The controversy began when it came to light that the twice-divorced Johnson was allowed to wed Carrie Symonds, his longtime girlfriend and the mother of his baby, Wilfred, in Westminster Cathedral, Catholicism's London headquarters, on May 29.

Biden has been known as a lifelong Mass-goer — he recently attended Mass in the parish church of St. Ives, the little seaside town next to the venue for the G-7 summit in Cornwall — but Johnson has not.

Now, though, it seems that for the first time, the chief politicians on either side of the Atlantic are both Catholic.

Baptized into the Catholic faith of his mother, Johnson appeared to move away from it in his youth, being instead confirmed an Anglican at Eton. His first two marriages were civil ones — both invalid in the Catholic Church's view, which allowed him to marry for the third time in a Catholic ceremony — and there was little indication until he popped out of the cathedral that he was committed to the Catholic faith.

In retrospect, there were signs.

In September, for instance, Wilfred was baptized as a Catholic.

But it was only after Johnson and Symonds were married that the Diocese of Westminster declared that both were baptized Catholics and parishioners of the cathedral.

For the very first time, it seemed, the U.K. has a Catholic prime minister.

According to the constitutional expert Peter Hennessy, professor of contemporary history at Queen Mary, University of London, and himself a Catholic, having a Catholic prime minister in Downing Street is a watershed moment after hundreds of years of post-Reformation discrimination in Britain.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, said Hennessy, Catholics have edged their way into positions of influence, being appointed as Cabinet secretary, director-general of the BBC and as the heads of Oxbridge colleges.

"Appointment as prime minister is the completion of the Catholic stealth minority's rise to influence," said Hennessy.

The U.K. may look to have religion at the heart of its public life — the Church of England is the established church, with its bishops sitting in the House of Lords and Queen Elizabeth II at its head.

But Britain is also among the world's most secular countries, where increasing numbers of its citizens have no faith at all, even as members of other religions, including Islam, Judaism, Sikhism and Buddhism, become ever more prominent, and vocal.

Roman Catholicism alone still has a contested place in Britain: By law, the monarch cannot be a Roman Catholic (although other members of the family can belong to the church). And the implications of a Catholic in the country's highest elected office are still considerable.

To take one example, the prime minister plays a role in the appointment of Church of England bishops.

Under the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829, no "person professing the Roman Catholic religion" is allowed to advise the monarch on the appointment of Church of England bishops.

A Muslim or Jew can — but not a Catholic.

It looks likely that Johnson will deputize the Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland, on this matter.

Johnson's faith could also affect the future of Northern Ireland.

When Tony Blair delayed converting to Roman Catholicism — the religion of his wife, Cherie, and their four children — until he left office, the appointment of bishops was a factor, but even more so was how a Catholic PM might be received in Northern Ireland, where the 1998 Good Friday Agreement had finally achieved peace between nationalists and unionists who are split along Catholic-Protestant lines.

Today, after more than 20 years of peace, Northern Ireland is again in turmoil as the reality of Brexit hit. Johnson's deal with the European Union to avoid the return of a "hard" trade border on the island of Ireland has outraged unionists who feel the deal compromises the island's links to the United Kingdom.

At a rally earlier this month in Northern Ireland, hundreds of unionists in paramilitary-style clothing accused Johnson of betraying them.

If tensions increase over Brexit, said Steve Richards, a British political commentator and author of "The Prime Ministers: Reflections on Leadership from Wilson to Johnson," "the perceptions about him and the mistrust could grow. The issue of his Catholicism could play into that."

Even Conservative Party allies of the mercurial Johnson were taken aback by his ability to persuade the Catholic Church that he was returning to their fold to get married.

"Tories I spoke to remarked on his chutzpah," said Richards.

"It's very Boris. They saw it as a contrivance. Its greatest political implication will be if it unravels, and then there's a question about his ability to stick at something."

At the recent G-7 summit, while Biden found time to head to Mass on the Sunday of the meeting, Johnson did not, preferring to go for a swim in the nearby Celtic Sea.

"They wonder if the wool was pulled over priests' eyes," Richards added.

When a TV political interviewer asked Johnson at the end of the G-7 gathering whether he is now a practising Catholic, Johnson answered, "I don't discuss these deep issues."

