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"The family has been the ultimate foundation of every civilization known to history." —Will Durant
"The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State." —Universal Declaration of Human Rights
"The family, a universal community based on the marital union of a man and a woman, is the bedrock of society, the strength of our nations, and the hope of humanity." —World Family Declaration
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Act Now for the Family Family, Marriage, Society
“As historian Wilfred McClay of the University of Tennessee
has put it, the primary failure today is one of vision. He writes: ‘The problem is not serial divorce,
nor gay marriage, nor widespread elective childlessness, nor the general disregard for the lives of the very young and very
old. Those are only symptoms. The deepest problem is the loss of a generally shared vision, firmly grounded in nature, of
what the family is, and why our destiny as individuals and as a society is inseparable from its proper flourishing.’
The consequences of this lack of vision are particularly acute for the young.”
Nature
vs. Synthetics, by Doug Mainwaring “Dolce and Gabbana are bravely standing against a future
of state-enforced genderlessness, against a tidal wave of adult selfishness that overwhelms children’s rights and their
best interests…. The complementarity of man and woman is not a religious construct; it is written on our hearts, spelled
out in our DNA, and present everywhere we turn and look at nature. Resisting it requires a truly herculean campaign by academics,
politicos, and media personalities advocating the novel idea of genderlessness.”
“We are sleepwalking into
an unprecedented cultural and social revolution. A truth acknowledged for millennia has been overruled by five unelected judges.
The consequences will extend far beyond those couples newly able to obtain a marriage license.”
The World Family Declaration, an initiative of the World Congress of Families and endorsed by pro-family organizations across the globe, is now online at www.worldfamilydeclaration.org and available for electronic signature. “Never before has there been a universal banner uniting all peoples to rally in protection of the natural family, which has never needed protection as urgently as now,” stated WCF Director of UN Affairs E. Douglas Clark. “We have created the World Family Declaration to address that need and be that banner.” See full article below.
"I'm sure that my predecessors 30 years ago would be astonished that I'd be invited
to Brigham Young University to speak to you. They just wouldn't have thought it possible. We have reached a point of friendliness,
I think we've kind of been forced to it by circumstances. If we don't hang together, we'll hang alone, individually….The
greatest danger to our liberty today is not religious extremism. It’s a culture of narcissism that cocoons us in vulgarity,
distraction and noise, while excluding God from the human imagination….As the Founders knew, and we forget at our peril,
the American project of ordered liberty can’t work without the support of a moral people — a people formed by
a living faith in a loving God. Religion is to democracy as a bridle is to a horse. And only religious faith
can guide and moderate democracy because it appeals to an Authority higher than democracy itself."
“It was only yesterday, was it not, that we were being assured
that the redefinition of marriage to include same-sex partnerships would have no impact on persons and institutions that hold
to the traditional view of marriage as a conjugal union? Such persons and institutions would simply be untouched by the change.
It won’t affect your marriage or your life, we were told…. When some of us warned that all of this was nonsense,…
our liberal friends accused us of “scaremongering.”… No one, they assured us, would
require Christian foster care and adoption services to place children in same-sex headed households. No one, they said, would
require religiously affiliated schools and social-service agencies to treat same-sex partners as spouses, or impose penalties
or disabilities on those that dissent. No one would be fired from his or her job (or suffer employment discrimination) for
voicing support for conjugal marriage or criticizing same-sex sexual conduct and relationships. No business owner would be
required to provide services for same-sex ceremonies that were contrary to his or her moral beliefs, or punished if he or
she declined to provide them…. That was then; this is now.” Read entire lecture, or read summary article with links to video of Professor George’s lecture.
Don’t miss these exquisite videos!
Family, Nation, World: Encountering Confucius in China, by E. Douglas Clark (photo by Boris Roessler of Reuters, showing Xi Jinping pointing to a bust of Confucius)
“The world needs Confucius.” Our host spoke earnestly but cordially as he welcomed us to a lavish Chinese dinner in the city of Qufu (pronounced “choo-foo”), birthplace of Confucius. A few minutes later as we proceeded with introductions, we discovered that one of his descendants, 76 generations down the line, was dining with us that evening. Confucius, born in the sixth century B.C., was honored and even worshipped for millennia in China for his enduring
wisdom and ethical teachings. Then, during the decade of the so-called Cultural Revolution beginning in 1966, he was so vilified
that, as we were told when we visited his grave, his remains were dug up and annihilated. But truth has a life of its own, and China is once again officially embracing the
wisdom of its greatest sage. Recently President Xi Jinping, speaking at a forum marking 2,564 years since the birth of Confucius,
observed that ancient Chinese tradition “can offer beneficial insights for governance and wise rule.” One of those beneficial
insights—perhaps the greatest—is the truth referenced in the World Family Declaration, which states: “We
affirm the ancient wisdom that the world cannot be put in order without first putting in order the family.” The footnote
to this language contains the actual quote by Confucius: “The illustrious ancients, when they wished to make clear and
to propagate the highest virtues in the world, put their states in proper order. Before putting their states in proper order,
they regulated their families. Before regulating their families, they cultivated their own selves.... When their selves were
cultivated, their families became regulated. When their families became regulated, their states came to be put into proper
order. When their states came to be put into proper order, then the whole world became peaceful and happy.” Shortly before arriving in Qufu, as part of a four-person lecture tour in the cities
of Beijing and Xuzhou, I had reminded audiences of this same Confucian recipe for national and world success. Now in Confucius’
native city, we saw his principles in action. Our host was the capable administrator of a remarkable hospital, a veritable
haven of kindness offering refuge for those with urgent needs but scant resources. Pregnant women, disabled elders, autistic
children—all receive loving care in this hospital emblazoned everywhere with sayings from Confucius. It was, then, with
impeccable moral authority that our host announced to us the world’s need for Confucius. But it is not just the Chinese who recognize the preeminent wisdom of their famous
philosopher. American historian Will Durant, who spent his career studying and writing about world civilizations, produced
a massive eleven-volume world history titled The Story of Civilization which has rightly been called “the most
comprehensive attempt in our times to embrace the vast panorama of man’s history and culture.” For his monumental
work, Durant was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. From the entire sweep of world history,
Durant selected ten individuals who he considered the greatest thinkers of all time. Included are such geniuses as Aristotle,
the ancient Greek who categorized all branches of human knowledge; Sir Isaac Newton, the brilliant English physicist who peered
deeply into the structure of the cosmos; and Immanuel Kant, the heady German thinker who plumbed the role of reason in human
experience. But topping them all on Durant’s list of luminaries is none other than Confucius. How so? What was Confucius’ towering insight that distinguished him as the
world’s preeminent thinker? According to Durant, it was the process by which human society can achieve
maximum peace and bliss, a process in which the family plays an indispensable role. Before putting in order the world or the
nation, the family must be put in order. For Durant, this was the pinnacle of all human wisdom, qualifying Confucius as the
greatest mind ever. Yes, the world does
need Confucius. It desperately needs the stable and happy families of which he spoke, families that constitute the foundation
of every successful nation. It is precisely that need that prompted the creation of the World Family Declaration, part of
which reads as follows: “We
the people of many lands and cultures reaffirm the truth enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and
echoed in international treaties and many of our national constitutions, that ‘The family is the natural
and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.’ Hence the family exists
prior to the state and possesses inherent dignity and rights which states are morally bound to respect and protect. “We declare that the family, a universal community based on the marital
union of a man and a woman, is the bedrock of society, the strength of our nations, and the hope of humanity. As the ultimate
foundation of every civilization known to history, the family is the proven bulwark of liberty and the key
to development, prosperity, and peace. “The
family is also the fountain and cradle of new life, the natural refuge for children, and the first and foremost school to
teach the values necessary for the well-being of children and society. The family truly is our link to the past and bridge
to the future…. “Gravely concerned by the escalating calamities afflicting children and society due to the rapid decline
of marriage and family, we recall the sobering observation that ‘throughout history, nations have been able to survive
a multiplicity of disasters— invasions, famines, earthquakes, epidemics, depressions— but they have never been
able to survive the disintegration of the family.’ We affirm the ancient wisdom that the world cannot be put in order
without first putting in order the family.” Family, nation, world. Never has society more urgently needed to look to its irreplaceable
foundation, the family. (Read the World Family Declaration and related press release.)
Two Declarations, One Family, by E. Douglas Clark Addressing the unprecedented family crisis threatening society, the World Family Declaration reminds mankind of the foundational and irreplaceable role of the family—by referring to another declaration and its
echoes in constitutions throughout the world. “We the people of many lands and cultures reaffirm the truth enshrined
in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and echoed in international treaties and many of our national constitutions,
that ‘The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the
State.’ Hence the family exists prior to the state and possesses inherent dignity and rights which states are morally
bound to respect and protect.”
It was another crisis, the global catastrophe known as World War II, that prompted the United Nations to create the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. At its adoption in 1948, Eleanor Roosevelt, chair of the Human Rights Commission and its Drafting Committee, told the UN: “We stand today at the threshold of a great event both in the life of the United Nations and in the life of mankind. This Universal Declaration of Human Rights may well become the international Magna Carta of all men everywhere.”
And so it has been. “The most impressive advances in human rights,” observes Professor Mary Ann Glendon, “owe more to the moral beacon of the [Universal] Declaration than to the many covenants and treaties that are now in force. Its nonbinding principles, carried far and wide by activists and modern communications, have vaulted over the political and legal barriers that impede efforts to establish international enforcement mechanisms.” Even so, continues Professor Glendon, “time and forgetfulness are taking their toll. Even within the international human rights movement, the [Universal] Declaration has come to be treated more like a monument to be venerated from a distance than a living document to be reappropriated by each generation. Rarely, in fact, has a text been so widely praised yet so little read or understood.”
Understanding the Universal Declaration begins with understanding the role of family in its hierarchy of human rights. Article 16 mentions “the right to marry and to found a family,” and the “equal rights” of the spouses, and then declares in section (3) that “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.” According to human rights scholar Manfred Nowak, the intent behind the phrase “natural and fundamental group unit of society” was “to emphasize that despite various traditions and social structures, a pillar of all societies is the family as the smallest group unit,” while the language “entitled to protection by society and the State” was meant to “shield the family as the cornerstone of the entire social order.”
And just what is this “family” that is accorded such honor in the Universal Declaration? The late Professor Richard Wilkins explained: “Article 16(3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights embodies fundamental truths that, for too long, have not been given their deserved attention and respect…. As reflected in the precise and elegant terms of the Universal Declaration, the family is not merely a construct of human will or imagination. The family has a profoundly important connection to nature. This connection begins with the realities of reproduction and extends to the forces that shape civilization itself. The family, in short, is the ‘natural and fundamental group unit of society’ precisely because mounting evidence attests that the survival of society depends on the positive outcomes derived from the natural union of a man and a woman.”
No wonder the only group unit mentioned in the Universal Declaration as having rights per se is the family—rights that the State itself is made expressly responsible to protect. Adding to this emphasis on family are the Universal Declaration’s statements that “Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance,” and that “Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.” It is no exaggeration to say that in the Universal Declaration, the family is at the very center of rights. The family is fundamental because, among other things, it is the seedbed of all the other rights delineated in the Universal Declaration. To make the world new following the devastation of the most destructive war in history, the United Nations built its structure of universal human rights squarely on the foundation of the family.
All this is captured in the World Family Declaration: “We declare that the family, a universal community based on the marital union of a man and a woman, is the bedrock
of society, the strength of our nations, and the hope of humanity. As the ultimate foundation of every civilization known
to history, the family is the proven bulwark of liberty and the key to development, prosperity, and peace. The family is also
the fountain and cradle of new life, the natural refuge for children, and the first and foremost school to teach the values
necessary for the well-being of children and society. The family truly is our link to the past and bridge to the future.”
(This article is adapted from the chapter entitled “The Family” in The Family and the MDGs: Using Family Capital
to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals. See a video about the book, or see below for more information. Read the World Family Declaration.)
World Family Declaration quoted
in Amicus Brief filed in US 6th Circuit The World Family Declaration has been quoted in an amicus brief filed in the United States 6th Circuit Court of Appeals by the North Carolina
Values Coalition and Liberty, Life, and Law Foundation. The brief’s opening statement declares that “This
case is not about ‘same-sex marriage’ or the ‘right to marry’ a person of the same sex. It is not
about equal protection for an existing fundamental right deeply rooted in America’s history and tradition. It is about
marriage redefinition: mandating a radically new definition for the oldest institution in human history—
an institution that predates human law and defines the basic building block for society.” Later in its discussion,
the brief notes that “Nations around the world join in affirming the definition of marriage,” and then
quotes the Declaration: “We declare that the family, a universal community based on the marital union of a man and a woman, is the bedrock
of society, the strength of our nations, and the hope
of humanity. As the ultimate foundation of every civilization known to history, the family is the proven bulwark of liberty
and the key to development, prosperity, and peace.” Read the brief... Read the World Family Declaration
Affirming the Family in Eastern Europe In the
summer of 1944, courageous Slovakians rose up to defend their civilization. In the summer of 2014, courageous
Slovakians have risen up to defend the foundation of their civilization. On June 4, lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to amend
the national constitution by defining marriage as the unique bond between a man and a woman. (Read story here.) Slovakia thereby chooses to protect its most precious asset, as described in the World Family Declaration: “We declare that the family, a universal community based on the marital union of a man and a woman, is the
bedrock of society, the strength of our nations, and the hope of humanity.” (For months prior to the amendment,
the World Family Declaration, including its Slovak translation, had circulated in Slovakia.) Meanwhile on May 17 in the nation of Georgia—ancient
bastion of religion and religious tolerance— a World Congress of Families regional conference issued the Tbilisi Declaration
responding to legislation that attempts to muzzle the freedom to affirm the natural family and supporting values. The
Tbilisi Declaration (available here) opens by quoting the World Family Declaration: “The natural family, based on the life-long marital union of a man and a woman, ‘is the bedrock of society,
the strength of our nations, and the hope of humanity.’” In our ever-shrinking world, courageous
voices like those in Eastern Europe can reverberate and inspire far and wide.
