These articles were first published in our April edition of the newspaper, click here for more.
The live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast, released in March in the UK, features Disney’s first-ever gay character and love scene.
Josh Gad (Olaf in Frozen) plays a sidekick of the film’s main antagonist Gaston, experiences unrequited love, but finds a ‘resolution’ at the end of the film.
The development plan for the Bala conference centre has seen almost a quarter of the build cost met, it was reported in March.
The development will increase the capacity of Bryn-Y-Groes by ten beds and give a needed uplift to the existing facilities. It will also mean greater flexibility for the centre, with more varied groups being accommodated. An expansion of the evangelistic work of the centre to reach more people is also planned.
‘Your sex, male or female, is what you’re born with’, leading feminist Dame Jenni Murray has said, as she spoke out against the ‘hijacking of language’ by transsexual activists.
In the The Sunday Times, the Woman’s Hour presenter criticised moves to allow men who live as women to become guide leaders and the attempted renaming of breast cancer to ‘chest cancer’. She also highlighted that there was a ‘lot of fear’ from academics about the issue, following the sacking of a professor in Canada who challenged affirming transsexu-alism in children.
TV’s Lord Winston withdrew an amendment to an Abortion Bill after a passionate speech by Lord Shinkwin in the House of Lords in late February.
Lord Shinkwin, who has a disability himself, opposed a dangerous amendment tabled by Lord Winston, which sought to allow abortions after 24 weeks if there is a high chance the baby will die during or after birth. The report stage of the Bill will continue at a date yet to be confirmed.
Christians must feel free to talk about their beliefs, the Prime Minister said in early March, as she declared that the role of Christianity should be celebrated in the UK.
Theresa May also told a Downing Street reception that the persecution of Christians abroad needs to tackled. Mrs May praised the work that churches do, and noted that the Church and Government ‘will not always agree’, but there are areas ‘where we
NHS staff will be encouraged to ask dying patients about their ‘religious preferences’ under new guidance for the NHS, it was reported in early March.
Staff have been called to do more to ensure that the preferences of patients are addressed after an audit of deaths in England revealed that the spiritual preferences of patients who could be communicated with before dying were rarely recorded. The approach has been praised by the National Council for Palliative Care.
A campaign was launched in February by Women’s Equality Party for abortion to be decriminalised.
They believe that abortion right up to birth should be made a sexual health and human rights issue and that the law, established in 1861, where a life sentence can be given for having an abortion without the consent of two doctors, should be abolished.
Michael Fabricant, MP for Lichfield, said in March that the CofE risked becoming ‘out-of-step with 21st [century] Western liberal values’ and equated some Christians to ‘ISIL’.
A self-described agnostic, he added: ‘Simply opting for more of the same for the sake of unity amongst a diverse Communion … is a choice of quantity over quality. Perhaps the Church should take a tough line on its less progressive elements: get with the times or get out.’