A landmark hearing at the Supreme Court in London on Monday will consider who is responsible for compensating victims of child abuse by Catholic priests.

St Albans district council has voted 34-13 to discontinue prayers as part of the agenda for full council meetings, but to have a separate voluntary prayer session beforehand.

The National Trust has announced plans to review the controversial exhibit in the new Giants' Causeway visitors centre which gives credence to the creationist 'explanation' of the natural phenomenon on Northern Ireland's north Antrim coast.

As further evidence of the secularising direction of Ireland and its downgrading of the influence of the Catholic Church, the Defence Minister, Alan Shatter, recently refused to allow the army to provide a "guard of honour" for a procession during the Vatican's International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin.

Barking and Dagenham Council has agreed to the controversial amalgamation of a community school in Dagenham with a neighbouring Church of England voluntary aided Junior School.

An attempt by the Government to reform the House of Lords looks doomed after 91 Conservative MPs defied their party whip this week and voted against plans for a mainly elected second chamber. During the two day debate there was much criticism of the plans to retain the bench of Church of England bishops.

The small German magazine Titanic is being prosecuted by the Pope over the cover of its latest edition which satirises the "Vatileaks" scandal.

New research in the USA shows that Jehovah's Witnesses who refuse blood transfusions recover from heart surgery faster and with fewer complications than those who have transfusions.

Forty Sikh militants in Kembrey Park in Wiltshire locked themselves inside a local temple last Saturday to stop a Sikh woman marrying a Christian man of West African background.

The National Trust has come under fire for including an exhibit in the new Giants' Causeway Visitors' Centre acknowledging the creationist view of how the world-famous stones were formed.

Parents, doctors and researchers in Calgary have launched a fight to overturn a Catholic School District's ban on vaccinations for girls against the human papilloma virus (HPV).

Teachers at a community school threatened with amalgamation with a religious school are to stage a one day strike in protest over the plans.

Church of England Bishops will retain reserved seats in the House of Lords according to proposals published today by the Deputy Prime Minister.

The National Secular Society has welcomed an announcement from Edinburgh City Council that new ten minute "Pause for Reflection" sessions will be held before council meetings in place of prayers during them.

The Church of England's failure to distinguish between social, religious and legal institutions of marriage "confuses the issues" according to a legal opinion obtained by the National Secular Society about the Church's controversial response to the Government's consultation on equal marriage. The consultation has just closed.

The GP Dr Richard Scott who was disciplined by the General Medical Council for distressing one of his patients by trying to persuade him to change his religion has said that he intends to continue with his proselytising activities.

A father of four from Toowoomba in Australia has won a High Court action challenging the Australian government's funding of a school chaplaincy programme.

The Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, has written to the Catholic Education Service (CES) to express concern that it has blurred the distinction between discussing matters of faith and promoting partisan political views.

A man in Boston, Lincolnshire has been warned by the police that if he puts up a small poster in his window that says "religions are fairy stories for adults" he could face arrest. Meanwhile, in Poland a popular singer known as Doda has lost an appeal over "offending the religious feelings".

A Margate GP who was accused of distressing one of his patients by inappropriately trying to evangelise him has received a warning from the General Medical Council (GMC). If any further complaints are made about him, he risks being struck off the medical register.