Three adults living in a polyamorous relationship can be the legal parents of a child, according to a ruling by a Canadian judge in what is believed to be the first ruling of its kind in the nation. 

The case involves two men living with a woman, who is the mother of the child born in 2017, according to the CBC. It was a Newfoundland and Labrador court.

“Society is continuously changing and family structures are changing along with it,” Justice Robert Fowler wrote. “This must be recognized as a reality and not as a detriment to the best interests of the child.”

The ruling was handed down in April but did not become public until June. It is the first time a Canadian court has ruled that three parents in a relationship can be legally recognized as the parents.

The trio filed suit after the province told them that only two parents could be listed on the child’s birth certificate, the CBC reported.

“I have no reason to believe that this relationship detracts from the best interests of the child,” Fowler wrote. “On the contrary, to deny the recognition of fatherhood (parentage) by the applicants would deprive the child of having a legal paternal heritage with all the rights and privileges associated with that designation.”

Answers in Genesis founder Ken Ham criticized the judge’s ruling, saying it was not in the child’s best…

Christian groups have welcomed a surprise announcement by a nationalist chief minister of a state in north-east India that he will ensure that a law preventing conversions from one faith to another is repealed.

Pema Khandu, a Buddhist who heads the nationalist BJP-led state government in Arunachal Pradesh, told an audience of more than 2,000 Catholics that he would have the 1978 Freedom of Religion Act repealed in the next session of the Legislative Assembly.

He said the law, which, in sharp contrast to its name, places heavy restrictions on religious conversions, “could undermine secularism and is probably targeted towards Christians”. (In India, talk of “secularism” relates to treating all religions with equal respect, rather than the separation of religion and politics.)

Khandu told the audience, which including nine Catholic bishops: “Though I have been told that the law has been never implemented … in future, it could be misused by a chief minister, chief secretary or DGP [director general of police].”

He added: “Any misuse of the law leading to the torture of people could trigger large-scale violence in the state and could break Arunachal into pieces.” Between the 1960s and 1980s some Christians in the state were subjected to torture, public beatings and detention, as their activity was resisted amid concerns of exploitation and the erosion of traditional…

New Testament scholar and author Scot McKnight, who attended Willow Creek Community Church for 10 years, is speaking out on the sexual misconduct accusations against founder Bill Hybels, saying that he and the church have “undone 40 years of trust.”

McKnight, who is a professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lisle, Illinois, revealed on his Jesus Creed blog on Wednesday that at least 50 different people have asked him to comment on the Willow Creek scandal, given that he attended the church for nearly a decade.

“My aim is not to act like I know all that happened. I do not. I believe the women on the basis of what I have learned,” he said.

“What I do know is this: Bill Hybels and Willow Creek’s leadership have undone forty years of trust for many.

“A church that has stood valiantly for women in ministry, that has always stood for Christian grace and truth and forgiveness for repenters, that has supported #metoo in various places, that then responds to women as they did to these women unravels the thread Willow has woven for four decades.”

Back in April,…

By next year, there may no longer be any Republicans in the House of Representatives who support abortion rights, according to Politco.com.

Reps. Charlie Dent and Rodney Frelinghuysen are retiring from the House, and there is no Republican nominee in elections who supports abortion rights this year.

This means Congress could become deeply divided.

In the House, there are three remaining members who voted against abortion rights at some point. Those members are Reps. Dan Lipinski, Collin Peterson and Henry Cuellar.

Frelinghuysen was a conservative voter. He opposed measures to defund Planned Parenthood, but then supported eliminating those funds in 2015 after the release of undercover videos about the facilities.

According to Politico, neither Dent nor Frelinghuysen was “full-fledge” supporters of abortion rights. They both voted against a bill that would ban abortion at 20 weeks, but then both supported a proposal that would have permanently prohibited federal funding of abortion.

In the Senate, only two Republicans are expected to vote in favor of abortion rights: Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. Democrats in the Senate that may vote in favor of abortion rights are Sens. Bob Casey, Joe Manchin and Joe Donnelly.

“For Republicans, the departure of the last abortion rights supporters in the House will be most noticeable during fights over government…

A 79-year-old Anglican priest in the U.K. has defended his marriage to a 25-year-old male model from Romania, insisting that he’s not being taken advantage of despite buying the latter a house and letting him see other men.

The Rev. Philip Clements, a retired rector and boarding school chaplain, appeared on “The Jeremy Kyle Show” in the U.K. with his husband, Florin Marin, to try and explain their relationship, which has been the subject of much media scrutiny.

Kyle, the host, asked Clements whether he feels he’s being made a fool of, given that he sold his house to buy Marin one of his own in Romania, and given that they are not living together five months after their marriage.

“Being made a fool of can be very nice, especially if it’s a very young man making a fool of you,” the priest argued.

Still, he said that the couple’s relationship “has been tested when I haven’t had money,” noting that they first met when he only had his pension.

He revealed that he and his much younger husband have had “moments of physical relationship,” but admitted that due to his age, he is restricted in that regard….

When White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked last week about widespread religious pushback to the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy separating families along the U.S.-Mexico border, she turned the responsibility back on people of faith.

“I think any evangelical, or any church for that matter, that feels strongly — they should open up their doors and help facilitate some of these individuals,” Sanders said.

But as it turns out, some faith groups already were.