The Scottish Liberal Democrats will consider a motion proposing a
"single secular model of state-funded education" tomorrow. The motion calls for the end of faith-based admissions, faith-based employment restrictions and
religious representatives on education boards. We'll have a news story reporting the outcome next week.
Survivors of abuse allegedly carried out by John Smyth, the former chairman of a Christian trust, have launched a legal claim against
the trust which now runs the camps it used to. The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry will examine residential establishments run by
three male religious orders in a phase of public hearings announced to begin in summer next year. And a leading Roman Catholic prep school has closed after a report revealed the extent of
sexual abuse at its linked college. Meanwhile Spotlight, the film about the Boston Globe revealing one of the Catholic Church's cover-up of child abuse,
will be on BBC 2 at 9pm on Saturday evening.
A legal watchdog has said it will
take no further action against the Christian Legal Centre over its conduct in the case of the toddler Alfie Evans. The NSS wrote to the Solicitors Regulation Authority in May to raise
concerns about the CLC's breaches of the legal code of conduct. The NSS also wrote to the Bar Standards Board, from whom it has yet to hear back.
A final decision on whether Lancashire County Council will stop supplying non-stunned halal meat for school meals will now be taken by all of the authority's members. The
news places another hurdle in the way of a decision which was originally taken last October.
Women in England will be allowed to take an early abortion pill at home, under a
government plan due to take effect by the end of the year.
India's Supreme Court has ruled that gay sex is no longer a criminal offence
in the country. Religious groups were among those who lobbied in favour of reinstating it as a crime in 2013.
Two women convicted of attempting to have lesbian sex in the Malaysian state of Terengganu have been caned in a sharia court. In response lawmakers in the neighbouring state of Pahang are
considering legalising the caning of
gay people.
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