The
Decline of the Family—The Cost of Doing Nothing, by Errol Naidoo, President, Family
Policy Institute, South Africa "May 15 was the International Day
of Families. The day passed by unnoticed by the vast majority of people, just like the disintegration of the family unit in
society is a hardly noticed catastrophe. The natural family is society’s most fundamental institution. Consequently,
widespread family breakdown is weakening the very foundations of society. No nation can prosper when families disintegrate.
The God-given institutions of marriage and the family have contributed to strong, healthy and prosperous societies since the
dawn of civilization. Family Policy Institute is a signatory and strong supporter of the World Family Declaration, which seeks to restore, promote, and strengthen the sanctity of the natural family across the world. You can endorse
the World Family Declaration by adding your name or organization’s name in support." —Errol
The World Family Declaration, an initiative of the World Congress of Families and endorsed by pro-family organizations across the globe, is now online at www.worldfamilydeclaration.org and available for electronic signature.
“Never before has there been a universal banner uniting all peoples to rally in protection of the natural family, which has never needed protection as urgently as now,” stated WCF Director of UN Affairs E. Douglas Clark. “We have created the World Family Declaration to address that need and be that banner.” Opening with the words “We the people of many lands and cultures,” the Declaration is grounded in Article 16(3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states, “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.” That language is echoed in 111 national constitutions, many of which repeat it verbatim while others describe the family in such varied terms as the “natural and moral foundation of the human community” (Niger) or “foundation of the nation” (Philippines), or as society’s “cornerstone” (Greece), “fundamental pillar” (Afghanistan), “basic institution” (Colombia), or “fundamental nucleus” (Chile). Speaking at the recent launch of the World Family Declaration at the ONE UN New York, WCF International Secretary Allan C. Carlson observed, “I applaud those nations which have placed language about protection of the natural family in their constitutions. The Declaration’s endnotes provide a solid review of these provisions. Even if and when the actions of a government might stray from this principle, such a constitutional provision stands both as a rebuke and a summons for a return to good order.” “It is my hope,” continued Carlson, “that the World Family Declaration will play a significant role in rallying international attention again to the most important unit of society, the natural family.” Clark added, "Today we unfurl a banner to remind the world of the foundational and irreplaceable role of the family. In the words of the Declaration, 'We urge citizens, leaders, and people of influence everywhere to place as their highest priority the protection and strengthening of the family.'"
Read the WORLD FAMILY DECLARATION  _______________________________ Family and Development The Family and the MDGs
Introduction by Her Highness Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser to The Family and the MDGs: Using Family Capital to Achieve the 8 Millennium
Development Goals (by Susan Roylance, et al.) “This book begins
an important dialogue with policy makers, agencies, administrators and members of civil society on strengthening society
through reliance upon—and support of—society’s most fundamental unit: the family.” Read DESCRIPTION by the Doha International Family Institute; watch VIDEO introducing the book; read INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER; read the entire BOOK; read CHAPTER SUMMARIES; read abridged translations in ENGLISH, FRENCH, SPANISH, ARABIC, CHINESE, RUSSIAN; learn more and ORDER THE BOOK. The book is mentioned in the Secretary-General's report, par. 67, on preparations for IYF+20: Read the
report. Read book review by UPF. _______________________
Family as Foundation The Indispensable Family
"Every person needs a masculine father and a feminine mother." —Pope Francis “The
way you help heal the world is you start with your own family.” —Mother Teresa "Stronger
families keep government limited by providing services, in the raising of children and in how a husband and a wife share a
life, that government otherwise might have to provide. It produces citizens more likely to be moral, relatively
self-sustaining, and law abiding. It answers a deep human need for belonging, unconditional acceptance, love and mutual recognition
that might otherwise find unhealthy outlets. Marriage and family life are ballasts that serve individual happiness and contentment
and lend meaning to our freedom and equality." —Scott Yenor
"In the coming decades, success will accrue to those cultures that preserve the family’s place.” —Joel Kotkin
"Throughout the ages, political philosophers, social historians, and civic and religious leaders have praised the family as the foundation of the social order, the bedrock of nations, and the bastion of civilization.... The fact is that family is a universal and irreplaceable community, rooted in human nature and the basis for all societies at all times. As the cradle of life and love for each new generation, the family is the primary source of personal identity, self-esteem, and support for children. It is also the first and foremost school of life, uniquely suited to teach children integrity, character, morals, responsibility, service, and wisdom.... The state's foremost obligation... is to respect, defend, and protect the family as an institution." —Statement to UN General Assembly ______________ Family in Peril A
Decisive Moment
In 1948 when the newly minted United Nations issued its monumental Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the family was accorded a place of unique significance: "The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and its entitled to protection by society and the State."
This was no new discovery, but affirmation of a reality as ancient as humanity itself. "The family has been the ultimate foundation of every civilization known to history," wrote world historian Will Durant. Later when Durant chose the top ten thinkers of all time, the list was headed by the revered Chinese philosopher Confucius, whose towering insight was to understand that the world cannot be put in order without first putting in order the family. Now in the ultimate irony, just as mankind produces the most dazzling scientific and technological breakthroughs ever, we are also approaching what many warn could be the demise of civilization itself because of the decline of the family.
"We are living in a decisive and very important moment," declared Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo. "If we have bad laws concerning the institutions that are fundamental for the life of society, then we will all suffer and, after us, the generations to come. The situation that has been created in our world with regard to marriage and the family calls for all our efforts."
Or, as stated more succinctly by President Boyd K. Packer, "If we do not protect and foster the family, civilization and our liberties [will] perish." Several years ago a colleague and I were honored to accompany US Ambassador Ellen Sauerbrey on a diplomatic tour of Central America. As we sat in the office of a president of one of the countries, he stated that all the major problems in his nation arose directly from a breakdown of the family. It is the same story everywhere: the disintegration of the family is unleashing an avalanche of crime, chaos, and economic and social disaster.
As if this were not enough, the institution of the family is under
an intentional and severe attack. According to Dr. Allan C. Carlson, "The natural family stands reviled and threatened
in the 21st century." In the words of Catherine Vierling, "We are at war.... The family is in
danger [from those who] actively promote and implement a very aggressive anti-life, anti-faith, anti-family agenda behind
closed doors."
Many of those closed doors are in the halls of the United Nations, the most dangerous battleground in the war against the family. Ellen Sauerbrey, former United States Ambassador to the UN Commission on the Status of Women, stated: "It is a terrible mistake to ignore what happens at these UN conferences because international statements matter a great deal. It matters because modern international law now deals not only with the obligations of states but with the shape of the family and the rights of individuals, including children…. Each internationally negotiated document builds upon language used and objectives sought in preceding conference documents and, as a result, becomes an important link in a chain that will impact on societies around the globe. We can’t afford to ignore what is going on in these international bodies because they have the ability to have a profound impact on us…. Lawrence vs. Texas [the US Supreme Court case that opened the way for gay marriage] cited customary international law.… We don’t dare ignore what is going on in the United Nations.”
Elder Dallin H. Oaks declared, "I am grateful that watchmen on the tower have alerted us to enemies and conditions that threaten to undermine the family-the foundation of societies and nations in every part of the world. Ironically, some of these enemies are working through the UN and using its stature and authority on the world stage to pursue anti-family efforts that must be of concern to us all....We must act to preserve the families of the world."
There is simply too much at stake to fail to act. "Throughout history," observed Emperor Haile Selassie, "it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph." We invite you to join in protecting and promoting the natural family. We can begin at home by strengthening our own family, and then reach out to make a difference in our communities, nations, and around the world. We must take steps to preserve the sanctity of marriage and of the unborn, the right of children to grow up with both a father and a mother, and the right of parents to guide their children in matters of faith and morality, as well as the right of religious leaders and organizations to continue to speak and act in matters of faith without interference. We especially urge delegates, ambassadors, policymakers, legislators, judges, educators, and other leaders and people of influence to evaluate proposed laws, policies, and curriculum in light of their impact on the family, and to take all necessary steps to preserve and protect our fundamental unit of society. We further urge leaders in media and entertainment to encourage and stand up for family values, and to help turn around the dangerous decline our society is experiencing.
"Law cannot stop family decline by itself," stated Professor Don Browning. "It must be part of a larger work of culture where law joins with religion, the human sciences, the market, public policy, and the arts to once again honor the natural family and equip persons to have the skills, commitment, supports, and rewards necessary to form and maintain it." In every way necessary and possible, we must act now to save the family. ____________________ Family Champion Tribute to Richard Wilkins
Richard the Lionhearted is what one colleague called him, and
for good reason: Even more than a great family man, Richard G. Wilkins was a fearless defender of families around the world....
Read more Key articles by Richard: "The family is the basic unit of society and must be strengthened.
But the fact that this message is obvious has not prevented us from ignoring it. During the past 50 years, American and other
societies have been much more preoccupied with the individual and the individual's rights than with the basic social unit
within which individuals survive and thrive. The consequences are now becoming apparent around the globe." "There has been a curious new development. In order to improve the social and political standing
of women – a goal that is quite laudable – international law has become unusually hostile to long-standing notions
of marriage, the natural family and the rearing of children." "Following two global conflicts, the international community was well aware that great evil is possible (and perhaps inevitable) when fundamental moral values are corrupted. The United Nations was organized to combat programmatic evil and promote social responsibility, decency and liberty. Importantly, however, those who established these vital goals believed that their achievement required recognition of and respect for certain intrinsic and absolute values—including those relating to the family, marriage, motherhood, childbearing and child rearing."
"Social science data demonstrates two nearly incontestable conclusions: (1) stable, natural marital structures provide profound benefits for men, women and children, while (2) the breakdown of stable, natural marital structures imposes significant social costs upon individuals and society at large. In short, families play a profoundly important social role."
"The fundamental truth that the natural family is the basic unit of society, furthermore, extends beyond the great monotheistic religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. The classic Taoist text, The Chuang Tzu, explains that familial ties are the basis of any stable society because '[w]hen people are brought together by Heaven,... when troubles come, they hold together.'"
_______________________ Family and Spirituality Faith
and Family
Faith and Family: The Roots of Stability, Prosperity and Freedom, by Patrick Fagan The Jewish Roots of Family Values, by Don Feder Faith as the Underpinning of the Family, by Farooq Hassan Family - An Orthodox Christian Perspective, by Archbishop Stylianos, Greek Orthodox Church in Australia The Family: A Proclamation to the World (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) "The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan..."
Charter of the Rights of the Family (Holy See) "The family, a natural society, exists prior to the State or any other community, and possesses inherent rights which are unalienable..."
The Family: A Good for Humanity (European Catholic-Orthodox Forum`s statement) "Marriage and the family belong to the created order and are not a product of mere human decision..."
____________________ Proclaiming the Family Governmental and Scholarly Declarations
 "Strengthening the family presents a unique opportunity to address societal problems in a holistic manner..."
The Madrid Declaration (World Congress of Families VI)
“This natural family is inscribed in human nature and centers on the voluntary union of a man and a woman in the lifelong covenant of marriage..."
Plan of Action on the Family in Africa "In Africa, due to its multiple roles and functions, the centrality, uniqueness andindispensability of the family in society is unquestionable..."
The Natural Family: A Manifesto (Howard Center and Sutherland Institute) "The natural family—part of the created order, imprinted on our natures, the source of bountiful joy, the fountain of new life, the bulwark of ordered liberty..."
Mississippi's Senate Concurrent Resolution on the Family (in preparation for IYF+10) "The family exists prior to the state and is the very foundation of our communities and the bedrock of our nation...."
National Family Week Proclamation 1982 (Ronald Reagan) "The family has always been the cornerstone of American society...." See more Reagan National Family Week Proclamations
_________________________ UN Family Policy Resource UN Family Issues Guide
ONLINE
Guide to Family Issues in United Nations Conference Documents and Treaties
An essential resource for UN ambassadors and delegates, compiled and arranged by Susan Roylance Click here to access the guide _______________________ Family Policy Resources
World Congress of Families World Family Policy Forum _________________ Family and States
Family and Nations
"The state's foremost obligation... is to respect, defend, and protect the family as an institution." US statement to UN General Assembly at IYF+10 (read entire statement) "Today more than ever, families need the special protection of the public authorities. States are responsible for defending the 'sovereignty' of the family, for the family is the fundamental cell of society's structure." .Archbishop Celestino Migliore (read entire statement) "A nation without a conscious family policy leaves to chance and mischance an area of social reality of the up most importance, which in consequence will be exposed to the untrammeled and frequently thoroughly undesirable impact of policies arising in other areas.” US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan Protecting Your Most Precious Asset, the Family: Top Ten Suggestions (CLICK HERE) Confucius and World Constitutions on the Family Ronald Reagan's Executive Order on the Family "New Ideas in Family Policy: A Presentation to Members of Sweden's Parliament" by Dr. Allan C. Carlson "Family Policies that Work" by the Honorable Kevin Andrews The Malaise of the Modern Family in Russia by Elena Zaretskaya Family Policy Institute, South Africa State of Families in Singapore, 2003 ________________________ Family in UDHR
Family in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
"It is no exaggeration to say that in the Universal Declaration
the family is at the very center of rights. The family is fundamental because, among other things, it is the seedbed of all
the other rights delineated in the Universal Declaration. To make the world new following the devastation of the most destructive
war in history, the UN built its structure of universal human rights squarely on the foundation of the family."
