This convergence has implications for our culture and civil order. In the present statement we intend, however briefly and inadequately, to make the case for what is commonly called "a culture of life"-and to do so in a way that invites public deliberation and engages questions of public policy.

On Tuesday 10th October Paulos Iskander, an Iraqi church minister, was abducted in Mosul. Iskander's eldest son received a phone call from the kidnappers demanding a ransom of $250,000; the family, unable to raise this money, were able to negotiate for a ransom of $40,000, but the kidnappers also demanded that Iskander's church publicly repudiate the remarks about Islam quoted by Pope Benedict XVI last month.

Meanwhile, British Airways is being sued for religious discrimination after it required a Christian woman employee to conceal her cross while permitting other faiths to wear turbans, hijabs or Hindu bangles. This echoed the controversy earlier this month when the BBC agonised over whether newsreader Fiona Bruce should wear a small cross on a chain in case it might cause offence.

"It pierces the inside of you when you know the truth. Men who struggle with their own masculinity cannot affirm femininity," she said. "Six-year-olds cannot tell you how they're being impacted. We can't comprehend what we went through until we're adults.

"People aren't comfortable sharing this, but keeping it hidden hurts children," she said. "The secular media is not carrying the message that this impacts children long-term."