Why is the left so agitated over World Congress of Families IV (Warsaw, May 11-13)? Why has the Warsaw Congress become a target of anti-family forces?
In a recent commentary in The Nation (“Europeans Do It Better” by Katha Pollitt), WCF International Secretary Allan Carlson was described as a “right-wing ‘family-values’ ideologue.” The article goes on to charge that World Congress of Families “inveighs against abortion, same-sex marriage and secularism and promotes large ‘natural families’ and ‘religious orthodoxy’” – largely accurate, except for the pejoratives.
In a March 15th interview published at secularhumanism.org, Michelle Goldberg (author of “Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism”) observed: “There’s also been an attempt to create an International Religious Right
(through) the World Congress of Families, which is a group that brings together
fundamentalists of different religions to form a common front against secularism and liberalism.”
The Sex Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) says: “Groups
(opposed to its agenda) continue to claim that marriage benefits individuals, children and society
(as if this was even open to debate)… Arguably the most prominent international meeting of opposition forces is the World Congress of Families, held in 1997, 1999 and 2004.”
Feminists, militant secularists and the vanguard of the sexual revolution agree that the World Congress of Families is a threat to their agenda.
They worry about WCF following their example by networking with allies in Europe and the Third World and working together for common goals.
At the Warsaw Congress (May 11-13) the international pro-family movement will come of age.
More than 3,500 from over 70 countries are expected to attend WCF IV. We will work together to protect human life (from conception to natural death), preserve traditional marriage, strengthen the natural family and oppose threats thereto (including pornography, Hollywood and anti-family bureaucrats).
Poland’s pro-family president, Lech Kaczynski, is serving as honorary patron of the Congress and will make opening remarks.
For more information on World Congress of Families IV, go to
www.worldcongress.org. To schedule an interview with Allan Carlson, contact Larry Jacobs at 1-800-461-3113.
The World Congress of Families (WCF) is an international network of pro-family organizations, scholars, and leaders that seeks to restore the natural family as the fundamental social unit and the ‘seedbed’ of civil society. The WCF (with its headquarters in Rockford, IL) was founded by Allan Carlson, president of The Howard Center, in 1997. To date, there have been three World Congresses of Families – Prague (1997), Geneva (1999) and Mexico City (2004). WCF IV will be in Warsaw, Poland, May 11-13, 2007.