E. Douglas Clark The Family as the Cradle of International Human Rights, by Richard G. Wilkins The Family, by E. Douglas Clark The Family and Human Rights (Pontifical Council for the Family) The Family in a Changing World, by Farooq Hassan We Cannot Afford to Indulge this Madness, by Cardinal Keith O'Brien The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Mariage and Family, by Bishop William Murphy Note to policymakers: As
the family is the foundation of society, so the UDHR's family provision declaring so constitutes the legal foundation (as
explained in the above resources) to provide the protection mentioned in that same provision. And see article by Professor Van Alstine. ____________________
Family
under Attack A
War against the Family
"During the last two decades the United Nations System
has taken on a new role: that of world policymaker. Conferences and international conventions sponsored by the UN system are
promulgating norms that alter dramatically the natural family. International law has become hostile to long-standing notions
of marriage, the natural family and the rearing of children." Richard G. Wilkins "In the fight for the family, the very notion of being – of what being human really means – is being called into question." Pope Benedict XVI A War against the Family: an Overview "International Law, Social Change and the Family" by Dr. Richard G. Wilkins "UN and Family Policy" by Ambassador Ellen Sauerbrey "Hijacking Human Rights" by Kathryn Balmforth "United Nations Policy and the Family" by Maria Sophia Aguirre and Ann Wolfgram "How U.N. Conventions On Women's and Children's Rights Undermine Family, Religion, and Sovereignty" by Patrick F. Fagan "The Family in the 21st Century: Can It Survive?" by Dr. Allan C. Carlson "Six Problems with the 'Yogyakarta Principles'" by Piero A. Tozzi "National Sovereignty: Why It Is Worth Defending" by Professor Jeremy Rabkin __________________________  |
|
Family, Faith, Freedom Strengthen Family, Society
“That
perceptive observer of America, Alexis de Tocqueville, wrote that what sustained the unique American democracy were the voluntary
associations like churches—today often called ‘mediating institutions’—that lead citizens to choose
to obey laws that governments cannot enforce. Even today, our society is not held together primarily by law and its enforcement
but most importantly by those who voluntarily obey the unenforceable because of their internalized norms of righteous or correct
behavior. Some call this ‘civic virtue.’ It has various sources, but all should recognize the vital contribution
of religion because religious belief in right and wrong by a large number of citizens is fundamental to producing this essential
voluntary compliance.”
Full text: Pope Francis’ historic address to Congress
“Let us remember the Golden Rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ This Rule points us in a clear direction. Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves. Let us help others to grow, as we would like to be helped ourselves. In a word, if we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life; if we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities. The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us. The Golden Rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development…. I will end my visit to your country in Philadelphia, where I will take part in the World Meeting of Families. It is my wish that throughout my visit the family should be a recurrent theme. How essential the family has been to the building of this country! And how worthy it remains of our support and encouragement! Yet I cannot hide my concern for the family, which is threatened, perhaps as never before, from within and without. Fundamental relationships are being called into question, as is the very basis of marriage and the family. I can only reiterate the importance and, above all, the richness and the beauty of family life.”
See also: In Address to Congress, Pope Defends Dignity of Politics, Work, Life, Family, and Freedom
"On June 26, five justices of the Supreme Court found an unwritten ‘fundamental right’
to same-sex marriage hiding in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment—a secret knowledge so cleverly concealed
in the nineteenth-century amendment that it took almost 150 years to find. Facebook and the White House were awash in rainbow
flags proclaiming the arrival of ‘marriage equality.’ Just three weeks after Obergefell,
congressional Democrats filed House (H.R. 3185) and Senate (S. 1858) versions of the ‘Equality Act,’ seeking to
add ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ to the protected classes listed in the federal code.
Americans are on an ‘equality’ roll. What could go wrong? As it turns out, quite a bit.”
More Reaction to Supreme Court Ruling
on Marriage
Religious freedom is a barometer for measuring other fundamental rights
Lawyers Prepping for Religious Freedom Battles
Final Order Issued In Oregon Same-Sex Wedding Cake Refusal
Alabama's confused response to same-sex marriage ruling
After Supreme Court marriage decision, Christian objectors ponder outsider status
ACLU Sues Kentucky Clerk Who Is Refusing To Issue Marriage Licenses
Gay marriage ruling leaves debate about religious liberty wide open
Same-sex Marriage Ruling a Dire Threat to Religious Groups Mormon Church Tells Followers It Will Not Marry Gay Couples
In Nigeria, gay rights activists see hope in US Supreme Court ruling
Gay marriage ruling violates religious freedom, Homewood Catholic priest says
Chris Christie criticizes Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling
Ex-Lesbian Has Strong Words About Supreme Court's Gay Marriage Ruling
Robert George Discusses Same-Sex Marriage and Its Social Consequences Same-sex marriage is only the beginning
Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage ‘a tragic error’, says archbishop
For Same-Sex Marriage Opponents, The Fight Is Far From Over 4 Harms the Court’s Marriage Ruling Will Cause SCOTUS ruling is not the final word on marriage After Obergefell: The Effects on Law, Culture, and Religion
Religious leaders reject gay marriage ruling as legal battles loom Historic Marriage Decision! How It Will Impact You - And What You Can Do About It Supreme Court Undermines Rights of Children How Will the U.S. Supreme Court's Same-Sex-Marriage Decision Affect Religious Liberty? Texas Fights Back Against Gay Marriage Ruling From gay marriage to polygamy? Will the Court protect religious objectors to same-sex marriage? Judicial activism on marriage causes harm: What does the future hold? A tremendous defeat for “We the People” and our posterity Supreme Court Says Same-Sex Marriage Is a Constitutional Right Supreme Court Decision Will Not Alter Doctrine on Marriage Judicial activism on marriage isn’t the end — here’s what to do now Huckabee expects civil disobedience in response to SCOTUS gay marriage ruling
“In less than a month
we will celebrate the 800th anniversary of the completion of the Magna Carta; the actual events concluded on June 19, 1215.
The Magna Carta has a rather insignificant genesis but is very profound in terms of its influence on the laws of historical
British Commonwealth countries, including Australia, as well as the American Constitution….My plea today is that all
religions join together to defend faith and religious freedom in a manner that protects people of diverse faith as well as
those of no faith. We must not only protect our ability to profess our own religion but also protect the right of each religion
to administer its own doctrines and laws…. There is a chorus of those who do not respect accountability to God and
feel perfectly comfortable in demanding that religions eliminate any doctrines that do not support their views. One professor
has written a book titled Why Tolerate Religion? A prominent New York Times opinion writer, in recent weeks, said, ‘Religion
is going to be the final holdout and most stubborn refuge for homophobia.’ He then affirms the position of a gay advocacy
leader ‘that church leaders must be made to take homosexuality off the sin list.’ He conveniently equates conduct
with same-gender attraction, refusing to recognize that one can respect and support people with same-gender attraction without
embracing homosexual conduct. That is the issue. This chorus of voices was lamented by an LDS Apostle, Elder Neal A. Maxwell,
many years ago. He said, ‘How can a society set priorities if there are no basic standards? Are we to make our calculations
using only the arithmetic of appetite? Decrease the belief in God, and you increase the numbers of those who wish to play
at being God by being ‘society’s supervisors.’ Such ‘supervisors’ deny the existence of divine
standards, but are very serious about imposing their own standards on society.’”
The Power of Marriage, by Allan C. Carlson, from his acclaimed book The Natural Family: Where It Belongs “Marriage… is natural and
self-renewing, rooted in the mutual attraction of man to woman, both of whom feel their incompleteness when existing alone.
They come together, of necessity, so that the human species might continue. Most cultures place marriage at or near the center
of elaborate religious ritual, but the marital institution can be found even among tribal, animist societies, testifying to
its universality. In this sense, marriage is the only true anarchist institution. That is, it exists prior to other human
bonds, be they village, city, state, or nation, and it has the endless capacity for renewal, even in periods of persecution,
social decline, or moral degradation. In the modern age, each new marriage is an affirmation of life, of love (real or potential),
and of continuity against the darkness which threatens to overwhelm the human spirit. Every new marriage is an act of rebellion
against ambitious political and ideological powers that would reduce human activity to their purposes. And each real marriage
contains within it the power of biological reproduction, a throw of the genetic dice that brings to life new human beings,
unique and unpredictable in their qualities. Marriage bears a special power, as well. Equal in dignity before their Creator,
man and woman each hold special gifts, profound and powerful differences in thought, action, and skills. This complementarity
transforms their union into something far greater than the sum of its parts. At the same time, marriage forms the foundation
on which humans build other social bonds.”
"Pope Francis said the process of engagement is essential for any couple on their way to marriage, since
it not only allows love to mature, but helps future spouses deepen their knowledge of one another. ‘Love itself demands
this preparation, which makes possible a free, generous and sober decision to enter into a lifelong covenant of love…
Marriage, as a vocation from God, is not just a relationship based on attraction and feelings, of a moment, of something short.
It requires a journey and establishes a very strong and lasting partnership, which makes two lives one, a true miracle of
human freedom and the grace of God.’”
“The best moment of my day is when I sit down and enjoy food with my family. I feel very proud as a mother when my children are all healthy and laughing.” —Maria Luma, from Sadani, Tanzania
“Family is very important to me, and I do everything
I can to make my family happy. As a mother, raising my children well and building a bright future for them is my number one
priority.”—Christine Wasike, from Marakaru,
Kenya
“I always try to teach my children how to become productive members of society. My parents taught me everything I know, and if I fail to teach my children then I will feel like I’ve let my parents down.” —Teresa Osebe, from Masongo, Kenya
“Having
peace and love in my family is better than any wealth in the world. I don’t wish for anything else as long as everybody
in my family loves each other and works together.” —Emmanuel
Nzaslyenga, from Karongi, Rwanda
“I want my children to have a better life than me. I invest everything I have in their education because I know when they complete school they will get good jobs and live a better life than I did.” —Ferdinand Nkundakozera, from Nyamasheke, Rwanda
Robert P. George on Marriage and More "The Constitution leaves the choice among competing conceptions of marriage where it leaves most policy questions, namely, to the judgment of the people and their elected representatives. So, historically, how have the states understood and defined marriage? They have understood and defined it as a relationship shaped by the needs of children for mothers and fathers, rather than as an institution whose purpose is to serve the interests or desires of adults by facilitating sexual-romantic companionship. Our laws, including those under review in the cases now pending before the Supreme Court, reflect the judgment that marriage is the conjugal union of spouses, rooted in the sexual-reproductive complementarity of male and female, which brings together a man and a woman as husband and wife to be father and mother to any children born of their union. As a social institution, it aims to secure for children the inestimable blessing of being brought up in the committed love—the marital bond—of the man and woman whose union brought them into being, and the related benefit of both maternal and paternal influences and care." "We
have seen how swiftly the demands have moved from tolerance to compulsory approbation of behavior historically rejected as
contrary to morality and faith by virtually all the great religious traditions of the world. And now it is not only approbation
that is demanded, but active participation. And do you honestly think that we have now reached the endpoint of what will be
demanded?"
“Archbishop Bernardito Auza spoke… of hope amidst growing
religious persecution and the common values that have strengthened the bonds between the Roman Catholic Church and The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints…. Referring to the commonalities between the two religions, the Archbishop selected
four specific areas, family, education, charity, and living and sharing faith publicly. ‘Because of our great love for
the family as one of God’s greatest blessings, we have invested so many of our spiritual, moral, educational and financial
resources in forming strong families,’ Auza said…. ‘As [Mormon] President Henry Eyring appealed during
the Vatican meeting on the family, we need ‘to have a renaissance of happy marriages and productive families.’’”
In
Praise of Women and Mothers: Two Landmark Speeches by Archbishop Bernardito Auza Unique Gifts of Women. "Humanity owes its survival
to the choice women make not just to welcome children, but
raise them to be virtuous and authentically human: mothers give
children the trust and security they need to develop their personal identity and positive social bonds.
Could there be a greater bond among humans than that between the
mother and child? Our future is already mirrored in how we, as
individuals and as a society, support mothers to raise strong and healthy families." Feminine Genius and a Better World. "Today we are here to ponder that feminine genius, to celebrate it, to thank God for it, and to thank and praise women for it, especially our mothers and all those women who with it have nurtured us, raised us, educated us, loved us and… disciplined us! Moreover, we are here to learn from it and resolve to do what we can to see this genius expand and assume a greater influence, for the good of individuals and society today and for the betterment of persons and nations tomorrow."
