The offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris have been destroyed in a petrol bomb attack the day after it announced the Prophet Muhammad as its “editor-in-chief” for its next issue.

Following a Government consultation under the Equality Act 2010, (same sex) civil partnership ceremonies will be permitted from 5 December 2011 in church and other places of worship.

Just days after the front page revelations about clerical child abuse at west London’s Ealing Abbey came more unwelcome front page news for the Catholic Church: “Sex abuse fears grow – Catholic Church orders new inquiry in England.”

Axbridge Town Council raised the idea of abolishing prayers at its meetings last August when some councillors said the worship infringed on their rights as atheists. The Council decided to refer the matter to its personnel and protocol committee, who will investigate it and make recommendations to the Council.

An amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill, tabled by psychiatrist and crossbench peer Baroness Hollins, called for the words ‘spiritual health’ to be inserted into a clause about the duty of the secretary of state, the NHS Commissioning Board and clinical commissioning groups to improve the quality of services.

Peers in the House of Lords this week challenged the level of discrimination permitted in 'faith' schools against non-religious teachers and those not of the faith of the school. Baroness Turner of Camden tabled three amendments to the Education Bill which were worded in consultation with the NSS.

An American civil rights group is urging United Nations member states to combat violence and discrimination fuelled by religious intolerance by passing a resolution that addresses this problem without including the controversial notion of "defamation of religions" or other restrictions on freedom of expression.

In a recent survey, 88% of American Catholics said that “how a person lives is more important than whether he or she is Catholic," according to Catholics in America: Persistence and change in the Catholic landscape.

The Vatican has ordered an inquiry into claims of decades of sexual abuse at a London abbey and school.

The only non-faith school in the west of the Isle of Wight from has been saved from closure by opting out of local authority control and gaining academy status.

Peers in the House of Lords this week rejected moves to make collective worship in schools optional, rather than compulsory. The amendments were moved by NSS Honorary Associate Lord Avebury during the Report Stage of the Education Bill.

Peers in the House of Lords have rejected moves to make collective worship in schools optional, rather than compulsory. The amendments, tabled by NSS Honorary Associate Lord Avebury, would have given community schools the freedom to decide for themselves whether or not to hold acts of religious worship.

The BBC has reported that at least three people in London with HIV/AIDS have died after they stopped taking life-saving drugs because their Evangelical Christian pastors told them that God would heal them.

A physiotherapist who attacked a patient’s religion when she refused to have acupuncture at a Sheffield clinic has been struck off.

Woking Borough Council has agreed to carry out an Equality Impact Assessment after a warning from the NSS that it is breaking the law by allowing churchgoers to park free while charging everyone else.

On Tuesday, 18 October 2011, Radio 4's File on 4 broadcast an investigation into the physical and sexual abuse of children in madrassas (mosque schools), gathered from around 200 local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales.

The Home Office has launched a public consultation asking whether 'insulting' words or behaviour should continue to be a crime.

A Freedom of Information request to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) by the NSS has revealed the Armed Forces spend £22 million annually on Christian chaplains and currently employ 280 chaplains across all three services.

An evangelical church with creationist beliefs in Newark (Notts) which had its free school application turned down has pledged to continue making every effort possible to see a new school set up.

Education Minister Lord Hill received a delegation on 12 October from NSS Honorary Associates Lord Avebury and Baroness Turner and NSS Executive Director Keith Porteous Wood. They discussed amendments both peers had tabled in the Education Bill.