'No opt-out' for church adoption

When is Tolerance Intolerance

Now that the crowd denying any moral views is in power, there is an emphasis on tolerating all those whom they view as acceptable and denying the right to all others who have contrary beliefs. They call this Tolerance. I call it Hypocrisy. Lets be real here merely because most of the society has decided that they prefer to not have a formal religion and choose secularism that is a moral view that they are then trying to impost on the rest of the country.

The cardinal said Catholic adoption agencies would have to close

The Catholic Church is not expected to win an exemption from new anti-discrimination laws, following the row over adoption by gay couples.

Its agencies are demanding an opt-out, so that they are not required to place children with homosexuals.

Reports that Tony Blair has "caved in" to Cabinet members who are against an exemption have been described as "ridiculous" by Downing Street.

But No 10 has suggested agencies may be allowed time to adapt or close.

Tony Blair has met Labour MPs over the issue and an announcement is expected next week.

'Strong views'

The Equality Act, due to come into effect in England, Wales and Scotland in April, outlaws discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services on the basis of sexual orientation.

Catholic leaders say its teachings prevent its agencies placing children with homosexuals and they will close if bound by the rules.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the leader of Catholics in England and Wales, has denied claims that he is using "blackmail".

The Church of England has backed the Catholic Church in its attempts.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, have written to Tony Blair to argue that "rights of conscience cannot be made subject to legislation, however well-meaning".

Constitutional Affairs Minister Harriet Harman, the latest minister to voice an opinion on the issue, has said there was no scope for exemptions to the legislation.

"We will stay true to our commitment in tackling sexual discrimination in terms of sexual orientation," she told the New Statesman magazine.

"You can either be against discrimination or you can allow for it. You can't be a little bit against discrimination."

Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly, who is a Catholic, is reported to be pushing for an exemption.

But Labour MP Stephen Pound, who is also Catholic, does not support a religious exemption and believes the adoption row has put Ms Kelly in a difficult decision.

"We seem to be living in a world where people who have strongly held views are somehow derided for that," he told the BBC.

"In Ruth's case there is demonstrably a conflict. Is it right for us to expect someone to abandon everything they believe in because of the prevailing majority view? Does she abandon her ambition or her faith?"

The National Secular Society said that allowing an exemption for the Church would open the "floodgates for a never-ending series of demands".

The BBC's Have Your Say

US House backs stem cell research

The US House of Representatives has passed a bill backing embryonic stem cell research, marking a major challenge to President George W Bush.
The stem cell bill was among the top priorities for the Democrats, who took control of Congress last week, but Mr Bush has vowed to veto it. Advocates of stem cell research say it could lead to cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Mr Bush says the research would destroy
human life in the name of science.

The Interesting thing about this is Embryonic Stem Cell research has never been illegal in the US. Federal Funding has been illegal for it.

If there were any likely possibility for the successful cure of Alzheimer’s or Parkinson's than the drug companies would be all for it, and get there own funding but the science is obviously not there. There are some other obvious difficulties with embryonic stem cells

• Its only success created tumor cell(cancer)
• If a cure "were" created then there are not nearly enough embryo's available
  There would be required to be a massive number of women who would have to donate eggs. Due to the complication rate and the biological effects of egg donation there are some moral issues just with that.
• There are other options that have always looked more promising.

We can thusly conclude that there is a social/ moral agenda at work here. That is no surprise but I wish that they would be honest.

With today's strong bipartisan vote, we now challenge President Bush to join
members from both sides of the aisle in supporting the hope of stem cell
research." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

The Hope of stemm cell research is that we can live forever, there is no hope in that everyone dies. Nancy needs to learn the essentials of life. There has been plenty of stem cell research going on. The democrats and the agenda bandwagon have talke as though the only stem cell research has been Embrionic to confuse people and make them think that The President is anti-progress. I would like them to come clean on that as well.

Hope is only found in Jesus Christ.

Should creation of hybrid embryos be allowed?

My wife suffers from both Parkinsons Disease, and Scoliosis of the spine, and although she carries on, she is pitiful to look at. I would do anything or support anybody who could help her or others like her, without involving morals from whatever source - please let these peolple who need help have their chance.

