THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 2017
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IOF Weekly — Register for WCF XI Congress in Budapest
President's Message
Dear Friend of the Family:
The World Congress of Families XI meeting in Budapest, Hungary is fast approaching on May 25 -28. I'm inviting you to register today to attend. This Congress is going to be a monumental gathering of the pro-family movement that you won't want to miss. Basic registration for the Congress is free, so please act today. Go to www.wcfbudapest.org for all the details.
This week's newsletter also features a couple of excellent articles we wish to bring to your attention. E. Douglas Clark, IOF's Director of UN and International Policy pens an important article on "family rights." And Rhodes Scholar Sherif Girgis writes an extraordinary article helping people understand the philosophical rationale for the conjugal view of marriage.
We also bring to your attention an important new video from the National Organization for Marriage urging President Trump to fulfill his campaign promise to people of faith by executing a critically important Executive Order on religious liberty. Please watch the videoand then share it with all your friends and contacts.
IOF is working hard to help lead the worldwide pro-family movement. Through world Congresses, Regional Conferences, programs to support scholars and researchers, including emerging leaders, and ongoing efforts to inform and equip activists, we are making a difference across the globe. We ask you to consider making a financial contribution to support IOF. Our work depends on the support of individuals and groups who understand the importance of affirming and defending the natural family as the fundamental unit of society.
God bless,
International Family News
Registration Open for WCF XI, The Budapest Family Summit, May 25-28, 2017
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The 2017 WCFXI Congress is dubbed The Budapest Family Summit. We will be gathering thousands of attendees to hear from dozens of prominent speakers, including scholars, researchers, political leaders, faith leaders and elected officials. Hungary's President, Viktor Orban, will address the gathering.
Nestled along the banks of the River Danube, Budapest is one of Europe's most picturesque places. It's a fitting locale for our Congress, which honors the immense importance of the natural family.
Basic registration to attend the Congress is free, so please register today. VIP Registration is available for a fee for those who wish to attend special events, dinners and have additional access.
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Family Rights: Inherent, Inalienable, and Foundational
By E. Douglas Clark, Director of UN and International Policy
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“Our very identity as human beings,” declared IOF’s Dr. Allan C. Carlson, “impels us toward family life.” One of the most formidable threats to family life was identified in 1977 at the annual conference of the Association of Family Conciliation Courts in Minnesota by Ted Bowman, then Coordinator at the Family and Children’s Service in Minneapolis. The “one issue that stands out above all others for concern relative to family life,” he observed, is the troubling trend to focus on “individual rights and self-expression” at the expense of the greater good of the family as a whole.
His words proved prophetic. Not many years later, law professor Richard Wilkins was pointing to the “curious new development” as the United Nations had begun concerning itself with social policy by focusing on individual rights at the expense of the family: “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.”
The dangerous trend continues today, seemingly oblivious to the reality that individual rights are inextricably linked to the rights of the family. As expressed in the Holy See’s Charter of the Rights of the Family, “The rights of the person, even though they are expressed as rights of the individual, have a fundamental social dimension which finds an innate and vital expression in the family..., a natural society [that] exists prior to the State or any other community, and possesses inherent rights which are inalienable.” Inherent, inalienable, andfoundational: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the family—the onlygroup acknowledged as having rights—as “the natural and fundamental group unit of society,” making it the very center of human rights.
How important is it to protect the rights of the family? The answer comes from a statement made by the U.S. delegate to the General Assembly at the 10th anniversary of the International Year of the Family: Because “the family is a universal and irreplaceable community, rooted in human nature and the basis for all societies at all times,” the “state’sforemost obligation is to respect, defend, and protect the family as an institution.” What level of protection should the state provide to the family? “The widest possible protection and assistance,” as U.N. member states have already covenanted to provide (International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 10.1).
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Urge President Trump to Sign Executive Order on Religious Liberty
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When he ran as a candidate, and now as President, Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to the American people that he would do everything in his power to protect and defend religious liberty. In recent months, people have been fired, sued, fined, put out of business and threatened with financial ruin simply for upholding biblical values on marriage, life and similar subjects. A pending draft Executive Order that would provide important legal protections to people of faith and nonprofit groups so that they can live out their faith without fear of government retaliation awaits President Trump's signature, but he has so far failed to act. Led by LGBT extremists, powerful forces are at work behind the scenes to scuttle the effort and, sadly, some White House staffers have been reportedly involved in convincing President Trump not to act. It's time that President Trump keep his promises to people of faith, a group that supported his election in overwhelming numbers and who are facing real harm at the hands of powerful forces who strongly oppose their religious liberty (and also oppose President Trump). Please watch the video and then urge President Trump to sign the pending Executive order on religious liberty.
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Natural Family News and Research
The Philosophy Behind the Conjugal View of Marriage
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Author, Rhodes Scholar and intellectual Sherif Gergis pens an extraordinarily insightful and informative essay on marriage for IOF's "The Natural Family" international journal of research and policy. He opens his article thusly: I want to begin with a general set of thoughts about why it is important to have a serious intellectual discussion about marriage, in particular in an environment where we share a common faith or a common set of assumptions and understandings about moral and political theory. It is very easy for people to think, “I know what I know by the scriptures or by my faith tradition or by my community, and I can just stop there.” There are several reasons for us not to stop there, however, as important and critical as those sources of knowledge are.
Read more → at The Natural Family: An International Journal of Research and Policy
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Quick News Links
Marriage and Family
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Upcoming Events
April 27-28 — Second Transatlantic Summit (Personhood, Family, Society, Global Challenges, Global Responses) at the EU Parliament in Brussels
politicalnetworkforvalues.org
October — African Regional Conference on the Family (in Lilongwe, Malawi) at the Capitol Sunshine Hotel
annmtave@yaqhoo.com
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