After weeks of speculation that Red China would relax its one-child policy, the National Population and Family Planning Commission said it would not make any changes in the country’s population-control policy for at least a decade. Beijing has faced criticism from pro-life groups over its one-child policy, because officials have often resorted to coerced abortions, sterilizations and, occasionally, infanticide to enforce the [...]
The Senate passed Bill C-2, the Tackling Violent Crime Act, an omnibus crime bill that included a provision for raising Canada’s age of sexual consent from 14 to 16. At 14, Canada had one of the lowest ages of consent for sexual activity, but is now in line with most of the Western world, where ages of consent typically range from 16 to [...]
Britain’s Royal College of Psychiatrists, in a statement released on March 14 urged that women should not be allowed to have abortions until they are counseled on the procedure’s risks to their mental health. The College recommended adding details about the risks of depression to abortion leaflets. “Consent cannot be informed,” it claimed, “without the provision of adequate and appropriate information.” More [...]
Sweet Smell of Roses At urbandictionary.com, the definitions of “pro-life” include the following: “An idealistic position acknowledging that from a scientific point of view, human life begins at conception and thus, human rights should extend to the unborn. Because this (conviction) also assumes personal responsibility, it is widely despised.” We aren’t told who is allegedly shirking responsibility; the poster is probably referring [...]
Long-held code of silence broken to mark Supreme Court decision In the past two months, there have been a number of pro-life articles appearing in national and local newspapers, particularly the National Post. Generally no friend to the pro-life movement, the media have generally skirted the issue. Last spring, the National Post ran a gingerly worded article called, “The A-word” that touched on the [...]
For the first time, scientists have created a large batch of cloned embryos from the cells of adult primates, a breakthrough being hailed around the world as the next step towards creating cloned human embryos for research and “therapeutic” applications. Scientists working in Oregon say they have created embryos using the somatic cell nuclear transfer technique from the ova and skin cells [...]
United Nations University and the Institute of Advanced Studies, a Tokyo-based UN think tank, have released a paper that examined the ethical dilemma of cloning. The main purpose of “Is Human Reproductive Cloning Inevitable: Future Options for UN Governance” is to trace the evolution of international legislation related to cloning and to highlight five future options of governance. It poses the following [...]
’Tis the season to call it anything but Christmas. As with each year in the recent past, there seems to be a concerted effort in an increasing number of sectors to avoid calling this holiday period what it really is. In response, however, there is also a countervailing emphasis being placed on reminding society at large of the real reason for the [...]
Canadian families as a whole are surviving – although not doing as well as before The headlines in papers and announcements from broadcasters on Stastics Canada’s report Family Portrait: Families, Marital Status, Households and Living Arrangementsdeclared the traditional family nearly dead. Reporters pointed to census data that shows for the first time in Canadian history, “more than one-half of the adult population [...]
He is Britain’s second-most popular children’s author. His books are bestsellers, have won numerous awards for literature and have received glowing reviews from all the fashionable newspapers. Critics hail him as a new Tolkien. His books pop up on many reading lists for young people and Hollywood is finishing the first film-adaptation of his most popular book – just in time for [...]
Kitchener school board situation serves as a sterling example The elevation of an “open mind” to the status of an unchallengeable moral principle is, as a matter of plain fact, a perfect example of being closed-minded. Professor Allan Bloom made this point in his best-selling critique of higher education, The Closing of the American Mind, a book that offended a legion of [...]
Women Alive will host tandem conferences in October. While Ontario’s Imagine Women’s Conference and Expo takes place at Toronto’s Crowne Plaza Hotel from Oct. 19-21, Alberta will host its conference Oct. 19-20 in Edmonton’s Mayfield Inn and Suites. “Imagine is designed to be a dynamic weekend experience for the spiritually hungry and those desiring to grow, be encouraged and inspired in their [...]
This paper supports the right of parents to educate their own children as they see fit. Whether it is choosing the best government-funded school for their children within the public or separate school system, sending them to independent religious schools or educating their children themselves at home, such decisions are best made by parents. We also understand that whatever constitutional guarantees there [...]
The principle of separation of powers has been one of the fundamental aspects of federal governance in the Western world ever since democratic nations emerged. Undoubtedly a reaction to the absolute authority wielded by tyrants, oligarchs, plutocrats and the like in times prior, as well as an attempt to protect democracy from being threatened by such authority’s return, this principle – first [...]
1. All three were shaped and grounded in a Christian faith tradition that informed how they lived and engaged human events. 2. Each was prepared to call evil by its right name, to refuse it legitimacy and to resist it. 3. Their understandings of human nature were grounded in the Imago Dei (or something very much like it) and its attendant dignity, [...]