meaning of Christmas is in the words of Luke
2 verse 14: "Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace to men on whom his favour rests."
That is the Christmas message in a nutshell. For Christ
is the Prince of Peace...
More |
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Marriage:
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Roche’s
gay register
devalues marriage
Plans to give marriage-like rights to gay, lesbian and
bisexual couples will devalue marriage, says a national
Christian charity today. The Christian Institute also
says that the plans unfairly discriminate against family
relationships, such as two sisters, who have lived together
for years looking after each other.
Read
our press release
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Adoption:
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Government
forces through
gay adoption
The best interests of children have been ignored by
the Government after peers voted by 215 to 184 in favour
of plans to allow homosexual and cohabiting couples
to adopt children.
Read
our press release |
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Adoption:
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Most
parents against
gay adoption, says poll
Over
70% of parents in the Prime Minister’s Sedgefield
constituency oppose plans to allow gay men to jointly
adopt children, a poll reveals.
The poll was carried out in Sedgefield by ICM. It was
commissioned by The Christian Institute, which supports
keeping the current grounds for adoption unchanged.
At the moment only married couples can jointly adopt
children.
Read
our press release
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Tribute: |
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Adoption:
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Charity
launches 'adoption card' to protect against gay adoption
As
the House of Lords votes on giving adoption rights to
homosexual couples, a Christian charity has launched
a new 'adoption card' which aims to protect the wishes
of parents who oppose gay adoption. The card has been
produced by The Christian Institute and it carries the
declaration, "in the event of my death I do not
want my children to be adopted by homosexuals."
Read
our press release |
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Adoption:
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Crucial
'gay adoption' vote
expected Wednesday
The
House of Lords is expected to vote on the controversial
Adoption and Children Bill on Wednesday 16 October.
The bill includes plans to allow adoption by gay couples
and unmarried couples. The vote in the Lords will be
key.
MPs, including Tony Blair, have already voted to give
adoption rights to homosexual couples and unmarried
heterosexuals.
[more] |
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Physical
Punishment: |
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Executive
dumps plans to
ban smacking under-threes
Plans
for an outright ban on the smacking of children under
three in Scotland have been dropped by the Scottish
Executive.
However, The Christian Institute remains concerned about
other proposals to change the law on smacking.
Read
our press release
More on the Scottish smacking plans |
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Drugs
Law: |
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Blunkett
softens the
law on cannabis
The
Home Secretary, David Blunkett, has formally announced
the reclassification of cannabis from a class B to a
class C drug. Police will no longer be able to arrest
people in possession of the harmful drug, except in
exceptional circumstances.
Read
the debate in Parliament. |
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| Reclassifying
cannabis is
wrong and dangerous
The
Christian Institute has published a booklet which examines
the 15 most common arguments for the decriminalisation
of cannabis and demolishes each one.
Download:
pdf 
Word 
html
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Adoption:
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Lords
examine plans
to allow gay adoption
The
Adoption and Children Bill is currently before the Lords.
The bill includes plans to allow adoption by gay couples
and unmarried couples. Key votes are not expected in
the Lords until after the summer.
MPs had earlier voted to give adoption rights to homosexual
couples and unmarried heterosexuals.
[more] |
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Drugs
Law: |
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Cannabis
decision to be
announced very soon
The
Home Secretary, David Blunkett, will formally announce
whether he will reclassify cannabis on Wednesday 10
July, according to press reports.
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Drugs
Law: |
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Sentences
for dope
dealers to be slashed
Convicted
dope dealers, who are increasingly peddling drugs
to children, will have their maximum sentences
slashed by two thirds if the Government downgrades
cannabis to a Class C drug.
Read
our press release |
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Drugs
Law: |
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Children
at risk in Lambeth
drug trial, admits Met chief
The
Evening Standard reports that Sir
John Stevens has admitted that an alleged
increase in cannabis use by children in
Lambeth - where a "softly-softly"
policy on cannabis users is under way -
is "incredibly worrying".
[more] |
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Religious
Liberties: |
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Adoption
Law |
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Commons
votes in favour
of homosexual adoption
MPs
have voted to give adoption rights to homosexual couples
and unmarried heterosexuals.
The
Adoption and Children Bill is currently before the Lords.