In
Mormon Church News Conference, Elder Dallin H. Oaks Announces Principles of Fairness
“Those who seek the protection of religious conscience and expression and the free exercise of their religion look with alarm at the steady erosion of treasured freedoms that are guaranteed in the United States Constitution. Since 1791 the guarantees of religious freedom embodied in the First Amendment have assured all citizens that they may hold whatever religious views they want, and that they are free to express and act on those beliefs so long as such actions do not endanger public health or safety. This is one of America’s most cherished and defining freedoms. Yet today we see new examples of attacks on religious freedom with increasing frequency…. It is one of today’s great ironies that some people who have fought so hard for LGBT rights now try to deny the rights of others to disagree with their public policy proposals. The precious constitutional right of free speech does not exclude any individual or group, and a society is only truly free when it respects freedom of religious exercise, conscience and expression for everyone, including unpopular minorities…. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints asserts the following principles based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, and on fairness for all, including people of faith: 1. We claim for everyone the God-given and Constitutional right to live their faith according to the dictates of their own conscience, without harming the health or safety of others. 2. We acknowledge that the same freedom of conscience must apply to men and women everywhere to follow the religious faith of their choice, or none at all if they so choose. 3. We believe laws ought to be framed to achieve a balance in protecting the freedoms of all people while respecting those with differing values. 4. We reject persecution and retaliation of any kind, including persecution based on race, ethnicity, religious belief, economic circumstances or differences in gender or sexual orientation.” See news story and videos. Read transcript.
“I am grateful to be invited to be a witness at this Colloquium. I am especially
grateful for the opportunity to give evidence that a man and a woman, united in marriage, have a transcendent power to create
happiness for themselves, for their family, and for the people around them. I am an eyewitness of the power of the union of
a man and a woman in marriage to produce happiness for each other and for their family…. Where there is unselfishness,
differences become complementary and provide opportunities to help and build each other. Spouses and family members can lift
each other and ascend together if they care more about the interests of the other than their own interests…. We can
and must stand up and defend the institution of marriage between a man and a woman.”
Economic Value of Marriage, Family and Relationship Breakdown, by the Honorable Kevin Andrews (MP, Government Minister of Social Services, Australia) “Considerable social science data supports the value of healthy stable marriages for individuals. Summarising
the mountains of research, Professor William Doherty concluded: ‘For adults, a stable, happy marriage is the best protector
against illness and premature death, and for children, such a marriage is the best source of emotional stability and good
physical health.’ Few areas of social science have shown such clear, consistent findings over four decades of research.
The research also indicates positive economic benefits for adults and children, and for society as a whole.”
The Defense of Marriage Isn’t Over, by Ryan T. Anderson “The [Supreme] Court, by refusing
to hear any of the marriage cases, has allowed lower federal courts to disregard the constitutional authority of citizens
and their elected representatives to make good marriage policy. Good laws that reflect the truth about marriage, frequently
passed with overwhelming democratic support, have been struck down by judges without any compelling argument that they are
unconstitutional. We should recognize this for what it is: Dozens of minor acts of judicial activism, rather than one major
one. If this is the case, where do we go from here? What should we do to continue defending marriage?
Whatever happens, it is essential to take the long view and to be ready to bear witness to the truth even if law and culture grow increasingly hostile."
“My delegation welcomes the convening of
the 29th Special Session of the General Assembly on the follow-up to the Program of Action of the International Conference
on Population and Development [ICPD]… [T]he Holy See remains deeply concerned that 1.2 billion people still live
in extreme poverty. My delegation is convinced that the world’s poor deserve and expect… greater results….
Lifting them out of extreme poverty is the best guarantee for them to enjoy their basic rights and dignity. My delegation
wishes to recall that the ICPD Program of Action asked States to promote and strengthen the family as a vital element toward
producing greater social and economic development. Governments and the international community were called upon to give greater
attention to, and manifest greater solidarity with, poor families and those who have become victims of war, drought, famine,
natural disasters and discrimination or violence. No effort should be spared to keep their members together, to reunite them
in case of separation and to ensure access to programs designed to support and assist those vulnerable…. Together
with education, health is a pillar for real development…. However the Holy See notes that too often, the role of the
ICPD on maternal health is used to promote ‘reproductive health rights’ detrimental to the unborn human life and
the integral needs of women themselves…. [T]he Holy See is convinced that all efforts to respond to the integral needs
of communities entail taking into account the social, cultural and spiritual needs of all…”
Top
Tools
"Today I want to explain why families
matter so much - and I want to talk about my commitment as Prime Minister to do everything we can to support family life in
Britain today. For me, nothing matters more than family. It’s at the centre of my life and the heart of my politics.
As a husband and a father I know how incredibly lucky I am to have a wonderful wife and to have had 4 amazing children. But
in loving my family, and in reflecting on my own upbringing, I’ve also learned something important about the way that
family and politics are inextricably linked." Related stories: New measures to help families; David Cameron says policies must pass 'family test'
Liberian President Calls for National Fasting and Prayer On August 5, 2014, responding to the ravages of Ebola (which has claimed the lives of over 800 West Africans), Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf called on her nation to join in three days of penitential fasting and prayer. “Acknowledging our devout gratitude to God for our existence as a Free, Sovereign and Independent State, and relying on His Divine Guidance for our survival as a Nation, I call on all Liberians to observe three days of National Fast and Prayer to seek God's face to have mercy on us and forgive our sins and heal our land, Liberia, as we continue the fight against the deadly Ebola virus.” (Read stories in: WorldTribune; AllAfrica; TheHerald.) President Sirleaf’s call is in the tradition of appeals made during the American Revolution, like the one on December 15, 1774, by Puritan minister William Gordon: “Do we confess and repent of our sins…; do we humble ourselves, amend our ways and doings, give up ourselves to God, become a holy people, and make the Most High our confidence…? Have we the God of hosts for our ally, we might bid adieu to fear.” (Read sermon.) What Is Marriage? by Ryan T. Anderson at Stanford
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi
on Family and Marriage “Despite past or even current challenges, the family, in fact, is the fundamental unit of human society… It continually exhibits a vigour much greater than that of the many forces that have tried to eliminate it as a relic of the past, or an obstacle to the emancipation of the individual.” Marriage Contributes Uniquely to the Common Good “Marriage contributes to society because it models the way in which women and men live interdependently and commit, for the whole of life, to seek the good of each other. The marital union also provides the best conditions for raising children; namely, the stable, loving relationship of a mother and a father; it is the foundation of the natural family, the basic cell of society.”
Faith,
Family, and Religious Freedom, by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland “The gifted Michael Novak [states] in his eloquent commentary on
the family: ‘Clearly, the family is the seedbed of economic skills, money habits, attitudes toward work, and the
arts of financial independence. The family is a stronger agency of educational success than the school. The family is a stronger
teacher of the religious imagination than the church. Political and social planning in a wise social order begin with the
axiom What strengthens the family strengthens society’…. Rather than redefining marriage and
family as we see increasing numbers around us trying to do, our age ought to be reinforcing and exalting that which has been
the backbone of civilization since the dawn of it."
Read Faith, Family, and Religious Freedom
Sir Winston Churchill "It is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human society, are created, strengthened and maintained.”
Archbishop Robert J. Carlson "Nothing is more important to who we are and what we believe than is the family. Without family, faith cannot flourish. Without the indissoluble bond between one man and one woman in marriage, there can be no truly healthy or stable society." ____________________________ World Congress of Families
VII POWERFUL
VOICES FROM SYDNEY
Report on the Congress Highlights from the World Congress on Families VII:
The Honorable John Anderson, former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia: on the causes and remedies of the crisis on the family “Family breakdown is actually symptomatic of a much wider problem. One fundamental aspect of that problem is the breakdown of truth and absolutes in our society. We have come to place so much emphasis on our own selfish freedoms that we no longer accept the constraints of any consistent workable code of social conduct or indeed of any real sense of commitment to each other or to future generations." Read the speech
Dr. David van Gend, President of the Australian Marriage Forum: The Harm to Children of Same-Sex Marriage "Marriage is not a social invention to be cut to shape according to political whim; it is a social recognition of timeless natural reality: male, female, offspring. The father of modern anthropology, Claude Levi-Strauss, called marriage “a social institution with a biological foundation”. He notes that throughout recorded history the human family is “based on a union... of two individuals of opposite sexes who establish a household and bear and raise children." Read the speech
Archbishop Vincent Paglia,
President of the Pontifical Council on the Family: Strengthening Marriage and Family Life
"Taking as my point of departure the words of Cicero, one of Rome's greatest intellectuals, we could begin by stating that... the Family is the basis of society and virtually the school for all social life and issues. It is from the Family that citizens come to birth and it is within the Family that they find the first school of the social virtues which constitute the animating principle for the existence and development of society itself." Read the speech
Janice Crouse, Senior Fellow at the Beverly LaHaye Institute: Marriage and Family Life: The Kernel of Every Nation "Throughout history and across all cultures, marriage has been the foundation of families and the bedrock of civilized nations.... A healthy family— a married husband and wife— provides the first schoolhouse where children are taught the self-restraint, empathy, personal responsibility necessary for them to live cooperatively, harmoniously, and economically self-sufficient; these are the skills crucial to the future of limited government and strong nations." Read the speech
Peter Westmore, President of the National Civic
Council of Australia: Why Natural
Marriage Must Be Protected “Virtually every nation, culture, tribe, religion and race since antiquity
has affirmed that male and female parents who have freely promised to commit themselves to each other permanently, are an
essential element of marriage. As a result, all societies have accorded such unions special status.” Read the speech
Jose Antonio Ureta, Founding Member of Fundacion
Roma: The French Apocalypse "To
sell this social experiment to the public, the French government labelled it 'Marriage for all.' Cardinal
Vingt-Trois of Paris immediately denounced the dishonesty of the slogan, declaring that the so-called
'marriage for all' was nothing but a denatured marriage for just a few imposed upon all…. French people are preparing for a lengthy battle, including
every possible means of resistance…. The resistance network has given birth
to a new movement called 'Veilleurs': the 'Watchers' or 'Vigil-Makers.'" Read the speech
Allan C. Carlson, President of the Howard Center: Declaration
of the World Congress on Families VII "We,
the delegates of the World Congress of Families VII, assembled in Sydney Australia, this 18 May 2013 affirm that the
sustained prosperity and happiness of nations rests on the foundation of strong natural families."
Professor Patrick Parkinson, President of the International Society of Family Law: Fragile Families and the Looming Financial Crisis "Fragile families lead to broken hearts. They also threaten the wellbeing of the community as a whole. Turning this around will require a herculean effort, but we cannot afford not to make the attempt."
__________________________ Past World Congresses WCF Archives
_________________________
Mother
and Family In Honor of Mothers
"Mothers are endowed with a love that is unlike any other love
on the face of the earth.” —Marjorie Pay Hinckley "The
greatest force for good on earth is the love of mothers." —Shelly Locke “God
could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.” —Jewish proverb "All that I
am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother." —Abraham Lincoln "All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical
education I received from her." —George Washington "The arms of a mother are the newborn's first cradle
and the injured child's first refuge. The hands of a mother are the hands of care for the child who is near and
of prayer for the one who is far away. The eyes of a mother are the eyes of fond surprise at baby's first step, the
eyes of unspoken worry at the young adult's first voyage from home, the eyes of gladness at every call or
visit that says she is honored and remembered. The heart of a mother is a heart that is always full."
—President Ronald Reagan, Mothers Day Proclamation 1988 ______________________
Family
and Marriage The
Marriage Debate: "The Defining Battle of Our Time"
"To destroy the institution of marriage by redefining it out of existence is a social upheaval so momentous and so far-reaching that we cannot even clearly predict just how much damage will ensue. This is the defining battle of our time." —Bill Muehlenberg
Since the dawn of human history, marriage
between a man and a woman has been—by divine design, many believe—the bedrock foundation of family and civilization.
This natural complementarity of father and mother has afforded the optimum opportunity for children to grow and flourish.
Notwithstanding the multitude of imperfect parents and flawed marriages, the ideal has remained constant. "The family
has been the ultimate foundation of every civilization known to history," wrote world historian Will Durant. Does a child need a father? President Barak Obama declared: "Of all the rocks upon which we build our lives, we are
reminded today that family is the most important. And we are called to recognize and honor how critical every father is to
that foundation." Does a child
need a mother? Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon stated: "Mothers play a critical role in the family, which
is a powerful force for social cohesion and integration. The mother-child relationship is vital for the healthy development
of children.... We face multiple challenges in our changing world, but one
factor remains constant: the timeless importance of mothers and their invaluable contribution to raising the next generation." So much for the NEEDS
of children, but what about their RIGHTS? Read more *RESOURCES* Why the Marriage Debate Should Focus on the Needs of Children, by Dr. Jenet Jacob Erickson (video): Love, Intimacy, and Sexuality in Marriage, by Christine de Vollmer
(SPANISH video):
Apples, Oranges & Gay Marriage, Or the Name Game and Hidden Assumptions, by Robbin Phillips Gay Marriage Around the World, Pew Forum Five Gay Marriage Myths, by Robbin Phillips Why Fight Same-Sex Marriage? Is There Really That Much at Stake?, by Douglas Farrow Marriage Matters: Consequences of Redefining Marriage (Heritage), by Ryan T. Anderson Same-Sex Marriage Ten Years On: Lessons from Canada, by Bradley Miller Opposition to Gay Marriage is Not Discrimination, by Rabbi Aryeh Spero France's Chief Rabbi: What Has Been Forgotten in the Debate on Gay Marriage Pope Says Future of Mankind is at Stake over Marriage Marriage, Religious Liberty, and the Grand Bargain, by Robert P. George The Argument Against Gay Marriage - And Why it Doesn't Fail, by Robert P. George et al. Marriage and the Public Good: Ten Principles (Witherspoon Institute) The Marriage Advantage: A Guide (United Families International) Why Preserving Marriage Matters (Preserve Marriage Washington) Why Australia Needs a Renewed Culture of Natural Marriage, by Allan C. Carlson Consequences of Redefining Marriage (Preserve Marriage Washington) America's Exodus from Marriage, by Peter Wehner The State of Our Unions: Marriage in America 2012 (includes proposed specific policy changes) Why French parliamentarian Bruno Azerot opposes gay marriage bill (VIDEO, in French) FREE E-BOOK DOWNLOAD: What You Need to Know about Marriage: Questions and Answers Driving the Debate ___________________ Family and Development Family as the Key to Development
 "We must not forget that the family
is a vital partner in efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and the many other objectives set by the international
community." Secretary-General
Kofi Annan "The family
is not only the fundamental group unit of society, but is also the fundamental agent for sustainable social, economic and
cultural development." Doha Declaration "The attainment of every Millennium Development
Goal must begin with the family. The family is the main instrument of societal transformation." Ambassor Iftekhar
Chowdhury In
2012 at UN headquarters in New York, the Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development launched a new book that focuses on the key role played by the family in the attainment
of each Millennium Development Goal.