In saying that, he was following in the footsteps of many recent prime ministers.

Asked on the eve of the Iraq War in 2003 if he prayed with then-President George W. Bush, Blair looked highly embarrassed, shifted in his seat and eventually answered no.

Since then, however, Blair's informal "we don't do God" policy has waned, as prime ministers and their advisers see the potential for reaching faithful voters.

Johnson has appointed a faith engagement adviser to produce a report on how government might better engage with faith groups.

Church organizations and other bodies have been recognized by politicians as working effectively on homelessness and substance abuse problems. But unlike in the U.S., matters of personal morality, such as abortion, do not play powerfully in the British public arena.

If he is asked about it, look for Johnson to be taking another dip in the sea.

• Catherine Pepinster is an author at Religion News Service.
• First published in RNS. Republished with permission.
• Image: RNS

War planes and ships launched over 100 missiles at three chemical weapons storage and research facilities near Damascus and Homs.

The airstrikes sought to punish President Bashar al-Assad for a suspected chemical attack in the rebel-held suburb of Douma, east of Damascus, on 7 April.

Forty-two people died in the attack.

According to the Pentagon, the airstrikes aimed to take "the heart out of" of President Bashar Assad's chemical weapons programme.

They say the strikes targeted a research centre in Damascus, along with a chemical weapons storage facility and command post west of Homs.

At the same time, the Pentagon acknowledges the Syrian government can probably still attack with chemical agents.

In a joint statement, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, the Melkite-Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem have denounced the strikes.

Their statement says they condemn "the brutal aggression that took place [during the weekend] against our precious country … under the allegations that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons."

They say the airstrikes are a "clear violation of the international laws and the UN Charter", and described them as an "unjustified assault" on a sovereign country that is a member of the UN.

"It causes us great pain that this assault comes from powerful countries to which Syria did not cause any harm in any way.

"The allegations of the USA and other countries that the Syrian army is using chemical weapons and that Syria is a country that owns and uses this kind of weapon is a claim that is unjustified and unsupported by sufficient and clear evidence."

Pope Francis has called for peace in the region.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Boston Globe
• BBC
• ABC
• The Tablet
• Image: Daily Star

However, the British government is refusing to say whether it is or not.

The question arose when Lord Pearson of Rannoch raised a question on the issue in the House of Lords.

In response, he says the government failed to state clearly whether or not Christians can be prosecuted for stating their beliefs.

"I said to the government ‘Will they confirm unequivocally that a Christian who says that Jesus is the only son of the one true God cannot be arrested for hate crime or any other offence, however much it may offend a Muslim or anyone of any other religion?'"

In response to the question, government whip Baroness Vere of Norbiton said: "My Lords, I am not going to comment on that last question from the noble Lord."

Vere says the legal definition of "hate crime" has been the same for the past 10 years.

Pearson says Vere's refusal to comment was "pretty unique" and "makes one very worried".

The Crown Prosecution Service defines racial and religious hate crime as "particularly hurtful to victims as they are being targeted solely because of their personal identity, their actual or perceived racial or ethnic origin, belief or faith."

In Pearson's view this is "stupid" and he called for the law to be clarified.

"Certainly the stricter Muslims do feel offended by Christianity and our belief in Jesus being the only Son of the one true God."

Pearson also says there is a double standard in how hate crime laws are applied to Christianity and Islam.

"You can say what you like about the Virgin Birth, the miracles and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, but as soon as you say ‘come on, is Islam really the religion of peace that it claims to be?', all hell breaks loose."

Reports say the Crown Prosecution Service has documented 15,442 hate crime prosecutions in 2015 and 2016.

Those charged include several clerics and street preachers for sharing their views on homosexuality and Islam.

Last year, two senior Spanish clerics were accused by feminists and gay rights groups of committing hate crime after they delivered homilies that criticized gender theory.

Charges against Cardinal Antonio Cañizares and Archbishop Francisco Javier Martinez were immediately dropped after prosecutors found insufficient evidence that they broke the law.

In September a street preacher was convicted of using "threatening and discriminatory language" after he was accused by Muslims of hate speech while he was preaching.

He appealed the conviction arguing English law provides the preacher with the freedom to share the Gospel and that this has been successfully upheld for many years.

The Crown Court judge agreed and overturned the lower court ruling earlier this month.

