Christians and people of other religions should not "leave their faith at the door" in politics, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said.

The vast majority, 93 per cent, of US mothers believe that there is a “father absence” crisis in America, but single mothers are far less likely to have a positive view of a father's role in the family than married mothers, according to a survey carried out by a leading family research institute.

The Archdiocese of Washington DC has pledged to continue fighting to provide services without compromising the Church's stand on same-sex marriage. It has also rejected the so-called ‘San Francisco option’ as a way out of the dispute.

The UK Government is proposing lessons in parenting for 14-year-olds.

A Government quango in the UK is questioning whether pharmacists should still be free to decline distributing the Morning-After-Pill.

Lone parent benefits may come to an end once a child reaches the age of 13 under a new scheme being suggested by the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mary Hanafin. One billion euro is paid out in lone parent allowances each year.

A senior Labour minister in the UK has signalled a major U-turn by the Government on the issue of marriage.

A Swedish court has upheld the right of Swedish authorities to seize a child from a homeschooling Christian couple who were about to leave the country to become missionaries in India. There was no evidence of abuse. One of the complaints against the couple is that the child was not properly vaccinated.

Churches should be “lining up” lawyers to defend themselves against secular legal challenges under the Equality Bill, a Government equalities minister has admitted.

Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews has said he personally supports lowering of the legal age of consent to 16.

Lawyers for a small photography company in New Mexico charged with violating anti-discrimination laws for refusing to photograph a same-sex “commitment ceremony” are planning to appeal a court decision to uphold the New Mexico Civil Rights Commission’s ruling against them.

Doctors and parents groups have added their voices to a growing chorus of opposition to a proposal by the Law Reform Commission (LRC) for children aged as young as 14 to be allowed access to contraception without parental knowledge. The age of consent in Ireland for sex is 17.

Minister of Education Batt O’Keeffe has defended the existence of religious schools, saying that schools with a Christian tradition had played "an outstanding part" in Irish education.

Christmas parties pushing up demand for the morning-after-pill, it is being reported.

The group which represents the principals of Irish primary schools has called for bishops named in the Murphy report to step aside as patrons of schools.

Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe has offered to review funding for Protestant schools after discussions yesterday.

A Jewish school has been found guilty of race discrimination by the UK's Supreme Court for refusing places to pupils it did not consider to be ethnically Jewish.

The International Committee of Young Fine Gael (YFG) has condemned the recent ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that crucifixes should not be displayed in Italian public schools.

The Oireachtas Committee on children’s rights has finalised the wording of an amendment that could be put before the people as early as next year, the chairwoman of the committee, Mary O'Rourke, said yesterday.