_______________ Family Strengthening The Family Enrichment
Program A Guide for Strengthening Families through Weekly Family Night The simple but powerful resource used around the world to increase family unity
and strength, now translated into 23 languages
 Learn more (click each slide to advance) Request information or manuals ______________________ Teaching Values to Children
"Alive
to the World" Program
The oustanding values program created by Latin American Alliance for the Family (Alianza Latinoamericana para la Familia, or ALAFA), with translations used in Latin America (Spanish and Portuguese), the US and UK, and Sub-Saharan Africa (this is but one of ALAFA's excellent programs) Learn more about the program and each of the 12 books
Christine de Vollmer: Spanish presentations ___________________ Protecting Children "Stay Alive" Program HIV/AIDS
Prevention Bringing life and hope to the rising generation
in Africa
 __________________
Family and Demography
____________________________
Family Members Mothers, Fathers, Children
 "In our every deliberation, we must consider the
impact of our decisions on the next seven generations." Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy The Complementarity of Motherhood and Fatherhood, by Professor Bradford Wilcox Reconcilable Differences: What Social Sciences Show About
Complementarity of Sexes & Parenting, by Professor Bradford Wilcox On Family, the Human Heart, Wholeness and Peace, by Christine de Vollmer Modern Woman and the Challenge of Motherhood, by Christine de Vollmer Character, Education and Values: The Key to the Future of the Family, by Christine de Vollmer Natural Womanhood (video), by Susan Roylance
How to Make the World Truly Safe for Children, by Allan C. Carlson Howard Center Statement to 2011 Commission on the Status of Women How Fathers Influence Children as They Grow (Civitas website) The Importance of Fathers in the Healthy Development of Children (HHS) Marriage: Still the Safest Place for Women and Children, by Robert Rector et al. Why Married Parents are Important for Children, by Linda J. Waite Reagan's Mother's Day Proclamations Reagan's Father's Day Proclamations Child Trends, including World Family Map (website) USA and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (website) _____________________
Family Quotes Speaking
of Family...
“What
can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.” —Mother
Teresa "Peace in society depends upon peace in the family."
—Augustine "In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future." —Alex Haley "The family is the nucleus of civilization.”—Will Durant “As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.”—Pope John Paul III “There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human society, are created, strengthened and maintained.” —Winston Churchill “This is part of what a family is about, not just love. It's knowing that your family will be there watching out for you. Nothing else will give you that. Not money. Not fame. Not work.” —Mitch Albom “Your children are the greatest gift God will give to you, and their souls the heaviest responsibility He will place in your hands. Take time with them, teach them to have faith in God. Be a person in whom they can have faith. When you are old, nothing else you've done will have mattered as much.” —Lisa Wingate “God is the designer of the family.” —Gordon B. Hinckley "The family [is] a haven in a heartless world." —Christopher Lasch "Perhaps the greatest social service that can be rendered by anybody to the country and to mankind is to bring up a family." —George Bernard "Our most baisc instinct is not for survival but for family." —Paul Pearshall “The home is the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose, and that is to support the ultimate career.” —C. S. Lewis “No other success can compensate for failure in the home.” —J. E. McCullough "A happy family is but an earlier heaven." —John Browning "There is nothing greater and better than this—when
a husband and wife keep a household in oneness of mind." —Homer “It didn't matter how big our house was; it mattered that there was love in it.” —Peter Buffett “The traditional family is the necessary foundation for (international) communities; because it is the sanctuary where men and women learn cooperation, sacrifice, love, and mutual support; it is the training ground where children learn the public virtues of responsibility, work, fair play, and social interdependence. International law and the family, therefore, are inextricably linked. Disregarding this link places both the law and the families in peril.” — Richard G. Wilkins "The family is one of nature's masterpieces." —George Santayana “Family is not an important thing, it's everything.” —Michael J. Fox “The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.” —Victor Hugo "It is no secret that the vulnerability suffered by our peoples—insecurity, crime, abuse, abandonment of the elderly, orphaned children and violence—causes enormous imbalances and obliges us to spend millions on institutional policies that in the end can do no more than manage those ills. If we go on like this, a time when will come when all our tax resources will not suffice to counter the effects of vulnerability. If we wish to address the causes, we must look at the family." —Ana Teresa Aranda "In time of test, family is best." —Burmese Proverb “The family is a school of compassion because it is here that we learn to live with other people." —Karen Armstrong "The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works is the family."—Lee Iacocca “The way you help heal the world is you start with your own family.” —Mother Teresa “Before this era is over, every living human being will have chosen. Every living human being will have lined up in support of the family or against it. Every living human being will have either opposed the onslaught against the family or supported it, for if he tries to make no choice that in itself will be a choice. If we do not act in behalf of the family, that is itself an act of opposition to the family.”—Sheri L. Dew ______________________ Family Issues and
Ideas In
Support of Family
Archbishop of Canterbury Speaks of Same-Sex Challenges to Church "The Church of England holds very firmly, and continues to hold to the view, that marriage is a lifelong union of one man to one woman…. At the same time, at the heart of our understanding of what it is to be human, is the essential dignity of the human being. And so we have to be very clear about homophobia." America’s new government-imposed religion "Catholic adoption agencies have been forced to close their doors in Illinois, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., because their religious beliefs about marriage were deemed unacceptable by their jurisdictions."
Mayor Ed Koch and the Pro-Life Witness: The Courage and Kindness of Jeanne Head "Her kindness was a signal of her confidence in the rightness of her position. It was also a sign of her consistency. She believed unborn children and their mothers were made in the image of God..."
Pope Benedict XVI Says Future of Mankind is at Stake over Marriage "In the fight for the family, the very notion of being – of what being human really means – is being called into question."
US Congressional Committee Finds Abstinence Education is Best LGBT Rights and the Universal Declaration: A Critique of the Secretary-General's Remarks, by E. Douglas Clark "It was not just the LGBT community who cheered when UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently decried
violence against gays. [Click here to read his remarks.] Addressing a crowded room of LGBT activists assembled on December 11, 2012 to celebrate International Human Rights
Day at UN headquarters..." Read more __________________________ Family Celebration 20th
Anniversary of International Year of the Family, 2014
Secretary-General's Report on Preparations for and observance of IYF+20 CSD Draft Resolution on Preparations for and observance of IYF+20 GA Resolution on Preparations for and observance of IYF+20 The twentieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family (IYF+20) focuses on exploring family-oriented policies and strategies aiming mainly at confronting family poverty; ensuring work-family balance and advancing social integration and intergenerational solidarity. The coordinator for this key event is Renata Kaczmarska, the UN Focal Point on the Family. The following is from the IYF+20 website: The
preparations for the twentieth anniversary will include:
Governments,
United Nations agencies and bodies, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, research and academic institutions
and the private sector are encouraged to play a supportive role in promoting the objectives of the twentieth anniversary
for the benefit of families worldwide. For more information contact Focal Point on the Family at kaczmarska@un.org. For archives from IYF+10, click here. _______________________ |
|
Family News and Commentary
News and Views
“As the United Nations prepares to officially adopt the controversial post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals,
48 African bishops and ten cardinals have released a letter demanding that western powers stop pushing their ‘filthy
campaigns that promote a civilization of death on our continent’ under the guise of humanitarian aid…. ‘These
political and economic pressures have but one objective: the drastic control and reduction of the African population, the
planned destruction of marriage and the family.’… The African prelates state how they are ‘all wounded
in the depths of our hearts as Pastors’ by witnessing the constant sexually ideological bombardment from Western powers
against ‘life, the family, all that is sacred, the healthy human development of our youth who are the future of Africa,
the full blossoming of women and respect for our elderly – realities of which our African cultures have such a keen
sense.’”
“In the aftermath
of the Dred Scott decision, Lincoln came forth with the most penetrating critique, and he proceeded to lead a national movement
to counter and overturn that decision. He and his Congress would move through ordinary statutes, before raising the matter
to the level of a constitutional amendment. All of these ingredients should be in place. Which is to say that it must start
with the voice that rings out the depth of the wrong and summons the resistance—that ‘this shall not stand.’”
"In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage, the question is: who
deserves to be coerced by the government to embrace the Court’s new definition of marriage, or penalized for declining
to do so? The answer: No one. The government is not justified in coercing or penalizing anyone or any institution that believes
and acts on the belief that marriage is a union of husband and wife."
The New Normal Gets Down and Dirty… and other predictable consequences of Obergefell
“Politico is reporting that
the so-called ‘Equality Act’ will be introduced today in Congress. The bill is the brainchild of the Human Rights
Campaign—an influential, sophisticated and lavishly funded LGBT activist organization. The 'Equality Act' is a misnomer.
The bill does not protect equality before the law, but unnecessarily and unjustly violates freedom by creating special privileges
based on sexual orientation and gender identity."
“In the presence of an economic crisis of which everybody pays the costs, and facing the threat of a demographic
winter, which some Member States are already painfully going through, the family appears as a source of light. Primary
core of every human relation, a miniature-society which becomes a school of solidarity and where everyone learns the richness
of complementarity between a man and a woman, the family must be supported, promoted and protected.”
"With its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme
Court has brought the sexual revolution to its apex—a redefinition of our civilization’s primordial institution,
cutting its link to procreation and declaring sex differences meaningless. The court has usurped the authority of the people,
working through the democratic process, to define marriage. And it has shut down debate just as we were starting to hear new
voices—gay people who agree that children need their mother and their father, and children of same-sex couples who wish
they knew both their mom and dad."
"The Louisiana Supreme Court has dismissed
as moot the state's appeal of a district court ruling that found its same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional after the US Supreme
Court issued a ruling on June 26 upholding gay marriage throughout the nation. However, Louisiana's justices voiced their
opinions about the US Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling and majority of them did not agree with it. Justice Jeannette
Theriol Knoll said, 'I write separately to express my views concerning the horrific impact these five lawyers have made on
the democratic rights of the American people to define marriage and the rights stemming by operation of law therefrom. It
is a complete and unnecessary insult to the people of Louisiana who voted on this very issue.'"
"No wonder people like Cokie Roberts don't think same-sex
“marriage” has ‘tangible, identifiable victims.” The victims are being ordered not to talk about it!
That's the latest twist in the long and bitter suit against Aaron and Melissa Klein, the young Christian bakers who turned
down a lesbian wedding cake order in Oregon -- and have been paying for it ever since."
Washington’s Warning: What He Told Us About This Supreme Court Ruling, by E. Douglas Clark Rightly called “the indispensable man” by a prominent biographer, George Washington is not forgotten by the nation he founded. He stares at us from our currency; his name adorns daily headlines from our capital city which bears his name; and that city’s towering marble monument, coldly impersonal though it be, is a perpetual reminder of his towering influence. For most Americans, however, the Father of Our Country is nothing more than an austere icon, his substantial wisdom long since forgotten. The problem is not that he didn’t leave a written record; his letters alone as published in the University of Virginia’s Papers of George Washington Project will run an estimated 87 volumes. The problem is our neglect, our forgetting of the Father of Our Country. If there is one letter we should remember, it is the one he wrote directly to us as he left office, distilling wisdom acquired over his 20 years of selfless service to his country. First published on September 19, 1796, the letter came to be known as George Washington’s Farewell Address. Its relevance has never waned, but today, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s marriage ruling on June 26, 2015, Washington’s Farewell Address calls to us as if he were speaking now. The brief excerpt below speaks not only of unconstitutional encroachment but also of morality and religion as indispensable to our freedom. “The habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism… “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity… “Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle… It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?” America owes its existence to this remarkable man who himself did not “look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric” of freedom in his day. Today, in the wake of the notorious Supreme Court marriage decision that has divided the nation, the fabric of freedom is again being shaken by the very dangers of which Washington warned. His words and his example call to us with a haunting sense of urgency: “Who that is a sincere friend to [free government] can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?”
What
Today’s Supreme Court Decision Didn’t Change, by
E. Douglas Clark, June 26, 2015
Today marks a sea change in the law defining marriage in the United States. Today a majority of the Supreme Court claims to have discovered a right in the Constitution that has somehow eluded the Court’s grasp for the first two and a quarter centuries of our existence as a nation. Today the Court ruled that the Constitution guarantees a nationwide right to same-sex marriage. “The Constitution,” wrote Justice Kennedy for the majority in the 5-4 decision, “does not permit the State to bar same-sex couples from marriage on the same terms as accorded to couples of the opposite sex.”
