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French authorities have arrested a second suspect in connection with the terror attack on a basilica in Nice. The man believed to have killed three people is already in police custody, in a hospital, having been shot on the scene. Police are looking in…
Read MoreArchbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh criticized a “blanket restriction on public worship” in Ireland, after a meeting with the country’s prime minister Michael Martin. The archbishop lamented that the ban had been imposed “without …
Read MoreThe Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, is continuing a legal challenge against Governor Andrew Cuomo’s shutdown rules, which have closed down churches. The diocese has appealed a court ruling that upheld the emergency regulations; the appeal will be …
Read MorePosted by bcadmin | Oct 30, 2020 | News, Nota in Brevis |
Could this happen in Canada? One wonders, with all those detention centres being constructed in remote locations, for reasons that are opaque, to which Randy Hillier could receive no clear answer. As one person wrote to me, Slovaki is the California of Covid trends – on the cusp of the curve. Here’s hoping we derail[…]
The post Slovakia, Soccer Stars and the Great Reset appeared first on Catholic Insight.
Read MorePosted by bcadmin | Oct 30, 2020 | Editor's Corner, News |
(It is difficult to believe that I wrote this piece five years ago, after a terrorist bomb attack in France at a soccer stadium, with at least one hundred killed. The slaughter of three people yesterday in the cathedral in Nice was not as numerically prominent by an illegal immigrant from Tunisia, but the fact[…]
The post Terror in France, Then and Now appeared first on Catholic Insight.
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On this episode, Steve talks to Stream.org Senior Editor John Zmirak about the significance of the upcoming election not just for America, but the world; the opinions of certain high Catholic prelates on the same; and the importance now more […]
The post 1P5 Podcast Ep. #73 – John Zmirak appeared first on OnePeterFive.
Read MoreCommunities Settled Along Guainia River
The post Vicariate of Inírida Continues to Aid Indigenous People in Colombia appeared first on ZENIT – English.
Read MorePastoral Letter by Irish Bishop Francis Duffy
The post ‘Remember In November’ appeared first on ZENIT – English.
Read MorePosted by bcadmin | Oct 30, 2020 | Feature3, follow, News, Sunday Readings |
The commemoration of the Dead is a Family Feast that Celebrates our Dead Who we Know are Happy in Heaven and Who Want us Happy with Them
The post Archbishop Follo: Humanity Bloomed in Heaven appeared first on ZENIT – English.
Read MoreCallers choose the topics during Open Forum, peppering our guests with questions on every aspect of Catholic life and faith, the moral life, and even philosophical topics that touch on general religious belief.
Questions Covered:
00:45 – Do Cat…
Read MoreCallers choose the topics during Open Forum, peppering our guests with questions on every aspect of Catholic life and faith, the moral life, and even philosophical topics that touch on general religious belief.
Questions Covered:
02:45 – Why ar…
Read MorePosted by bcadmin | Oct 29, 2020 | Asia - Pacific, News |
CNA Staff, Oct 29, 2020 / 04:15 pm (CNA).- Due to the coronavirus pandemic, civil and ecclesial authorities in the Philippines have agreed to cancel the Black Nazarene celebration in 2021, which gathers millions of churchgoers in Manila each January.
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Read MoreWorld leaders were quick to denounce the incident in the Basilica of Notre Dame where three people were killed and several others injured in a knife attack
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CNA Staff, Oct 29, 2020 / 03:01 pm (CNA).- Amid a contentious debate in Scotland over a proposed hate crimes law, which the Catholic bishops of the country oppose, a cabinet minister this week suggested that the law could apply to speech uttered within a private dwelling if the speaker intends to stir up hatred.
The Scottish government introduced the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill April 23 in response to an independent review of hate crime laws led by Alastair Campbell, Lord Bracadale, a retired judge. The government argues the bill modernizes, consolidates, and extends existing hate crime legislation. It also abolishes the offence of blasphemy.
The proposed legislation creates a new crime of stirring up hatred against any of the protected groups covered by the bill, which include race, religion, sexual orientation, and transgender identity.
