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Northern Europe
Norwegian minister battles 'anti-queer' views in churches
Annette Trettebergstuen, Minister of Culture and Equality, wants to make LGBT acceptance in faith communities a special point of action. She set up a special action plan. The goal of the plan is to improve the quality of life for queers in minority communities and religious communities, Vart Land writes.…
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Western Europe
Parliamentarians call on Macron to save rural churches
More than a hundred parliamentarians have called upon the French President Macron to take action against the dilapidation of rural churches in France. They wrote an open letter in which they demanded action from the government. “Each time a church disappears, a fragment of France's soul vanishes”, the parliamentarians, primarily…
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Northern Europe
Danes want “help for sex addicts to reduce prostitution”
If sex addicts get more help to stop buying sex, there will be less prostitution, several Danes believe. The findings lead to a new debate about policy. Studies show that one in five Danish men has paid for sex at some point in time. Yet, there are only a few…
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Western Europe
Alcohol consumption before pregnancy also affects child
The alcohol consumption of women can affect their future pregnancies. That is shown by a Dutch study. Researchers from the Dutch Erasmus medical centre discovered that drinking alcohol in the months before the pregnancy can alter the shape of the baby's face. If a mother drinks one glass of alcohol…
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Northern Europe
Danish folk church shrinks despite baptisms
The number of baptisms in the Danish folk church is roughly the same as in previous years. Still, Danes are worried about declining participation in the church. In total, 41,176 children were baptised in Denmark. That is roughly the same number as before the pandemic. However, that only covers part…
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Central Europe
Catholic priest convicted of antisemetic hate speech in Poland
A Mass does not justify antisemitic hate speech, a Polish court confirmed. In a historic trial, a Catholic priest was convicted for this. According to Father Michal Woznicki, Jews in the world have assumed the role of a leech, “a tick, a body that lives on the host's body, swells,…
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Eastern Europe
Study: Russia put Ukrainian children in re-education camps
Russia has detained at least 6,000 Ukrainian children in camps and other facilities that appear to be mainly aimed at political re-education, according to US research. Those sites are said to be part of a “large-scale systematic network” that Moscow has been running since the outbreak of war in Ukraine.…
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Northern Europe
Norwegian church to host LGBT art exhibition
A Norwegian church will host an art exhibition designed to bring queer people and religion closer to each other. “Queerness and religion have often been seen as a contradiction from both sides. But two years ago, we saw a tendency for artworks to express a spiritual longing and search, not…
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Southern Europe
Spain approves controversial LGBT and abortion laws
Spain's parliament on Thursday passed legislation which makes it easier for trans people to change their gender, expands access to abortion procedures and grants menstrual leave to women suffering from severe period pain. It was a historic day in Spain on Thursday. Inside the parliament, politicians approved several controversial laws.…
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Eastern Europe
Ukrainian pacifist will be taken to jail
The Ukrainian Vitaly Alekseenko must get ready to be taken to jail. The police warned him recently that he will be imprisoned February 20. Earlier, Alekseenko was sentenced to a jail term of a year. He went into appeal, but his request was rejected on January 16. Now, the verdict…
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