“Like a thunderbolt” is how President Obama characterized the decision in a brief speech, while CNN insists that this will be “The week that changed the nation.” As celebrations around the country erupt among gay communities, the words of the four dissenting Justices hang heavy over this decision.
Justice Roberts: “The majority’s decision is an act of will, not legal judgment. The right it announces has no basis in the Constitution or this Court’s precedent. The majority expressly disclaims judicial ‘caution’ and omits even a pretense of humility, openly relying on its desire to remake society according to its own ‘new insight’ into the “nature of injustice.’… As a result, the Court invalidates the marriage laws of more than half the States and orders the transformation of a social institution that has formed the basis of human society for millennia, for the Kalahari Bushmen and the Han Chinese, the Carthaginians and the Aztecs. Just who do we think we are?”
Justice Thomas: “Our Constitution — like the Declaration of Independence before it — was predicated on a simple truth: One’s liberty, not to mention one’s dignity, was something to be shielded from — not provided by — the State. Today’s decision casts that truth aside. In its haste to reach a desired result, the majority misapplies a clause focused on “due process” to afford substantive rights, disregards the most plausible understanding of the “liberty” protected by that clause, and distorts the principles on which this Nation was founded. Its decision will have inestimable consequences for our Constitution and our society.”
Justice Scalia: “This is a naked judicial claim to legislative — indeed, super-legislative — power; a claim fundamentally at odds with our system of government. Except as limited by a constitutional prohibition agreed to by the People, the States are free to adopt whatever laws they like, even those that offend the esteemed Justices’ “reasoned judgment.” A system of government that makes the People subordinate to a committee of nine unelected lawyers does not deserve to be called a democracy.”
Justice Alito: “Today’s decision usurps the constitutional right of the people to decide whether to keep or alter the traditional understanding of marriage. The decision will also have other important consequences. It will be used to vilify Americans who are unwilling to assent to the new orthodoxy. In the course of its opinion, the majority compares traditional marriage laws to laws that denied equal treatment for African-Americans and women… The implications of this analogy will be exploited by those who are determined to stamp out every vestige of dissent.”
The foreboding expressed by these Justices is echoing throughout the land. Among the multitude of concerned voices is that of Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, who warned, “Today the U.S. Supreme Court's decision forces the people in all 50 states to embrace same-sex ‘marriage,’ regardless of their votes to define marriage in their states as a man-woman institution. Five justices on the Supreme Court have overturned the votes of 50 million Americans and demanded that the American people walk away from millennia of history and the reality of human nature.”
Yes, much has changed with today’s Supreme Court decision. But there are some things the Court could not change.
It could not change the truth stated by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in his 2009 Message on the International Day of Families: “Mothers play a critical role in the family, which is a powerful force for social cohesion and integration. The mother-child relationship is vital for the healthy development of children.... We face multiple challenges in our changing world, but one factor remains constant: the timeless importance of mothers and their invaluable contribution to raising the next generation.”
Nor could the Court change the truth articulated by President Ronald Reagan in his 1985 Father’s Day Proclamation: “Fathers play an indispensable role in forming vital, whole families. They serve as models and guides for their sons and daughters and help to pass on to the next generation the heritage of our civilization.”
The Court was likewise powerless to change the truth affirmed in the World Family Declaration: “The family, a universal community based on the marital union of a man and a woman, is the bedrock of society, the strength of our nations, and the hope of humanity. As the ultimate foundation of every civilization known to history, the family is the proven bulwark of liberty and the key to development, prosperity, and peace.”
Perhaps the best summary of what the Court could not change was recently provided by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, the Italian billionaire designers who used to be romantically linked and whose comments have angered the gay community. “The family is not a fad. In it there is a supernatural sense of belonging,” said Gabbana. Dolce added, “The only family is the traditional one… Life has a natural flow; there are things that cannot be changed.”
The lesson is clear for all who believe that children need a mother and a father, and that the family as founded on marriage between a man and woman is the indispensable foundation of civilization: We must urgently and creatively address the unchanged needs of children and civilization. Never have our efforts been needed more.
"Pope
Francis on Sunday (June 14) stressed the importance of children having heterosexual parents, just a day after Rome’s
gay pride march demonstrated the changing attitudes about same-sex couples outside the Vatican walls. Addressing around 25,000
followers from the Diocese of Rome, the pope said the differences between men and women are fundamental and ‘an integral
part of being human.’ The pontiff likened a long-lasting marriage to a good wine, in which a husband and wife make the
most of their gender differences. ‘They’re not scared of the differences!’ the pope said.
‘What great richness this diversity is, a diversity which becomes complementary, but also reciprocal. It binds them,
one to the other.’ Heterosexual marriages not only ensured couples’ happiness, the pontiff said, but were deemed
essential for good parenting. ‘Children mature seeing their father and mother like this; their identity matures being
confronted with the love their father and mother have, confronted with this difference,’ Francis said.”
“Last Friday’s 62% vote in Ireland to legalize “gay
marriage” has been hailed as a triumph of progressive thinking by the mainstream media and the political establishment.
The outcome shocked many in the pro-family movement. But what the mainstream press isn’t reporting
is even more shocking… This ‘culture war’ election was conducted under extraordinary conditions that have
never been seen anywhere before in the West. As we described in our pre-election article virtually all of the effort to pass ‘gay marriage’ in Ireland came from massive funding from
the United States—primarily a billion-dollar pro-gay foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies—in a sophisticated
campaign spanning over a decade.”
Courting for Marriage: Left Tries to Woo U.S. Supreme Court
"Thousands of years of human history cannot be overruled by three hours of debate before nine imperfect people. But today that is the best liberals can hope for in the race to upend nature's law -- and nature's God. Outside the U.S. Supreme Court, where the future of civilization was on trial, people from both sides of the marriage debate soaked in the sun while inside clouds gathered over the question that's shadowed America for the last 11 years: does the court have a right to force same-sex "marriage" on every state in the union?"
7 Reasons to Keep Marriage as Is in Ireland (from KeepMarriage.org)
"Reason 2: Difference Not Discrimination. We are being asked to support the radical idea that there is no difference or distinction between the marriage of a man and a woman and the marriage of two men or two women. If you agree, same-sex marriage will be recognized as a ‘natural primary and fundamental unit group of society.’ Because you are being asked to redefine marriage, on which the family is founded, your decision will have far-reaching consequences for children, education, employment law, equality legislation, freedom of speech and religious liberty. There is a distinction between the union of a man and a woman and the union of two men or two women. Recognising difference and protecting difference is not discrimination! What is needed here is equity that respects difference not equality that destroys it. Attempts to frame the referendum as a matter of equality ignore the fact that all people are already equal under the law. By voting 'no' you are protecting the State’s only child-centred and child-oriented social institution. A Yes vote makes the rights of children secondary to the desires of adults.”
Calling the U.S. Supreme Court: Key Considerations in the Obergefell Marriage Case
From the World Family Declaration “Children are our future, and we gratefully acknowledge the selfless service rendered by parents, grandparents, guardians, and other caregivers who provide opportunities, as prescribed in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, for children ‘to develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and socially in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity.’ Recognizing that, as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ‘motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance,’ and, as stated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, every child should, ‘wherever possible, grow up in the care and under the responsibility of his [or her] parents,’ we declare that a functional, nurturing family founded on marriage between a man and a woman provides the surest safeguard of the special care and assistance to which children are entitled.”
From Amicus Briefs Major Religious Organizations (Brief representing 50 million Americans) “Notwithstanding our theological differences, we are united in declaring that the traditional institution of marriage is indispensable to the welfare of the American family and society. We are also united in our belief that a decision requiring the States to license or recognize same-sex marriage would generate church-state conflicts that will imperil vital religious liberties…. The legalization of same-sex marriage across the country does far more than grant same-sex couples the right to the same benefits as heterosexual married couples. By redefining what marriage has been for most of human history, the court will impede the ability of religious people to participate fully as equal citizens in American civic life.”
54 International Legal Experts from 27 Countries (Brief) “While international legal opinion is not determinative of whether a particular U.S. practice is constitutional, this Court has ‘acknowledge[d that] the overwhelming weight of international opinion,’ can ‘provide respected and significant confirmation’ of the Court’s conclusions…. Brazil is the only country to nationally create same-sex marriage judicially, out of the 13 international organizations or nations to address the question…. There is simply no ‘emerging global consensus’ for same-sex marriage. In fact, any form of same-sex marriage has only been adopted by 17 of the 193 member states of the United Nations…. [L]egitimate and deep-rooted social, cultural, and religious reasons, including the importance of protecting the institution of marriage because of its significance for procreation and nurturing children, have formed the basis for LGBT-friendly courts’ determinations that legislatures have sufficient and legitimate reasons for limiting marriage to male and female couples. While courts are aware that there are different perceptions of the reach of these arguments, they have dealt with such differences of viewpoint by acknowledging the legitimacy of differing views and exhibiting respect for the democratic process in pluralistic societies.”
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (Brief) “Encouraging procreation in stable households headed by a mother and father is not only a rational governmental decision, but serves an interest of the highest order. No institution other than marriage joins a man and a woman together in a permanent and exclusive way and unites them to any children born of their union. No other institution ensures that children will have the opportunity to be raised by both a mother and father. The devaluation and loss of such families as the primary environment for raising children is a significant societal ill. Laws that strongly encourage and promote the union of one man and one woman in marriage are an important part of the remedy for this national problem. It would be a grave disservice to the Nation, and a serious misreading of the Constitution, to strike down such laws.”
Ruth Institute and Jennifer Roback Morse (Brief) “Not every marriage has children. But every child has parents…. Children are entitled to a relationship with both of their parents. They are entitled to know who they are and where they came from… but children cannot defend their rights themselves. Nor is it adequate to intervene after the fact, after harm already has been done. Children’s relational and identity rights must be protected proactively. Marriage is society’s institutional structure for protecting these legitimate rights and interests of children. Once marriage is stripped from its concern with the welfare of children, nothing remains of a genuinely public purpose. Marriage becomes little more than a government registry of friendships, which is, arguably, none of the public’s business.”
Religious Organizations Concerned about Free Speech (Brief) “In their zeal to advance and affirm same-sex marriage, many state actors have ignored or violated the very free speech principles that facilitated free and open dialogue on this once-settled question. As a cautionary tale of a road to potential tyranny, this brief details many incidents — personal and systemic; domestic and foreign — where religious dissenters from same-sex marriage have been silenced by state actors and thereby denied access to the marketplace of ideas. A decision from this Court imposing same-sex marriage nationwide would inevitably exacerbate these conflicts, and inexorably result in additional violations of free speech rights.”
“This case is not about whether to expand the pool of people eligible to marry. Everyone is for marriage equality – for recognizing all marriages, properly understood. This case is rather about who, in our constitutional regime, gets to decide what marriage is, and about which possible definitions are constitutionally permissible. Today’s debates offer rival answers to those questions, two competing substantive visions of marriage. This Court’s task is not to judge the wisdom of the States’ answer, reflected in their marriage laws, but only to decide whether citizens and legislators may embody in law the conjugal view of marriage, as they have historically done.”
Other Briefs: Concerned Women for America; ProtectMarriage.com; Family Research Council; 100 Scholars of Marriage
The Glue of Marriage that Holds Society Together, by Janice Crouse
“Why do we need marriage? Why do we need a critical mass of married-couples in our communities? First let me stipulate that marriage unites two flawed human beings which means that marriage in ‘actuality’ is weaker than marriage as an ‘ideal.’ That said, marriage (despite its mixed track record) is the best arrangement we have to teach people – with all of their self-centeredness and weaknesses – how to treat one another decently…. The virtues that are learned by working to develop a happy marriage constitute the drops of invisible glue which, when multiplied in sufficient numbers, produce a good, healthy, humane social environment…. [But] we are fast approaching a situation where there won’t be enough married couples left to counterbalance the growing mass of self-centered individuals. Then, the social order –– bequeathed to us by our ancestors and left in our care –– won’t have enough glue to hold everything together and, inevitably, society will collapse around us.”
"A national firestorm has erupted over an Indiana law that, in all essentials,
mirrors the legal standard protecting religious liberty in all federal courts and 31 state courts. Why? The answer, unfortunately,
is 'the culture war' — and, contrary to media portrayals, conservatives aren’t the aggressors here. Who favors
coercion in this debate? Who opposes tolerance and pluralism? The answer to both questions: activists on the left. The laws
under attack — Religious Freedom Restoration Acts — are designed to shield all faiths from government coercion."
Women's Rights: Voices at Beijing+20, Commission on the Status of Women 59
___________________________
“The billionaire pair, who used to be romantically linked,
gave an interview with the Italian magazine Panorama, in which they said, ‘The only family is the traditional one. No
chemical offspring and rented uterus. Life has a natural flow; there are things that cannot be changed…. The family
is not a fad. In it there is a supernatural sense of belonging.’”
Dear Justice Kennedy: An Open Letter from the Child of a Loving Gay Parent
“Now that I am a parent, I see clearly the beautiful differences my husband and I bring to our family. I see the wholeness and health that my children receive because they have both of their parents living with and loving them. I see how important the role of their father is and how irreplaceable I am as their mother. We play complementary roles in their lives, and neither of us is disposable. In fact, we are both critical. It’s almost as if Mother Nature got this whole reproduction thing exactly right. I am not saying that being same-sex attracted makes one incapable of parenting. My mother was an exceptional parent, and much of what I do well as a mother is a reflection of how she loved and nurtured me. This is about the missing parent."
