Samantha Devine, 13, was told to remove the crucifix and chain to comply with rules at the Robert Napier School, a non-denominational mixed school, in Gillingham, Kent. Her father, Danny Devine, 30, of Canterbury Street, Gillingham, told the Medway Messenger newspaper: "It's just political correctness gone absolutely mad. It's a harmless crucifix and she wears it as a symbol of her religion.

...

Deputy head teacher Paul Jackson defended the school's stance. He said: "The school has a policy of no jewellery to be worn by any students in years seven to 10. All parents and students are aware of this.

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Female victims of rape will not be offered any post-intercourse contraception if they are treated at a Catholic run hospital.

The Catholic Church currently owns and runs 70 hospitals throughout Australia, both private and public, and is running them under the 80-page ethics document which forbids abortion and the morning-after pill, even for rape victims.

The decision has cause concern for many medical professionals who see the decision and practice as negligent towards women who have been attacked.

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Barely half the French population describe themselves as Catholic, according to a poll released yesterday, sparking a leading religious publication to declare France "no longer a Catholic country".

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Scientists reported Sunday they had found a plentiful source of stem cells in the fluid that cushions babies in the womb.

The announcement may make it easier to sidestep the controversy over destroying embryos for research.

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The Christian fish symbol is an ancient and sacred symbol for the persecuted Christians in the 1st century, as well as contemporary believers in Christ. But that symbol which showed that Christians identified with each other in their obedience to follow Christ is taking on a whole new meaning. The Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, as one of their ministries, ‘Ministry with Lesbians and Gay Catholics’ decided to make the sacred fish symbol into a rainbow fish symbol pin.

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Writing in his pastoral letter for the feast of the Epiphany, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor strongly encouraged people to return to the regular reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and to take part in Holy Hour prayer with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.

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Is contemporary just-war theory just? That's the question being asked by the Global Ethics and Religion Forum, which recently launched a study group dedicated to "Revising Just War Theory for the 21st Century." That's also the question being debated by bloggers, pundits and scholars from coast to coast as they evaluate the justness of the ongoing U.S. military presence in Iraq.

Just-war theory lays out the criteria for when (jus ad bellum) and how (jus in bello) secular rulers may appropriately use military force. Rooted in St. Augustine's theorizing over the nature of a rightly ordered state, and later refined by St. Thomas Aquinas and other natural law philosophers, just-war theory has shaped the way the church and many states evaluate armed conflict for more than a millennium.

But, with the onset of the "war on terror," a growing number of political scientists, theologians and philosophers now contend that classic just-war theory fails to account for the challenges of 21st-century warfare – challenges that include terrorism, child soldiers, torture and violence by independent militia.

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"We do it not because they're not Catholic. We do it because we are Catholic," he said.

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