Source

• Catholic Herald
• Christian Times
• Image: Lancaster online

This follows Britain's planned exit from the EU.

The Pope told reporters on his flight back from Armenia that it is clear "something isn't working in this unwieldy union [the EU]".

Francis said Europe must reflect on the "air of division" being sowed in Europe and beyond.

Continue reading

During the Pope's audience on August 19, an activist from the "Dialogue for Malvinas" campaign thrust a sign towards Francis's hands as he passed by.

It read: "It's time for Argentina and Britain to discuss the Falklands."

Gustavo Hoyo, director of the "dialogue" movement, has been tweeting pictures of ordinary Argentines and well-known faces holding the placard.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner tweeted a photo of the Pope with the sign.

Argentina has repeatedly called for a bilateral discussion between London and Buenos Aires, excluding the Falkland islanders themselves.

They base their argument on a 1965 United Nations Decolonisation Committee resolution which "invites the governments of Argentina and Great Britain to proceed ... with a view to finding a peaceful solution to the problem".

President Fernandez de Kirchner has frequently lobbied the Pope to intervene on her country's behalf, but the Vatican has been clear it doesn't wish to involve itself in the dispute.

A Vatican spokesman said on Wednesday: "There has been no change of position on this issue. The Pope does not want to enter into this debate."

The spokesman added: "The Pope is presented with many things during his general audiences. He receives a long queue of people."

"Holding something does not mean that he is taking a position either way."

Before he was Pope, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio firmly stated the Malvinas are Argentina's and were usurped by the UK.

Britain and the Falkland Islanders have long rejected calls for dialogue, with the argument that there is nothing to discuss.

In a 2013 referendum, the islanders voted overwhelmingly to remain British.

A spokesman for the UK Foreign Office said the Falkland Islanders have a right to decide their own future, as enshrined in the UN Charter and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Sources

• Sydney Morning Herald
• The Telegraph
• The Mirror
• Image: Bloomberg

An analysis of 180 opinion polls among British adults from the 1950s to today shows a steady decline in esteem for the Church and its clergy.

This seems to have accelerated since 2000.

But the same study by academic Dr Clive Field shows latent and institutional anti-Catholicism has died away in the UK.

His findings show that Catholics are, on the whole, viewed positively.

While 24 per cent of Britons disagreed with marriages between Catholics and Protestants in 1968 this figure dropped to five per cent by 1993.

Findings also show that Catholics - and not just the general public - believe the Church is out of touch on moral and gender issues.

This, Dr Field argues, suggests that hostility to the Church is not a new form of anti-Catholicism.

While 48 per cent of Britons view Pope Francis's impact on the Church as positive, this is a much lower approval figure than in the United States and Canada.

Continue reading

His feast day is commemorated with supermarket meat sales, green rivers, green beer, and (my favourite) parades.

But who was the real St Patrick?

Most people know that the missionary Patrick (Patricius or Pádraig) helped to bring Christianity to Ireland in the 5^th Century. Some may remember how his first visit to the island was as a slave.

Sadly, only a few may remember Patrick's opposition to structural injustice and his prophetic defense of victims of violence and human trafficking.

As with so many of our saints, Patrick's radical application of the Gospel has been domesticated and stripped of its challenging message.

Rather than witnessing to the prophetic and loving call of the God's mission, Patrick has been turned into a caricature to decorate commercial marketing schemes and Hallmark cards. Continue reading.

Kevin Glauber Ahern, PhD is an assistant professor of religious studies at Manhattan College. He served as the President of the International Movement of Catholic Students (IMCS-Pax Romana) and is Vice-President of the ICMICA-Pax Romana.

Source: Daily Theology

Image: Author's own

More than 25,000 copies of Evangelii Gaudium have been sold since December.

This is the highest figure for any Vatican document since Unitatis Redintegratio, the Vatican II Decree on Ecumenism sold 85,000 copies in Britain.

Sales are already twice as much as for any previous papal document.

The managing editor of the Catholic Truth Society, which publishes such documents in Britain, said some bishops were buying it for their priests.

But parishes are also being encouraged to buy copies, Pierpaolo Finaldi said.

"If we as British Catholics can emulate the enthusiasm for evangelisation that shines through the text then it will be good news, not just for the Church but for the country at large," he said.