Leonard Lane, Northwood, United Kingdom

I think that this person should be commended for their heart and stricken for their ignorance, and lauded for their honesty, but they are still wrong. As the article and comments bring out is that the moral ground is rapidly disappearing as their is nothing to base morality in secular humanism.

Hybrid embryo work 'under threat'

Early embryos yield stem cells

UK scientists planning to mix human and animal cells in order to research cures for degenerative diseases fear their work will be halted.

They accuse the body that grants licences for embryo research, the HFEA, of bowing to government pressure if it fails to consider their applications.

Ministers proposed outlawing such work after unfavourable public opinion.

PM Tony Blair said any new law would have "flexibility" to support scientific research that helped people.

He said there were "difficult" issues surrounding creating the embryos, which are more than 99% human but have a small animal component.

He added: "I'm sure that research that's really going to save lives and improve the quality of life will be able to go forward."

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is to discuss if two research requests come under its remit.

The creation of hybrid human-animal embryos was first suggested as a way of addressing the shortage of human eggs available for research.

But the HFEA says it is unresolved whether this type of controversial work is permissible under existing laws - or even whether it falls under the HFEA's jurisdiction to grant a licence.

Opponents say the work tampers with nature and is unethical.

The researchers have called for greater understanding of what they are trying to achieve.

Public opposition

The public was consulted on hybrid embryo work among other issues for an overhaul of outdated laws on fertility treatments and embryo research.

Ministers felt the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 needed to be updated as science has moved on significantly.

The new white paper says scientists will be able to push forward research in some areas, such as altering the genetic structure of cells that make embryos.

But government proposes prohibiting them from making human-animal hybrids or so-called "chimeras" - where genetic material is taken from humans and put into a host animal egg.

That is then allowed to grow to a very early embryo stage in the lab as a source of stem cells for research.

'Hybrids'

Scientists are hopeful that studies on stem cells - immature cells that can become many types of tissue - could lead to greater understanding and even a cure for many diseases, including Alzheimer's.

They say using human-animal mixes rather than human eggs to get the stem cells makes sense because human eggs are in short supply, plus the process is less cumbersome and yields better results.

Professor Chris Shaw from Kings College London, along with his colleague Dr Stephen Minger, has applied for a licence for stem cell work on Motor Neurone Disease.

We hope that the HFEA has found this is one hurdle too many and they are not prepared to jump over it Josephine Quintavalle of CORE ethics

He said: "To shut this down at the moment is a real affront to patients. We do not have a single drug that makes a difference to the disease course."

Dr Minger, who hopes to look at the genetic causes of conditions like Parkinson's disease, said he had been told that the HFEA was unlikely to grant his application.

A second team of scientists, led by Professor Lyle Armstrong at Newcastle University, has applied to research how different tissues grow in the body.

Dr Evan Harris MP, Liberal Democrat member of the Science and Technology Select Committee, warned there would be fierce opposition from scientists and parliamentarians to any draft bill which included such a ban.

Scientific progress

An HFEA spokesman said: "We need to decide whether the law prohibits this research, whether it falls under our remit at all, and then we can look at whether we have a fundamental view on this type of research.

"We have a duty to consider any application put before us."

If the HFEA decides it is outside its remit, the scientists will not legally need a licence to continue with their work.

A spokesman for the Department of Health stressed that the new law, which still needs to be debated in Parliament, would contain a clause allowing for the possibility that this type of work should be permitted in the future.

Josephine Quintavalle, of CORE ethics, said: "This is creating an animal-human hybrid and that has to be acknowledged as something that does not meet with approval.

"We hope that the HFEA has found this is one hurdle too many and they are not prepared to jump over it."

Stripping is art, Norway decides

A Norwegian appeals court has ruled that striptease is an art form and should therefore be exempt from value-added tax (VAT).

"One can suspect there were moral scruples behind the tax authorities' claim since all forms of stage dance are free of value-added tax," Reuters news agency quoted the club owners' lawyer as saying.

I think this is obvious.