The UK Parliament has rejected a Bill to legalise euthanasia by a majority of three to one. Impassioned arguments were presented on both sides of the debate. However, one of the weaknesses in the proposal was that it suggested that doctors should not be allowed to assist someone to die unless two doctors and a High Court judge agreed – but similar restrictions placed on abortion by the 1967 Abortion Act have proved largely ineffective in practice.
A judge in Milton Keynes has ordered that a disabled boy be removed from the care of his disabled mother because her own disability “renders it impossible for to meet his developing needs”, and the cost of providing local authority support for the boy would be too high. The judge said the boy needed a “permanent substitute family”, but rejected accusations that he was indulging in social engineering.
A county clerk in Kentucky refused to issue licences for gay marriages, despite the Supreme Court deciding that gay marriage should be legal throughout the USA. She was taken to court where a judge ordered her to issue the licences; when she still refused, he jailed her, before releasing her after a few days. The issue has provoked emotive comments from her supporters, who have suggested that licences for gay marriages issued by her deputies in her absence might be ruled invalid (which is unlikely), and that a lesbian judge in Texas who refused to perform heterosexual marriages for 4 years should also have been disciplined (she probably should). However, the most pertinent comments to the overall issue came from a gay rights group, who called for the clerk to be freed from jail because they didn’t want her to become a martyr to the cause of conscientious objection to gay marriage.
A pastor in Northern Ireland who said in a sermon, “Islam is heathen, Islam is satanic, Islam is a doctrine spawned in hell”, and then made the sermon available online, is being prosecuted under the 2003 Communications Act. A large number of people are supporting him, including an atheist journalist who said, “Freedom of speech isn’t only for polite persons of mild disposition airing their views within Government-policed parameters”.
Further news has emerged of the underground Christian revival in the Middle East. The number of Christians is now believed to be in the millions in Pakistan, Egypt and Sudan; about 220,000 in Iran; and around 100,000 in Iraq, Algeria, Kazakhstan, and even Saudi Arabia. Many of these people have become believers in the past 15 years, and many are converts from Islam.
In Missouri, a high school’s policy of respecting transgender students was severely tested when 150 students walked out of classes in protest against a transgender student who wanted to use the girls’ changing room for PE classes. The 17 year old student was born male and has had no operations to change his gender; he simply wears a wig and a dress, and now claims to be transgender. having previously identified as homosexual. The school board said that the student could use the girls’ changing rooms, based on advice from legal counsel, but three members of the school board have since resigned.
In film news, the best attended film over the long Labor Day weekend in the USA was a low budget Christian film. “War Room” describes how a couple’s failing marriage is rescued by regular prayer. It was shown in only 1500 cinemas but still outsold new releases like “Transporter Refueled” and blockbusters a few weeks old such as “Mission Impossible”. It was strongly criticised by film critics but even more strongly praised in audience reviews.
In technology news, it has been revealed that members of Islamic State, who were allegedly plotting to attack the Queen, had hacked into the email accounts of Government ministers from where they could have found out the Queen’s schedule. The hacks happened several months ago but were not publicised while the investigation into the plot was under way.
Also in technology news, Google has invented a new miniature sensor that uses radar technology to capture the motions of fingers at 10,000 frames per second. This means it should be possible to interact with a device without ever actually touching it. The biggest potential of the sensor is for devices that are too small to use easily by touch, such as smart watches.
And finally, a Dutch student discovered archive documents in 2013 which showed that the city of Amsterdam charged 240 Jews, who had survived concentration camps, for rent arrears for their properties when they returned to Amsterdam after the war. The charges applied even if the houses had been occupied by Germans, or by collaborators, or had been destroyed by bombing. The city of Amsterdam has now offered to issue refunds to any relatives of these Jews who ask for reimbursement; the average sum is around 1800 euros.
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