Evangelii Gaudium is also rocketing off book shelves in Korea, ahead of a papal visit.

Since being published in Korean two weeks ago, 25,000 copies have been sold.

Usually, about 4000 copies of papal documents are sold in Korea.

A Catholic sister who works in the "Daughters of Paul" book shop said: "Christians, Catholics but also Protestants and Anglicans, have come in droves to buy the book."

"Even non-Christians have begun to read it, and the announcement of the visit has boosted sales".

A Korean Catholic newspaper also put the document's success down to its easily accessible language.

Sister Kown, from the Pauline bookshop said papal documents usually don't sell well in Korea because there is "a certain prejudice against these texts among Koreans".

"They consider them complicated, far removed from the life of the faithful."

"Instead this exhortation is seen as a letter, which speaks of current issues and explains how to live well in a normal language".

Sources:

• Catholic Herald
• Asia News
• Image: Huffington Post

"The last thing we need is religion inserted in this," said Michael Summers, a veteran Falklands legislator. Britain's United Nations ambassador, Mark Lyall Grant, agreed.

Argentina continues to challenge Britain's claim of sovereignty over the Falklands despite a decisive British victory in the 1982 war and a conclusive referendum of islanders.

Continue reading

Details of the declines have been revealed for the first time by the compilation of statistics for these sacraments over the past century.

The figures were compiled by the Latin Mass Society, whose chairman said they "show unambiguously that something went seriously wrong in the Church in England and Wales in the 1960s and 1970s".

Continue reading

It was at the time when Baroness Thatcher stood outside No 10 and recited the prayer of St Francis of Assisi, to offer reassurance about her intentions. Two thirds of Brits were Christian then, and phrases such as "where there is discord, may we bring harmony" had wide resonance.

Those were the days where friends parted using phrases like "God bless" and hedged future plans with "God willing".

But over the past three decades Britain has been losing its religion at a precipitous rate - as Ed Miliband has worked out.

There was almost no comment, let alone fuss, about the section of the Labour leader's speech where he proclaimed that he had no religion.

This, in itself, is something of a milestone.

When Neil Kinnock spoke about his atheism, he was monstered, as if this were evidence of his otherness. In fact, he was at the vanguard of a growing secularist trend.

Today religion has become, if anything, a handicap to those governing modern Britain. Tony Blair judged it best to keep quiet about his faith. David Cameron has declared a Christianity-lite, one that comes and goes like "Magic FM in the Chilterns".

But this week, Ed Miliband wanted to tell the world about his creed. He is not a man for synagogues or churches, he said, but is emphatically a man of faith. "Not a religious faith," he said, "but a faith none the less. A faith, I believe, many religious people would recognise."

He listed the tenets: a duty to leave the world a better place; a desire to tackle injustice; a belief in the power of collective action. It is not unusual for politicians to describe their values, or give them funny names like "irreducible core". But it is unusual for them to elevate these to the status of a "faith".

Over the past 30 years, the two single most striking changes in Britain have been mass immigration and the collapse of Christian worship.

The former has only partially offset the latter.

Pews have been emptying at the rate of 1,500 souls per Sunday, and churches have been turning into pubs almost as fast as pubs have been closing. Deconsecrated churches now stand all over the country, like memorials to an era where weekend worship was the focal point of the community and "Sunday best" meant something.

Today, just one in seven Brits says they worship every week. Regular church-going is as odd, now, as atheism once was. Continue reading

The findings reported in The Telegraph show that opposition to assisted suicide among British MPs has strengthened markedly in the current Parliament, boosted by the presence of more Conservative members.

The Poll indicates MPs fear that moves to legalise assisted suicide in the midst of the current economic crisis could place frail and vulnerable people under added pressure to end their lives.

The poll comes in the face of a case of a Down's syndrome patient who is taking legal action against an NHS trust after a "do not resuscitate" (DNR) order was put on his medical file without his knowledge or the knowledge of his next of kin.

The DNR instructed staff not to perform resuscitation in the event of a cardio or respiratory arrest and also gave his disability as the sole reason for its imposition.

Lawyers for the man who can be identified only as AWA because of a court order, describe the order as "blatant discrimination".

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust says it complied fully with guidance from professional bodies.

