Dr Lisa Cameron, the Scottish National Party member of parliament for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow, voted against changing the Northern Ireland abortion law earlier this year because of her Christian faith and her own experience of having two late-term miscarriages.

Although the vote was not whipped, meaning MPs could vote with their conscience, afterwards she received abuse from members of her own party and on social media, many which she said reminded her of her own miscarriages and one which said they would come to ‘abort her’.

At the time of that vote, there was talk among her local party to not select her for the Scottish seat at the next election. So, when she did not appear immediately on the list of approved candidates for a potential snap election this week, Dr Cameron felt the party was trying to send her a message about what views she could and could not have.

Dr Cameron told Premier: “The process seemed to be delayed for some unexplained reason, in that I couldn’t find out what further information they needed from me in order to progress it. Following the vote on the abortion issue, local officials from my local branches, including conveners and those who are on the vetting panel had said that my vote meant basically that I breached party policy, or that I should be deselected, or that I wasn’t then fit to pass vetting and be a candidate…

The debate, released on Friday 13 Sep, features Weinstein in conversation with Professor Alister McGrath and explores the question “Religion: Useful Fiction or Ultimate Truth?” and was filmed in front of a live audience at The Institute of Mechanical Engineers in Westminster, London. It is the first episode to be released in the second season of The Big Conversation from Premier Christian Radio’s faith debate show Unbelievable?. The first season had over 5 million engagements across video, podcast, broadcast and print.

Weinstein, who describes himself as a ‘Professor in Exile’ after he was forced to stand down from his position at Evergeen State University in 2017 after confrontations with student protestors over ‘political correctness’ on campus says that belief in God has been an important evolutionary development to make sure people behave well. “The deity is a hack, right? It hacks a structure in a way that functions… How do we learn what it is wrong? These things are induced in us through a mechanism. In Catholicism, the fact that you do wrong and that wrong counts against you in a way that you can relieve yourself of the debt but you have to confess it to somebody who is then in a position to give guidance to you. Again, it’s a hack. It correctly teaches you that this is wrong through some mechanism that has to be instantiated in the real world and it…

LU Students, I hope you’ll attend the protest today and let your voices be heard. Never back down from your convictions. Be the catalyst for change! #StudentsforChange https://t.co/rgHokMjC6b

— Mark Tinsley (@markatinsley) September 13, 2019

The scheduled protest at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia comes days after an article by Politico Magazine featured several current and former top staff at the school anonymously detailing unethical behaviours from Jerry Falwell Jr.

Falwell, who’s one of Donald Trump’s advisors, has denied any wrong doing and called for the FBI to investigate a “criminal conspiracy” against him.

The article used screenshots of emails for evidence, which Falwell has spoken out against.

“The emails are stolen property,” Falwell told CNN on Tuesday.

“And the fact that all these people in different states are joining together and sharing stolen emails with the press makes it a criminal conspiracy.”

Falwell was accused of using real estate transactions that would benefit his family or his close friends and having the university give business loans to his friends.

“There is no self-dealing at Liberty University,” Falwell told CNN. “I have never written a single check, have not gotten a single penny from any Liberty transaction except for my salary, which is approved by the board every year.”

One example of the “self-dealing” outlined in the…

The Vatican confirmed the trip to Asia from November 19-26.

Francis will be in Thailand on November 20-23 before heading to Japan.

There has not been a papal visit to Thailand since the late Pope John Paul II arrived in 1984.

Francis’s Japanese visit will include Tokyo as well as Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were hit by US atomic bombs at the end of the Second World War.

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From Saturday, visitors will have the chance to walk through the gardens of the Strawberry Field home in Woolton, Liverpool, where Lennon would play as a boy.

The musician used to climb over the wall to gain entry to the Beaconsfield Road home, which he later immortalised in song, but the Salvation Army is now opening the site’s famous red gates to the public as a tourist attraction and youth training centre.

Lennon’s sister, Julia Baird, 72, who is also honorary president of the Strawberry Field project, told the PA news agency that the grounds of the home had been a “sanctuary” for the musician as a youngster.

She said: “I suppose as children we all have somewhere that’s a bit ours, a bit special.

“It might be a little hidey-hole under the stairs or it might be up an oak tree but it’s somewhere we take ourselves off and that’s a special place.

“It seems from the song that this was John’s special place.”

The home was made famous by The Beatles song in 1967 and around 60,000 tourists pose for photos outside its distinctive gates every year.

Replica gates are now in place but the original structures will be on display for visitors in the grounds.

The newly-built centre will include a cafe and exhibition on Lennon’s early life, but will also provide training for 18 to 25-year-olds with mild to moderate learning…