‘Quartet of Truth’: Adult children of gay parents testify against same-sex ‘marriage’ at 5th Circuit “As the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals considers whether to strike down laws in three states banning same-sex “marriage,” four adult children of homosexual parents have filed court briefings arguing that government-sanctioned homosexual unions could lead to disaster for thousands of kids.”
“Government
that is big enough to give you everything you want is more likely to simply take everything you’ve got…. Henry
David Thoreau was right: ‘That government is best which governs least’…. Our liberty springs from and depends
upon an abiding faith in God…. Lincoln recognized that we could not survive as a free land when some men could decide
that others were not fit to be free and should be slaves…. Likewise, we cannot survive as a free nation when some men
decide that others are not fit to live and should be abandoned to abortion…. We can’t have it both ways. We can’t
expect God to protect us in a crisis and just leave Him over there on the shelf in our day-to-day living. I wonder if sometimes
He isn’t waiting for us to wake up, He isn’t maybe running out of patience…. Without God there is no virtue
because there is no prompting of the conscience…. Without God there is a coarsening of the society; without God democracy
will not and cannot long endure…. America needs God more than God needs America. If we ever forget that we are One
Nation Under God, then we will be a Nation gone under.”
Belarus
Statement on the Family to the United Nations, January 20, 2015, by Mr. Valentin Rybakov, Deputy Minister of Foreign
Affairs
“Distinguished co-chairs, I have the honor to make this statement on the need for mainstreaming the family across the United Nations post 2015 development agenda on behalf of Bangaladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Turkmenastan, Yemen, Zimbabwe, and also on behalf of my own country, Belarus [and Oman]. We reaffirm that the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state. We believe that genuine and sustainable development may not be achieved without the family. We stress the importance of development and support of national family-oriented policies, programmes and initiatives that harness the unique strengths and contributions of the family to common good of societies. We are convinced that the human rights of women and men, children and older persons, and persons with disabilities could be best promoted and protected within the family environment. We are also convinced that the family, as the fundamental unit of society, and the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members, and particularly children, should be afforded the necessary protection. We call for systematic mainstreaming of the family across the post-2015 development agenda. The importance of the family in the post-2015 development agenda was clearly expressed by many delegations. We believe that the documents and the decisions of the SDG Summit of 2015, that will define key elements of the new development framework, should include, as a matter of priority, promotion of the family as a contributor and beneficiary of the development process. By highlighting this important linkage of the family and sustainable development in the documents and decisions of the SDG Summit of 2015, we can gain an invaluable tool to insure the strengthening and proliferation of the family friendly and family supportive environment, both at the national level and globally. Therefore, we urge member states to join us in efforts to insure the inclusion of the family and family oriented policies, as an important element of the post-2015 development agenda.”
“[Speaking in Manila,] Pope Francis… criticized
what he called the ‘ideological colonization of the family’… ‘The family is threatened
by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage’… The man/woman nature of
marriage, he said, is ‘an anthropological fact … that cannot be qualified based on ideological notions or concepts
important only at one time in history.’”
“A Christian magistrate
has been disciplined by a Tory Cabinet Minister for expressing the belief that children should be raised by both a mother
and a father. Richard Page told colleagues behind closed doors during an adoption case that he thought it would be better
for a child to be brought up in a traditional family rather than by a gay couple. He was shocked a week later when he found
he had been reported to the judges’ watchdog for alleged prejudice, and was suspended from sitting on family court cases.”
Rome’s Extraordinary Ecumenical Event: What I and Others Learned from Other Faiths at a Special Event on the Family, by Maggie Gallagher “For the Vatican it was a truly unusual event, with
people from every part of the globe and nearly every major faith tradition — Catholics and Protestants, Jews and Jains,
Mormons and Muslims, not to mention Sikhs, Hindus, and Buddhists, pouring into Rome to share their faith traditions’
insights into the meaning of this thing called sex…. We all felt it in the powerful video series on marriage crafted
by an incredibly talented young team of Catholic filmmakers. (You will be able to see them yourself on http://humanum.it/) Something of deep and transcendent possibility, built into the structure of the cosmos, which may be suppressed, but is
not going to go away. Family ideologies of Right or Left, Pope Francis reassured us, won’t erase the facts, the family
per se. But for me, this thing rang out most clearly in the words of a member of the First Presidency of the LDS church, Henry
B. Eyring…. The Mormons are the one major American faith tradition (with the possible exception of the modern Orthodox
Jews), who are successfully combining living in the ‘real world’ with creating a distinctive, effective family
culture. And they have built this extraordinary achievement, President Eyring was trying to remind us, not primarily on the
head but on the human heart.”
"The great deal of lawless judicial opinion
written by federal judges about the issue of same-sex marriage now has an important counterweight: The ruling of the Sixth
Circuit Court of Appeals, which decided on Thursday that nothing in the Constitution compels state governments to recognize
same-sex marriages. Thus, marriage laws in the states under the Sixth Circuit, democratically passed in Kentucky, Michigan,
Ohio, and Tennessee, can stand. This is the first time that a panel of circuit judges, the top level of the judiciary below
the Supreme Court, has ruled that states can retain the traditional view of marriage." Read the decision; Excerpt: "How can we say that the voters acted irrationally for sticking with the seen benefits of
thousands of years of adherence to the traditional definition of marriage in the face of one year of experience with a new
definition of marriage?"
Speak Now or Forever Forfeit Marriage, by Tony Perkins (Family Research Council)
"The Supreme Court may be running away from the marriage issue, but conservatives certainly aren't…. Most were incensed that the high court [on October 6, 2014] turned down— not one, but five— state marriage cases, leaving voters to fend for themselves against out-of-control judges who seem quite content substituting their own view for that of the law and those elected to make it…. It was a grave betrayal— not just to the 41,020,548 Americans who've passed marriage referendums— but to the democratic process, which apparently now hinges on a handful of black-robed extremists…. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) shook his head in disbelief at the high court's failure to act. ‘Nothing in the Constitution forbids a state from retaining the traditional definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Whether to change that definition is a decision best left to the people of each state— not to unelected, politically unaccountable judges. The Supreme Court owes it to the people of those states, whose democratic choices are being invalidated, to review the question soon and reaffirm that states do have that right.’ Others, in states where leaders are desperately trying to protect the rule of law, the outrage is turning into a new resolve to act. 'The Supreme Court should step in and stand up for the right of Americans to make their own marriage policies,' said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).”
The Vindication of Antonin Scalia— A Sad Milestone for Marriage and Morality, by Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. “A giant milestone in the moral revolution passed today when the U.S.
Supreme Court turned down every single appeal from several states on the issue of same-sex marriage. This decision not to
take at least one case under consideration stunned both sides in the same-sex marriage battle.”
Not so fast: Federal judge says Constitution doesn’t require redefining marriage, by William C. Duncan “Perhaps
the most powerful argument for same-sex marriage has been that it is ‘inevitable.”… A common rhetorical
point made by advocates of redefining marriage is that same-sex marriage is enjoying a streak of unbroken successes in the
court. That contention is no longer available, since [September 3, 2014], a federal court in Louisiana handily rejected
the argument that redefining marriage is required by the Constitution.”
“The family is a 'centre of love,' where
reigns the law of respect and communion.... In the home, the person is integrated in a natural and harmonious way in a human
group.... Family love is fruitful, not only because it generates new lives, but also because it broadens the horizon of existence,
creates a new world; makes us believe, against all despair and defeat, that a coexistence based on respect and trust is possible.
Faced with a materialistic view of the world, the family does not reduce man to sterile utilitarianism, but channels his deepest
desires."
A
Call to His Country—and the World: “Choose to Put Our Children First,” by Seychelles cabinet minister
Vincent Meriton “The family has a unique function to play in the continued success of our country. In the family we learn
about goodness. Moral values are taught in the family. We nurture love, solidarity, and give protection. Our education
starts in the family. It is in the family that our cultural and spiritual heritage is passed on…. It is important to
realise that government cannot replace the family as the focal point for the upbringing, care and support of its members.
As individuals, we should invest more time in the family network…. I call on all families to choose to put our children
first, and also keep a special place for our parents and elders in our lives. Choose the values that will ensure the stability,
functionality and success of our families. Choose to be responsible and empowered family members. Take the right decisions
that will be for our benefit and wellbeing of our society.” Read entire message
The
Power of Mothers: WATCH THE TRAILER for this new DVD
This revealing documentary explores forgotten truths about the irreplaceable role of mothers, who are, says Julie B. Beck, truly “the foundation and primary element of a strong society.” According to E. Douglas Clark, “In the swirling, divisive world of policy formulation affecting families and children, this timely documentary brings into sharp focus the timeless power of mothers to nurture their offspring and civilization itself. What President Ronald Reagan proclaimed about mothers is a truth for all times and all climes: ‘Maternal love is the first tangible bond any human being knows. It is a tie at once physical, emotional, psychological, and mystical…. It is a love that risks all, bears all, braves all.’ Bravo for mothers—and for this key tool to inform the work of presidents, parliaments, and policymakers everywhere.” Producer Shelly Locke explained, “This film is dedicated to every mother whose love and devotion serves to shape humanity and ensure the future for us all.” See also: "Mothers are the most powerful influence for good on the earth today. Within [ther] hands lies the very future of the world! Mothers of the world deserve our greatest respect, our protection and our care." —Shelly Locke Research finds that Infants Need Mother’s Gaze for Neural Development “New, non-invasive studies of brain development show that the cortico-limbic lobes also develop in response to stimulation - and that stimulation is the love and caresses of the baby’s mother from the moment of birth.” —Christine de Vollmer “It is thrilling to know that the social sciences have now determined that the development of nations depends upon the development of individuals. For a century, perhaps, it was thought that development could be brought about by the injection of money and by government edict…. [But] the old policies have unwittingly destroyed the family and with it the social fabric. Rather than development, we have almost lost the only effective vehicle to development: the family. Thanks to the brilliant and independent observation and study of giants like Gary Becker and Bernardo Kliksberg, the world is realizing that development depends not so much on economics as on Human and Social Capital. And furthermore, that Family is the place where Human Capital is created and where Social Capital is generated. Mothers, in constant contact with their babies, are actually forming the baby’s brain…. It cannot be achieved by part-time caregivers. These caregivers can attend most excellently to the bodily needs of the child, but not this early brain growth.”
In Honor of Faithful Fathers "A father's influence in his daughter's life shapes her self-esteem, self-image, confidence and opinions of men. ‘How Dad approaches life will serve as an example for his daughter…,’ says Michael Austin…. ‘What matters in the father-daughter relationship is that Dad seeks to live a life of integrity and honesty, avoiding hypocrisy and admitting his own shortcomings.’” —How Fathers Influence Daughters “The greatest legacy a man can leave in the world is not so much a great business, as an investment in the future through his family. Fathers are the ultimate ‘people-builders’. The fine expectations of your children, the skills you teach them and the values you model for them will be the bricks and mortar of great future citizens.” — Ian Grant, Fathers Who Dare Win
“Fatherhood is all about the things that matter most—about love and new life, about trust and responsibility, about faithfulness to a family and to a calling. Fathers must be many things, but most of all they must be selfless. Fathers seek to give their children a share of the world's goods and an even greater share of its goodness.” —President Ronald Reagan’s 1987 Father’s Day Proclamation
Resources:
The Wisdom
of Mary Eberstadt: A Critical Voice for the Family Seton Hall Commencement Address, "You Are More Important
Than You Know," May 19, 2014 The New Intolerance:
“An insidious new intolerance now snakes its way into classrooms, boardrooms, newsrooms, and other places vital
to the exercise of free speech. This new intolerance says we must have diversity in all things — except arguments and
ideas. It says we must all march in ideological lockstep — or feel the snakebite, and be taken by ambulance from the
public square.” Read entire address
How the West Really Lost God: A New Theory of Secularization (Templeton Press, 2013): Family and Society: “Society itself depends on the health of the family—and by 'family' I do not mean just any arrangement that people might call a family, but rather the two-parent, biologically connected, intact natural family…. Sound families make for a sound society.” Family and Religion: “The natural family as a whole has been the human symphony through which God has historically been heard by many people…; and the gradual but by now recognizable muffling of that symphony is surely an important and overlooked part of the story of how certain Western men and women came not to hear the sacred music any more…. The decline of the family has contributed to the decline of Christianity…. The fracturing of the family combined with the sexual revolution has put a great many people in the West on a collision course with certain fundamental teachings of the Christian faith.” Family in Decline: “Across the advanced nations, the intact married family with children is a diminishing percentage of households. Fewer people are having children; fewer people who are having children are able to sustain intact two-parent homes for them to grow up in; and institutional substitutes for the family, from day care in early life to nursing home care at the end, have syncopated and interrupted the familial rhythms of birth and dependence and death as never before in history.” Family under Attack: “[There is a] rhetorical belligerence that critics of the traditional family bring to this conversation. For reasons that are unclear, it appears that those who would retool the natural family in more progressive directions do not merely seek to be included in the institution’s ranks. Very often, they seem to regard their social inclusion as a zero-sum game—i.e., as a prize that cannot be had without denigrating the more traditional forms of family life.”
Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser Speaks
Out on the Family 2014: “Humanity greatly needs comprehensive global, national
policies and programs that are geared towards family issues as an integrated social system without fragmenting solutions.”