The man's family remained unaware of the DNR order until he had returned from hospital to his care home.

The poll also comes not long after Britain hosted the paraolympics, which celebrated the inspirational achievements of disabled athletes and taught Britain and the world so much about courage and the overcoming of seemingly impossible odds.

Sources

• The Telegraph
• BBC
• The Independent
• Catholic Herald (Comment)
• Image: The Telegraph

Almost 600 16 to 24-year-olds were asked to choose the most important moral issue from eight options, with 59% opting for caring for family.

Some 4% said having religious faith or beliefs was the most important.

The poll also suggests 51% of young people believe they are less concerned with morals than their parents. Continue reading

Tony Nicklinson, paralysed from the neck down after a stroke seven years ago, died of natural causes a week after three High Court judges ruled that Parliament should decide whether euthanasia should be allowed.

The media battle has included numerous opinion polls conducted with the aim of demonstrating widespread support, especially among the young, for euthanasia and assisted suicide.

Euthanasia campaigners are also using celebrity endorsements to curry support, with actors, singers, novelists, comedians, philosophers and even war veterans agreeing to serve as patrons of the Dignity in Dying group. They include Sir Patrick Stewart, the Star Trek actor, and Sir Terry Pratchett, the science fiction writer.

Catholic News Service reports that some Catholic doctors in recent months have taken huge risks with their careers to argue that a system designed to care for people in their final hours can be operated as a euthanasia pathway.

The Liverpool Care Pathway allows medical staff to decide if a patient is dying, then to sedate the patient with opiates and to remove artificial food and fluids, which under British law are classed as "treatment". Audits have revealed that patients take an average of 29 hours to die.

Dr Philip Howard, a Catholic who works in a health service hospital in Surrey, said it is extremely difficult to predict when a patient will die, especially if the disease is noncancerous. The short life expectancy on the Liverpool Care Pathway "suggests that in some cases (or perhaps many), the pathway is either causing or significantly contributing to death," he said.

The government insists, however, that the pathway "is not euthanasia". A Department of Health statement described the pathway as an "established and respected tool" that enjoys "overwhelming support from clinicians at home and abroad".

Source:

Catholic News Service

Image: The Telegraph

A government statement said Harry was the most popular boy's name, but it was outranked by totalling the five most common different spellings of the Muslim prophet.

Harry, the name of Prince William's younger brother and J. K. Rowling's boy wizard, was given to 7523 baby boys in 2011.

But a total of 7907 boys were called Mohammed, Muhammad, Mohammad, Muhammed or Mohamed.

According to CNN, variations of this name could become even more popular in 2012, given the adulation around the Somali-born long-distance runner Mo[hammed] Farah, who won two gold medals for Britain at the Olympics.

The popularity of the name comes as the United Kingdom's Muslim population is expected to double in the next 20 years.

The country, which was about 2% Muslim in 1990, grew to 4.6% Muslim in 2010, with nearly 2.9 million followers of the faith, according to analysis by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

By 2030, the United Kingdom will be just over 8% Muslim, with more than 5.5 million adherents, the Washington-based think tank projected in a 2011 report.

A total of 37,564 babies in Britain have been given a variation of the name Mohammed in the past five years.

Source:

CNN Belief Blog

Image: Muslim Thai Post

The survey conducted in Britain also shows more than half of the adults questioned believe Religious Education lessons in schools are worthwhile with many favour making Religious Education (RE) compulsory.

The poll comes as increasing numbers of teenagers are being forced to drop Religious Education because of the introduction of new-style league tables that prioritise other subjects.

The YouGov poll commissioned by the Religious Education Council of England and Wales found 53% of 1,800 adults questioned in England and Wales thought RE should be compulsory in all state schools, while 58% of adults said they thought RE was beneficial.

Only 9% said they thought it was harmful.

In releasing the poll results, the Religious Education Council of England and Wales said they feared that an expansion of independent academies, state schools run free of local authority, is leading to rising numbers of schools dropping locally-agreed syllabuses in the subject, reports the Telegraph.

The survey results come at a time when British MP's and peers prepare to attend the first meeting of the newly-formed all-party parliamentary group for RE, established to raise awareness of the importance of RE in schools.

