Key Quotes - Social Issues

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Last update: Wednesday 25th March
 
Funding for research into using the internet to improve everyday devices is to be more than doubled as part of efforts to make the UK a world leader in digital technology, David Cameron said. The Prime Minister announced an extra £45 million to develop the so-called “internet of things” as he arrived in Germany for the CeBIT 2014 trade fair.
Social IssuesThe Sentinel, March 10, 2014
 
Courts in two southern hemisphere nations made rulings in mid-December which preserve marriage as being between one man and one woman. Australia’s High Court overturned legalisation which allowed same-sex ‘marriages’ to take place in Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The regional ACT parliament passed legislation in October which made it legal for same-sex couples to marry in the territory. But the national government challenged the legalisation because it contravened federal law. In India the Supreme Court has upheld a law which bans homosexual acts. This ruling reverses a 2009 ruling by the Delhi High Court which decriminalised homosexual acts. The Indian government is already coming under pressure from the UN to review the ruling and make homosexual acts legal.
Social IssuesEvangelicals Now, February 2014
 
The Belgian Senate in December voted in favour of an alarming bill that would give children the right to seek euthanasia. The vote of 50-17 in favour of the proposal will now go to the House of Representatives for further scrutiny. If this Bill is enacted in law, a 12-year-old child could decide on life or death without the consent of his or her parent(s)….Giving an overview of the experience in Belgium, where euthanasia was introduced 11 years ago, the professor noted that most requests for the procedure do not flow from physical pain, but from psychological suffering, including loneliness, loss of meaning and weariness of life.
Social IssuesEvangelicals Now, February 2014
 
The St Vincent de Paul Society’s 10,000 volunteers have been rewarded and recognised by David Cameron with a Big Society Award for over a million hours of voluntary work a year. The international charity is committed to tackling disadvantage and loneliness, trains volunteers, and provides practical help to many in need. This includes work in schools with over 1,000 young people.
Social IssuesYouthwork, March 2014
 
Around one in six GPs have been asked to refer patients to a foodbank in the past year, a snapshot poll suggests. The survey of 522 family doctors for GP magazine Pulse found 16% had been asked to refer patients. It comes after Pulse reported concerns among GP leaders that practices are being put in an ‘impossible position’ by charities that require a referral before they will offer help. Such referrals are aimed at making sure support reaches the neediest and can come from places such as schools, GPs and job centres.
Social IssuesThe Sentinel, February 19, 2014
 
A new report claims that sexism is so widespread that it affects ‘most aspects’ of girls’ and young women’s lives. The ‘Equality for Girls’ report, carried out on behalf of Girlguiding, showed that 87 per cent of the respondents (aged between 11 and 21) thought women were judged more on their appearance than ability. Sixty per cent of those between 16 and 21 said they had been patronised or made to feel stupid because of their gender.
Social IssuesYouthwork, February 2014
 
Facebook has rejected all calls to ban pages and videos linked to a ‘neknomination’ drinking craze despite one death in Ireland being linked to the online dare. Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte demanded the social networking giant act as a raft of interest groups including health chiefs and psychiatrists called for the phenomenon to be stopped. Jonny Byrne, 19, from Carlow, in the Irish Republic, drowned after taking part in the stunt which sees people being challenged to post a video online of them downing drinks, then nominating others to do the same inside 24 hours. Facebook has not moved to delete or block any material as the videos do not break its rules on harmful content, such as organising violence or bullying.
Social IssuesThe Sentinel, February 4, 2014
 
Ambulance workers will stage a second strike today in a row over shifts. Members of the Unite union in Yorkshire walked out for 24 hours on Saturday, and will take action again for four hours from 3pm today, claiming some paramedics could work for 10 hours without a meal break under new shift patterns. The union said this would impact on patient safety and is calling for a 30-minute meal break every six hours. Unite said Saturday's strike was well supported.
Social IssuesThe Sentinel, February 3, 2014
 
The professional mental health bodies in the UK permit therapists to assist clients towards achievement of desired life goals whose attendant risks range from relatively minor (a person nervous at having to make a speech) to potentially serious (a person seeking sex-change surgery) – with one exception: attempts to reduce same-sex attraction, even with the purpose of saving one’s marriage, are forbidden. Therapists may assist a man or woman to accept homosexual feelings but not to reduce or eliminate them.
Social IssuesEvangelicals Now, January 2014
 
Globally, women between the ages of 15 and 44 are more likely to be maimed or die as a result of male violence than through cancer, malaria, traffic accidents or war combined, according to the UN. Domestic violence is the largest form of abuse of women worldwide, irrespective of religion, culture, ethnicity, education, class and religion. Women’s Aid reports that in the UK, two women every week die due to intimate partner violence. In the UK a woman is assaulted in her own home every 60 seconds. And the Home Office says 25 per cent of women will experience domestic abuse at some point in their lifetime.
Social IssuesIdea, Jan/Feb 2014
 
People of faith are among the most likely to adopt or foster, but are being held back by adoption ‘myths’, according to new research carried out on behalf of the Department for Education. Research found that more than half of those in England who say they are ‘certain’ or ‘very likely’ to adopt a child describe themselves as ‘actively practising a religion’. However, many religious people don’t come forward to adopt because of myths about who can adopt, claim national adoption information service, First4Adoption and the church-based campaign to promote adoption and fostering, Home for Good. The two organisations say that actively religious people, while being more likely to consider adopting or fostering, conversely often wrongly believe that their faith will prevent them being approved.
Social IssuesChristianity, January 2014
 
Calls for multi-partner marriage have begun since the Bill to allow same-sex couples to marry passed into law, with one BBC programme in August interviewing people in complex multi-person relationships. ‘Introducing polygamy in the wake of same-sex marriage might not be such a bad idea’, said Laurie Penny, who has criticised the ‘tyranny of the heterosexual couple form’.
Social IssuesEvangelicals Now, October 2013
 
Church leaders have called for a conscience clause in the same-sex marriage legislation in Scotland to protect individuals who believe marriage is between a man and a woman. The Free Church of Scotland wants the Scottish Government to include a clause within the Bill that is similar to abortion legislation which protects medical staff who oppose the procedure. A spokesman said: ‘The legislation has worked well for abortion, another deeply contentious moral issue, and it would make sense to have similar provision for same-sex marriage’.
Social IssuesEvangelicals Now, October 2013
 
A judge in North Dakota dismissed a lawsuit in mid-September which has resulted in the protection of unborn children. Earlier in 2013, Governor Jack Dalrymple of North Dakota signed legislation that banned abortions because of gender selection and genetic defects, such as Down’s syndrome. The state’s lone abortion provider, Red River Women’s Clinic (RRWC), immediately filed suit to stop these measures, as well as another provision that banned abortion as soon as a heartbeat could be detected. However, US District Judge Daniel Hovland dismissed part of the suit at the request of RRWC, which claimed it never performed abortions for genetic or gender reasons. The dismissal means that those two provisions will go into effect in the state.
Social IssuesEvangelicals Now, November 2013
 
Euthanasia deaths reported on in September in the Netherlands jumped 13% last year to constitute about 3% of all deaths in the European country. It marked the sixth consecutive year for an increase in the Netherlands, which legalised euthanasia in 2002. Newborns with disabilities and people with chronic depression, mental pain and even macular degeneration have been euthanised.
Social IssuesEvangelicals Now, November 2013
 
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