Read more 2004: “There is an urgent need for a new mentality that sees the family as part of the solution sought after, rather than part of the problem. What is required is a mentality that doesn't treat the family as a burden to development, but rather as a driving force behind it.” Read more
VIDEO: It’s All About Children: Same-Sex Marriage, What It Really Means, by Dr. David van Gend In this timely and revealing exposé, Dr. David van Gend (President of the Australian Marriage Forum) reveals the implications and consequences that proponents of same-sex marriage almost never mention. Every child, explains Dr. van Gend, has a birthright to both a mother and a father; and to legally foreclose that opportunity for any child by means of same-sex marriage constitutes a colossal injustice and irreparable harm.
MOTHER’S
DAY 100TH Anniversary "The
mother's heart is the child's schoolroom." —Henry Ward Beecher "Youth fades; love droops, the leaves of friendship fall; a mother's secret hope outlives them all." —Oliver Wendell Holmes
A Mother’s Day Tribute from a Pediatric Nurse, by Shazia Memon “Many, many mothers I have come across at my job… have amazed me. I work as a nurse in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Through the new diagnoses, the surgeries, the intubations, the pain, the resuscitations, the deaths–through it all–I have witnessed the powerful extent a mother’s love can reach. Happy Mother’s Day to these mothers who, despite the paralyzing circumstances of their sick children, endure everything with a beautiful patience…. In Islam, there is a well-known Prophetic saying that ‘heaven lies under the feet of your mother.’ Under the exhausted, worn, aching feet of the mothers of sick children–feet that have trudged through unimaginable roads of grief–I hope for a heaven in which they can see their child in the healthiest and happiest of forms.” Mother’s Day Proclamation, by President Ronald Reagan “Maternal love is the first tangible bond any human being knows. It is a tie at once physical, emotional, psychological, and mystical. With all of the words that have been written about motherhood, all of the poems of tribute and gratitude that have been penned through the ages, all of the portraits of a mother and child that have been painted down the centuries, none has come close to expressing in full the thankfulness and joy owing to mothers." VIDEO: It Was Mom VIDEO: A Tribute to Mothers VIDEO: When I Was Hungry
The Birth World Mourns The Loss Of Giants
"The birth world has lost two of its great heroes… Marsden Grigg Wagner, M.D., and David B. Chamberlain, PhD, are gone…. For 15 years, Marsden Wagner served as Director of Women’s and Children’s Health for the World Health Organization…. Dr. David Chamberlain was also a powerhouse of influence. He was a psychologist, author, and pioneer in the field of pre- and perinatal psychology. He wrote the groundbreaking book Babies Remember Birth… [and] recently published Windows to the Womb, Revealing the Conscious Baby from Conception to Birth. Dr. Chamberlain wrote and spoke extensively about the concept that babies in the womb are actually capable of learning, feeling pain, real communication, and having actual memories.”
STOP HUMAN TRAFFICKING The Scourge of Human Trafficking, by Archbishop Francis Chullikatt "Trafficking in persons constitutes a shameful crime against human dignity and a grave violation of fundamental human rights… [and] constitutes an affront to the dignity of human nature and to fundamental values shared by humanity. While political, social and legal protections are indispensable to combating the scourge of human trafficking, we must also work to address those societal factors which foster the environment that makes human trafficking possible." “Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, called human trafficking a criminal activity, on rapid increase in the world. Ezeilo said that not a single country or entity has yet been able to stop this practice, and the magnitude of this problem is enormous.” How We Can End Slavery, by Kevin Bates “With 27 million people in slavery today, how can we ever hope to eradicate this horror? In fact, this generation, after 5,000 years of human slavery, can bring it to an end…. To bring people to freedom and to end slavery, three things have to happen…” How to End Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, by Somaly Mam “As a survivor of sex slavery, I have dedicated my life’s work to ending it. To many people, the issue of slavery seems like a clear case of right and wrong. The reality is much more complicated. There are many root causes and serious challenges. But these challenges do not stop me from continuing to find solutions to eradicate slavery and empower its survivors as part of the solution.” Online resources:
You Are So Beautiful: World Down Syndrome Day VIDEOS
“Adelaide couple Mark and Matt, both 29, have
acquired Thai-designed newborns Tate and Estelle through commercialised surrogacy overseas…. What most concerns me
is the complete erasure of the mother or mothers in these acts of global womb renting by wealthy Westerners. This latest case
highlights this mother disappearance.”
Forced Marriage in Africa, by John Goerke “In the Francophone countries of Africa, there is a grisly practice whereby girls as young as 9 are sold
into marriages with men 40, 50, or 60 years their senior. ‘Sounds more like sex-trafficking,’ said a friend of
mine… His assessment was correct.” Forced to Marry Before Puberty, African Girls Pay Lasting Price (New York Times) “African… girls are often married at or before puberty to whomever their fathers choose, sometimes to husbands as much as half a century older. Many of those same girls later choose lifelong misery over divorce because custom decrees that children in patriarchal tribes belong to the father.” UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Acts Beyond Its Authority, Analytical Report 2014 by FamilyPolicy.ru "All these acts…
are… ultra vires and must be recognised as violating the principle of sovereign equality and exceeding the treaty monitoring
body mandate. The Committee’s ultra vires acts, though not directly legally binding, seriously affect the legal regime
in the states parties to the UNCRC [United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child]. They affect national law enforcement
practice, changes to national legislation, and influence legally binding decisions by other international bodies."
“Recognizing that the preparations for and observance of the twentieth anniversary of the International Year of the
Family provide a useful opportunity… for undertaking concerted actions to strengthen familycentred
policies and programmes as part of an integrated comprehensive approach to development… “Recognizing that the family, as the natural and fundamental group unit of society, has the primary responsibility for the nurturing and protection of children and that children, for the full and harmonious development of their personality, should grow up in a family environment and in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding…” Read the resolution Same-Sex Marriage and the Jews, by Sam Schulman "A special claim is laid upon Jews
by the very first words spoken aloud by God in the hearing of mankind—the first of the Bible’s divine injunctions
to humanity and the first idea that humans encounter in the earliest moments of their conscious existence: ‘Be fruitful
and increase, fill the earth and subdue it.’ (Genesis 1:28) Indeed, for a couple of thousand years, the non-Jewish
world thought that what was most distinctive about the Jews was the teleological dimension with which their religion had endowed
sexuality, marriage, and fruitfulness. The Jews thought so themselves."
Muslims, Our Natural Allies, by Robert P. George “I am a Catholic. My Church teaches me to esteem our Muslim friends and
to work with them in the cause of promoting justice and moral values… Let us… forget past quarrels and stand
together for righteousness, justice, and the dignity of all…. Let us be mindful that it is not our Muslim fellow citizens
who have undermined public morality, assaulted our religious liberty, and attempted to force us to comply with their ideology
on pain of being reduced to the status of second-class citizens. Let all of us—Christians, Jews, Muslims, and people
of other faiths who ‘esteem an upright life’ and seek truly to honor God and do His will—embrace each other.”
How to Fight Income Inequality: Get Married, by Ari Fleischer
“Attitudes toward marriage and having children have changed in America over the past 50 years, and low-income children and their mothers are the ones who are paying the price. The statistics make clear what common sense tells us: Children who grow up in a home with married parents have an easier time becoming educated, wealthy and successful than children reared by one parent.” “In 1975 [while in prison], he could write: ‘Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve others—qualities which are within reach of every soul—are the foundations of one’s spiritual life. Development in matters of this nature is inconceivable without serious introspection… At least, if for nothing else, the cell gives you the opportunity to look daily into your entire conduct, to overcome the bad and develop whatever is good within you.... Never forget that a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying.'” “The European court of human rights exceeds its legitimate powers, usurps the role of politicians
and ‘undermines the democratic process,’ one of the UK's most senior judges has warned…. [Lord] Sumption
highlighted one example of the court's ‘creative’ role in reinterpreting the convention to take into account contemporary
circumstances, namely its interpretation of Article 8 of the convention – the right to private and family life. A right
originally ‘devised as a protection against the surveillance state by totalitarian governments’ now extends, Sumption
said, ‘to cover the legal status of illegitimate children, immigration and deportation, extradition, aspects of criminal
sentencing, abortion, homosexuality, assisted suicide…, and a great deal else besides…. None of these extensions
are warranted by the express language of the convention, nor in most cases are they necessary implications.’” "In her opening remarks, [Utah first lady] Jeanette Herbert said the goal of Uplift Families is to help parents turn
‘the job of parenting into the joy of parenting.’ The role of parents is not to just raise good kids, she said,
but to raise children with the skill set they need to be productive adults…. During their presentation, [Richard and
Linda Eyre] shared their five basic principles of all families — the need to not be overly concerned with small issues;
to remember each child is unique; to preserve time for personal needs; to prioritize children while they live in the home;
and to give children more by giving them less.”
EU Proposal to Monitor “Intolerant” Citizens, by Soeren Kern “While European leaders are busy expressing public indignation over reports of American
espionage operations in the European Union, the European Parliament is quietly considering a proposal that calls for the direct
surveillance of any EU citizen suspected of being ‘intolerant.’ Critics say the measure— which seeks to
force the national governments of all 28 EU member states to establish ‘special administrative units’ to monitor
any individual or group expressing views that the self-appointed guardians of European multiculturalism deem to be ‘intolerant’—
represents an unparalleled threat to free speech in a Europe where citizens are already regularly punished for expressing
the ‘wrong’ opinions…. ‘Faith-based groups and schools, adherents of a particular religion or even
just parents who want to teach their children certain moral values would all be put under general suspicion of being intolerant,’
according to European Dignity Watch.”
A Clear and Present Danger: Religious Liberty, Marriage,
and the Family in the Late Modern Age--An Address at Brigham Young University, by Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. "The clearest demonstration of this monumental
shift in morality and worldview is the revolution now underway with regard to marriage, the family, and human sexuality.
Long ago, historians Will and Ariel Durant noted that sex is 'a river of fire that must be banked and cooled by a hundred
restraints.' The primary restraint has always been the institution of marriage itself, an institution that is inescapably
heterosexual and based in the monogamous union of a man and a woman as husband and wife. In our times, the fires of sex and
sexuality are increasingly unbanked and uncooled. Similarly, Pitirim Sorokin, the founder of sociology at Harvard University,
pointed to the regulation of sexuality as the essential first mark of civilization. According to Sorokin, civilization is
possible only when marriage is normative and sexual conduct is censured outside of the marital relationship. Furthermore,
Sorokin traced the rise and fall of civilizations and concluded that the weakening of marriage was a first sign of civilizational
collapse.... We are living in the shadow of a great moral revolution that we commonly believe will have grave and devastating
human consequences.... I am unashamed to stand with you in the defense of marriage and family and a vision of human sexual
integrity."
The True Origin of Society: The [American]
Founders on the Family, by Scott E. Yenor “While the findings of social science and the teachings of religion lend support to the family, we turn
to the American Founders for a stronger, principled defense of traditional marriage and the family. The Founders understood
that the family, with the commitment of marriage needed to sustain it, is uniquely equipped to educate and prepare individuals
for the responsibilities of citizenship and is therefore critical to the success of the American experiment in self-government.”
To Fix the World, by Dr. Allan Carlson "Dr. Allan C. Carlson, International Secretary of the World Congress
of Families and President of the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society spoke on 'Family Structure, Educational Liberty
and Creative Genius' at the Rhodes Forum October 2-6…. 'Fundamentally, marriage and the family must be restored to
their place of dignity among the great values in human life, not to be trifled with.'"
“You
can now read, search, and compare 160 constitutions from around the world thanks to Constitute, a website launched by Google on Monday. The site, developed by the Comparative Constitutions Project, with seed funding by Google Ideas, has digitized
the constitutions of 160 countries, making them fully searchable.”
Fight terrorism with religious freedom, by Robert P. George "Wherever
violent religious extremist groups have held sway, be it central Somalia or elsewhere, they have penetrated every nook and
cranny of human endeavor, imposing their will on families and communities in horrific ways."
Gay Rights vs. Religious Rights: 7 Issues to Watch, by Sarah Pulliam Bailey “The
rights of religious groups or individuals that object to same-sex marriage continue to clash with those pursued by gay rights
advocates. Now, the fight that started at state ballot boxes and in courtrooms has moved to floral shops, bakeries and photo
studios.”
Law Professor Helen Alvare’s amicus brief in US Supreme Court, and related story: Marriage Has a Role in Raising Children, Reducing Poverty "As redefined
by Plaintiffs, marriage would merely become a reparation, a symbolic capstone, and a personal reward, not a gateway to adult
responsibilities, including childbearing, childrearing, and the inculcating of civic virtues in the next generation for the
benefit of the larger society.”
Religious Freedom Is About More Than Religion, by Robert P. George and Katrina Lantos Swett "Coercion
in the cause of belief, whether religious or secular, produces not genuine conviction, but pretense and inauthenticity. It
is therefore essential that religious freedom include the right to change one's beliefs and religious affiliation. It also
includes the right to witness to one's beliefs in public as well as private, and to act—while respecting the equal right
of others to do the same—on one's religiously inspired convictions in carrying out the duties of citizenship. Religious
liberty includes a heavy presumption against being coerced to act contrary to one's sense of religious duty."
"Too many members of the foreign policy establishment disagree with George Washington that religious conviction
is essential to 'the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity.' Too few members of that foreign policy elite
understand James Madison’s conviction that religious citizens and their communities are essential parts of civil society,
and thus important checks on the tendency of all governments to expand their power."
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