The Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Bill was introduced by Scottish Green MSP John Finnie and is under consideration at the Scottish Parliament.

The Church of Scotland and a number of organisations across Scotland have vocalised their approval of the Bill.

It would create a law to abolish the defence of reasonable chastisement of a child.

Under current legislation, a person can claim that the physical punishment of a child is justifiable as a parental right or as a right of having charge or care of the child.

However, the court does also consider a number of factors such as the nature of the action and duration.

The Church of Scotland, the Scottish Youth Parliament, Social Work Scotland, Law Society of Scotland and a number of other organisations wrote submissions to Holyrood’s Equality and Human Rights Committee on Wednesday.

Expressing their support for the Bill, The Church of Scotland, in its submission, wrote: “The Church believes that the resort to violence should cease to be acceptable as our society comes to understand its negative impact.”

There has, however, been criticism of the proposals.

Police in Scotland suggested in their submission to the committee that the legislation could result in increased costs to the force as officers spend time probing allegations against parents.

Campaign group Be Reasonable Scotland – backed by The…

Victims then told the bishops of the searing emotional pain of their abuse.

Francis opened the four-day summit by telling the Catholic hierarchy that their own responsibility to deal effectively with priests who rape and molest children weighed on the proceedings.

“Listen to the cry of the young, who want justice”, and seize the opportunity to “transform this evil into a chance for understanding and purification”, Francis told the 190 leaders of bishops conferences and religious orders.

“The holy people of God are watching and expect not just simple and obvious condemnations, but efficient and concrete measures to be established,” he warned.

More than 30 years after the scandal first erupted in Ireland and Australia and 20 years after it hit the US, bishops and Catholic officials in many parts of Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia still either deny that clergy sex abuse exists in their regions or downplay the problem.

Francis, the first Latin American pope, called the summit after he himself botched a well-known sex abuse cover-up case in Chile last year.

Realising he had erred, he has vowed to chart a new course and is bringing the rest of the church leadership along with him.

The summit is meant as a tutorial for church leaders to learn the importance of preventing sex abuse in their churches, tending to victims…

The Million Dollar Vegan campaign – run by a couple from York, offered the pontiff a donation of $1m (£771,405) for the charity of his choice if he avoids all animal products for 40 days.

The face of the campaign is twelve-year-old American animal rights and environmental campaigner Genesis Butler.

She travelled to Vatican City this week to put more pressure on Pope Francis to ditch his normal eating habits during the religious observance.

The Million Dollar Vegan campaign said in a statement: “Pope Francis is considering Genesis’s plea to go vegan for Lent.

“Today Genesis attended a general audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican, following an earlier meeting inside the Vatican yesterday with senior Catholic priest Fr Pawe Ptasznik.

“It was at this meeting that Genesis spoke with such integrity and passion about her love for animals and how we need to change our behaviour to protect them and the planet that we live on.

“Father Ptasznik responded ‘we are all responsible for our Earth, I agree with your words’. And he agreed to be her messenger, and to take her letter, signed by dozens of celebrities, scientists and influencers, as well as the petition signed by tens of thousands of people, and hand it to Pope Francis.

“Father Ptasznik asked for Genesis’s home address and told her to await a response from the Pope.

“During today’s general audience, Pope Francis…

The protest was organised outside the Nigeria High Commission by Christian campaigners, exactly one year since Leah Sharibu’s disappearance in the north-eastern town of Dapchi.

Chief executive of Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Mervyn Thomas said: “Leah Sharibu has now been in the hands of [a] violent sect for 365 days and we are deeply concerned by the lack of government action to secure her release.”

The 15-year-old was among 110 schoolgirls abducted from their classrooms on 19th February 2018. Leah was the only Christian among the group.

Leah’s classmates were subsequently released, following negotiations involving the Nigerian government.

But the teenager remained in captivity for refusing to renounce her Christian faith – an explicit precondition of her release.

Mervyn Thomas from CSW added: “We continue to call on the government of Nigeria to do everything in its power to expedite the release of this courageous schoolgirl…”

Leah is being held by Islamic State West Africa Province – a faction of the jihadist group Boko Haram which is aligned with Islamic State.

The extremists have been waging an insurgency against the Nigerian government in the north of the country since 2009.

Mr Thomas added: “We also call on the…

Christopher Rhodes, a lecturer at Boston University’s College of General Studies wrote in the UnHerd website: “Many local African churches have reached out to Chinese workers, including incorporating Mandarin into services.

“A number of Chinese, in turn, have welcomed the sense of community and belonging that these Christian churches offer.”

There are an estimated one million Chinese citizens living and working in Africa.

Consulting firm McKinsey & Company’s 2017 report ‘How are Africa and China engaging, and how will the partnership evolve?’ stated that China has become “Africa’s largest economic partner”.

The report also said there are roughly 10,000 Chinese-owned firms operating in Africa.

Rhodes claimed the interaction between the nations was also leading to people in China becoming Christians as well.

“Many of these Chinese workers are returning home, and they’re bringing their newfound religion with them,” he said.

“Visitors to the coastal province of Fujian, for example, now hear South African accented English and see houses adorned with crosses.

“African migrants are also moving to China in larger numbers, many of them practitioners of very evangelistic forms of Pentecostal Christianity who are willing to flout the rules placed on religious activity in China.”

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