Key votes are not expected for some time yet. [more] |
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Drugs
Law |
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Home
Affairs Committee calls
for relaxation of some drugs laws
The
Home Affairs Committee has published a report which
calls for the reclassification of cannabis from class
B to class C, and ecstasy from class A to class B. The
report also calls for heroin addicts to be given heroin
on the NHS.[more] |
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Adoption
Law |
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Physical
Punishment |
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Smack
ban will swamp us,
say Scottish police chiefs
Plans
to ban the smacking of toddlers will lead to the investigation
of minor incidents, putting unnecessary strain on police
resources, say police chiefs in The Scotsman
newspaper. [more]
More about the
plans to ban smacking... |
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Employment
Law |
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Consultation
on employment
directive now closed
The
Governments consultation on the European employment
directive has now closed. The directive will have a
major impact on the freedom of Christian groups to employ
Christians. Other faiths will be affected too.
[More] |
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Physical
Punishment |
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Smack
ban ‘may aid abusers’
The
Scotsman newspaper reports on The Christian Institute's
new briefing which criticises Jim Wallace's smacking
plans. The briefing says precious resources would be
targeted at ordinary families rather than tackling real
abuse. [more]
More
about the plans to ban smacking... |
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Adoption
Law |
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Government
allows free vote
on unmarried adoption
The
Government has decided not to oppose moves to allow
unmarried adoption, according to the Independent
newspaper. Downing Street has given MPs and Peers a
free vote on the issue. 'Unmarried adoption' allows
adoption by cohabiting and homosexual couples. A vote
is expected in the next few weeks.
Read
our briefing on unmarried adoption
Read
our press release |
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Physical
Punishment |
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Committee
wants to hear
views on smacking plans
The
Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee wants to receive
the views of anyone with an interest in the Criminal
Justice Bill. The Bill includes a ban on the smacking
of children aged under three and other changes to the
law on physical punishment.
[more] |
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Physical
Punishment |
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Unworkable
smacking laws
will catch loving parents
Scottish
Parents will be plunged into fear and confusion following
new anti-smacking laws to be brought in by Jim Wallace.The
proposals are introduced in the Criminal Justice (Scotland)
Bill.
Read
our press release
Read
the Bill in full (pdf 396KB)
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Easter
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Teachers'
code of conduct |
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Christians
welcome new
wording of teachers' code
The
Christian Institute has expressed delight at "substantial
changes" to the code of conduct for teachers in
England.
[more] |
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Physical
Punishment |
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Northern
Ireland Assembly
member wins smacking vote
On
Tuesday 12th February UUP Assembly Member Dr Esmond
Birnie won a vote in the NI Assembly highlighting the
fact that the law on smacking is to be unchanged in
England and Wales.
[more] |
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Welsh teachers' code |
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Christians
welcome
re-drafting of teaching code
Christian teachers in Wales have succeeded in changing
a new draft professional code which would have required
them to respect gay rights against their conscience.
Read
our press release |
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Scottish Sex Lessons |
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Yet
another council bans
Executive's sex lessons
Renfrewshire Council has become the fourth Scottish
authority to ban the controversial sex lessons backed
by the Scottish Executive.
Read
our press release |
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Marriage
Law |
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Civil
Partnerships Bill dropped
as Government sets up review
The
Civil Partnerships Bill is expected to be withdrawn
by its sponsor, Lord Lester. The move comes as the Government
sets up a major Whitehall review of 'Civil Partnerships'
[more]
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Marriage
Law |
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Physical
Punishment |
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Scottish Sex Lessons |
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Executive
to drop explicit sex lessons?
The Scottish Executive may stop recommending controversial
sex education materials, according to the Daily Mail
newspaper. [more] |
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New Year News |
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End
of year newsletter
At the end of 2001 we thought
it was appropriate to 'take stock' of the various campaigns
which we have been running. [more] |
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Religious
Liberty |
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Victory
on Anti-terrorism Bill
We are delighted that following two resounding defeats
in the House of Lords the Government has abandoned its
efforts to introduce the new law of incitement to religious
hatred. [more] |
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Physical
Punishment |
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Scots
Sex and Drugs Education |
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Anti-terrorism
Bill |
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Gay
rights teachers' code |
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