John Keast, chairman of the RE Council, said the group was necessary to counter concerns that the subject was becoming increasingly marginalised by Coalition reforms to education, reports the Telegraph.

This includes a Government decision to exclude RE from the English Baccalaureate - a new school leaving certificate that rewards pupils gaining good GCSE grades in the five core academic disciplines of maths, English, science, foreign languages and either history or geography.

It is feared that this is leading to a decline in the number of schools offering the subject at GCSE level.

Mr Keast said: "There have been a number of unintended consequences for RE as a result of changes made by the Government."

According to last summer's GCSE results, a total of 221,974 youngsters entered for the subject compared to 188,704 the year before.

At the same time, history and geography saw a decline in entries.

Sources

• The Tablet
• The Telegraph
• Huffington Post
• Image: The Telegraph

Responding formally to the Conservative Government's proposals, the Church of England said the move would change the "intrinsic nature of marriage as union of a man and a woman."

"Several major elements of the government's proposals have not been thought through properly and are not legally sound," the Church said.

Government Ministers have been adamant that a new law would be brought in before the next election in 2015 and churches would not be oblige to marry people of the same gender.

However according to Desmond Swayne, Cameron's parliamentary aide, same sex marriages should take place in Churches that want to have them, he said Wednesday.

But Crispin Blunt, the prisons minister, said that the current plans for a blanket ban on religious groups from carrying out gay marriages could prove "problematic legally," adding the promised exemption for religious groups may not survive even the initial Parliamentary process.

Blunt's view of the legal difficulties is also echoed by the Church of England which said it was doubtful that a refusal to let same sex couples marry in their churches would withstand a challenge in the European Court of Human Rights.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey has also joined the debate. Writing in The Telegraph, Carey a supporter of civil partnerships, warned of the unintended consequences of same-sex marriage.

"Same sex marriage proposals could do serious damage to Britian's constitution," he wrote.

Carey pointed out that way the Church of England is so inter-twined with the State means that laws of the Church have not effect if they are contrary to to customs of the realm, and he labelled Cameron's consultation as "fatally undermined by historical and legal ignorance."

Equally as critical are England's Catholic bishops who warn of the instability such a move will bring to British society.

"It is of serious concern to us that this proposal, which has such immense social importance for the stability of our society and which has significant implications for the unique institution of marriage and of family life, should be proposed on this basis and with such limited argument," said Archbishop Peter Smith, vice president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference.

Sources

• Reuters
• The Telegraph - George Carey
• The Telegraph - Ministers signal gay marriage could take place in church
• Catholic Bishops' Response to the Equal Civil Marriage Consultation
• Image: The Telegraph

Taking stock of the changes in Britain since Elizabeth came to the throne in 1952, Richard Chartres said rapid economic and progress had not come without its cost.

"Promiscuity, separation and divorce have reached epidemic proportions in our society," Chartres said in a pamphlet written to mark this weekend's festivities.

"Britain is indeed a better place today materially than ever before, but that material progress has been at the expense of our relationships with one another, our communal life." Continue reading

For the first time, they will be forced to meet new rules introduced to ensure schools respect the criminal and civil law, present political issues in a balanced way and promote tolerance of other faiths.

The change - applying to all independent schools in England - comes amid concerns that the curriculum in some schools may encourage the development of radical beliefs. Continue reading

In current British law marriage is not official until a man and woman have "ordinary and complete" sexual intercourse, which means same-sex couples cannot meet the requirement.

Tory MP Edward Leigh says the move will create legal chaos for people caught in sexless marriages.

Currently non-consummation of a marriage is a ground for the union to be annulled and Mr Leigh warned such a change to the law will have "profound effects".

Leigh said that amending the country's Marriage Act would result in reducing the current legal definition of marriage to a civil partnership, to which same-sex partners already have access.

Last week it was revealed that Conservative MPs - including ministers - will be free to vote according to their consciences on the issue of redefining marriage.

Prominent Labour politician Ed Balls recently spoke out in favor of same-sex marriage, saying that his late gay uncle would have wanted the right to marry his long-term partner.

Balls is also of the view that gay couples should have the right to marry in a church: "I think people should be able to get married in church too...I really hope the government will look at that proposal as well. This is something whose time has come."

Sources

• The Sun
• The Christian Post
• Image: The Local