During an Oct. 27 hearing, a Scottish parliament member questioned Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf about whether the bill might include a defense for speech uttered in the privacy of one’s home, a so-called “dwelling defense.”
“My concern with the dwelling defense…as a parliament, [and] even as a society, are we comfortable with giving a defense in law to somebody whose behavior is threatening or abusive— as an example, that is intentionally stirring up hatred against Muslims— are we saying that that is justified because it is in the home?” Yousaf replied.
“Are we saying that as a society we are comfortable with no criminal sanctions being applied to people because that has been done in the confines of their dwelling? Whereas if they stepped out into the street outside of the house, then that would be a criminal offense? I’m just not convinced as a point of policy or principle that it is one that I agree with, but I will continue to keep an open mind.”
Conservative MSP Adam Tompkins subsequently questioned Yousaf on how you can commit an “offence of public order” in private, to which Yousaf replied that if the intent to stir up hatred is present in a private dwelling, then that could deserve criminal sanction.
Bishop Joseph Toal of Motherwell wrote in a letter earlier this month that “we can only truly respect other people’s point of view if we first allow them to express it.”
“In the hope that we will remain a country, where constructive dialogue flourishes, the Catholic Church will continue to argue for further change to this legislation to include; more equitable and robust freedom of expression provisions; greater clarity around the definitions of ‘hatred’, ‘abusive’ and ‘insulting’ which remain precariously vague and urge consideration be given to appropriate defenses which reflect the change to intent only,” Toal wrote Oct. 13.
The bill has proven controversial with the Scottish public. In the 12 week consultation period after the bill’s introduction, members of the public made nearly 2,000 submissions to the Scottish Parliament.
On Sept. 23, Yousaf told the Scottish Parliament that the bill would now only cover offences where the stirring up of hatred is intentional, the BBC reported.
The bill originally provided for penalties for “stirring up hatred” “with the intention” of doing so, or “where it is a likely consequence that hatred will be stirred up against such a group.”
In a statement issued July 29, the Catholic bishops of Scotland argued that the bill could lead to censorship of Catholic teaching.
The Scottish bishops stated that the bill “creates an offense of possessing inflammatory material which, if taken with the low threshold contained therein, could render material such as the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and other texts such as Bishops’ Conference of Scotland submissions to government consultations, as being inflammatory under the new provision.”
The bishops also noted that pronouncements of Catholic teaching on sex and gender “might be perceived by others as an abuse of their own, personal worldview and likely to stir up hatred.”
In their submission, the bishops said they had no objection to the proposal to abolish the common law of blasphemy, which has not been prosecuted in Scotland for more than 175 years. But the bishops said they were concerned the bill could feed “cancel culture.”
“The growth of what some describe as the ‘cancel culture’— hunting down those who disagree with prominent orthodoxies with the intention to expunge the non-compliant from public discourse and with callous disregard for their livelihoods— is deeply concerning,” they wrote.
The original text of the bill includes a provision meant to protect religious freedom of expression, stating that “behaviour or material is not to be taken to be threatening or abusive solely on the basis that it involves or includes…discussion or criticism of…religion, whether religions generally or a particular religion…religious beliefs or practices…proselytising, or…urging of persons to cease practising their religions.”
Yousaf also stated during the Oct. 27 hearing that he would be open to including freedom of speech protections to cover all of the protected categories in the bill; currently it only includes protections for certain statements about religion and about sexual orientation.
The Parliament’s Justice Committee is reviewing the 2,000 public comments received and is currently hearing testimony. The committee will aim to complete its Stage 1 report by Dec. 18, though the date could be pushed back, the BBC reported.
Scotland has experienced significant sectarian division since the Scottish Reformation of the 16th century, which led to the formation of the Church of Scotland, an ecclesial community in the Calvinist and Presbyterian tradition which is the country’s largest religious community.
Sectarianism and crimes motivated by anti-Catholicism have been on the rise in Scotland in recent years, and Catholics in Scotland are increasingly concerned that the government could consider their faith “hate speech,” according to local reports.
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