In a very sympathetic article yesterday, a Telegraph reporter stated that “two High Court judges upheld the decision of Derby City Council not to approve the [Eunice and Owen] Johns family as carers.” I found this troubling and posted a link to a similar report on my Facebook page. If it can happen in the United Kingdom (England), then it may soon be the case in the USA as well.

However, today, I located a link to the Court’s decision (here) where I found that the Court actually declared in  item 34,

We are simply not here concerned with the grant or denial of State ‘benefits’ to the claimants. No one is asserting that Christians (or, for that matter, Jews or Muslims) are not ‘fit and proper’ persons to foster or adopt. No one is contending for a blanket ban. No one is seeking to de-legitimise Christianity or any other faith or belief. No one is seeking to force Christians or adherents of other faiths into the closet. No one is asserting that the claimants are bigots. No one is seeking to give Christians, Jews or Muslims or, indeed, peoples of any faith, a second class status. On the contrary, it is fundamental to our law, to our polity and to our way of life, that everyone is equal: equal before the law and equal as a human being endowed with reason and entitled to dignity and respect.

This seems to be in direct conflict to the reports that I read yesterday. Indeed, the final paragraph (109) states, “For the reasons given in [107] we have concluded that we should make no order.” Although, in paragraph 108, the Court does conclude “ that the attitudes of potential foster carers to sexuality are relevant when considering an application for approval,” I do not believe that the Court would allow that such attitudes be restrictive upon Christians or any other group (c.f. para 98-99).

This is a difficult question and all of the “legalese” makes understanding the Court even more difficult, it does not appear that the UK will begin any anti-Christian process. I do not know whether the Johns will be able to continue as foster parents or not. But if they are denied, it would appear that such a decision is based upon much more than their Christian Faith.

The continual encroachment upon the principles of the Christian Faith is something that we do well to monitor & report. However, we must always uphold the highest standards of ethics and accuracy before “crying wolf.”

Do you believe that the previous reports were accurate? Your comments are always welcome.

Cloned Monkeys

Can a child have two biological mothers?

Logically, one would immediately say “NO!” but the Washington Post reported that a lab in Oregon has accomplished this feat with rhesus monkeys. The article states,

Scientists have produced monkeys with genetic material from two mothers…. Using cloning-related techniques, the researchers developed a way to replace most of the genes in the eggs of one rhesus macaque monkey with genes from another monkey. They then fertilized the eggs with sperm, transferred the resulting embryos into animals’ wombs and produced four apparently healthy offspring.

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