As administrator of the ninth World Congress of Families (WCF) to be held next fall in Salt Lake City, and as a lifelong Utah resident and Latter-day Saint, I appreciate the opportunity that Erika Munson's Nov. 2 op-ed provides to explain why Sutherland Institute is bringing the ninth World Congress of Families to Salt Lake City.
When my dad founded the Institute almost 20 years ago, one of the core principles was: "To live as free people, Utah law, policy and culture must cherish family as the fundamental unit of society." To this end, Sutherland has long worked on a variety of issues, from immigration to prison reform, with groups holding a diversity of viewpoints, always with these questions in mind: How do we strengthen families through public policy? How do we address challenges relating to the breakdown of the family? World Congress of Families IX has that same focus.
As the World Congress has done in the past, WCF IX will convene internationally recognized scholars, political leaders, world-class entertainment and family advocates to help organizations throughout the world learn, share ideas and collaborate on ways to strengthen the family.
Another essential part of this effort is bringing together diverse faiths that, despite doctrinal differences, unite to support the family – Evangelicals, Catholics, Mormons, Protestants, Jews and Muslims.
The World Congress of Families stands with millions across the globe who do amazing work on a wide range of critical issues affecting the family, including declining fertility, human trafficking, parental rights, euthanasia, marriage, adoption, pornography, drug and alcohol addictions, fatherlessness, divorce, religious freedom, sanctity of human life and so on.
Notably, past speakers at WCF events include The Hon. John Anderson, former Australian deputy prime minister; Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy (Holy See) and adviser to Pope Francis (Holy See); Sheri Dew, former second counselor in the LDS General Relief Society presidency; Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs, chief rabbi of the Inter-Provincial Rabbinate in Holland; the late President Lech Kaczynski, past president of Poland; Dr. Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King Jr.; Elder Russell M. Nelson, apostle of the LDS Church; Paige Patterson, past president of the Southern Baptist Convention; Jehan Sadat, former first lady of Egypt; Ellen Sauerbrey, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; and Brad Wilcox, associate professor of sociology, University of Virginia.
WCF believes the life of every person and all families should be treated with love and respect. Life is challenging. Families are the best source of support and love everyone needs to help them in life. The most rigorous and influential thinkers, from Aristotle to Robert George of Princeton University, affirm the sanctity of the family as the natural and ideal nurturing environment. Additionally, an objective reading of the body of social science research underscores that the health, education, safety and personal development of men, women and children are best achieved within the natural family.
In their zeal, opponents of the WCF often call for tolerance from those they disagree with even as they, ironically, resort to the encouragement of intolerance, harassment and threats as an acceptable tactic against WCF events. Misinformation, unfortunately, is also a common weapon.
For example, the WCF did not create the idea of the "natural family." This term finds its roots in the 1948 United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which reads, "The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State."
An oft-repeated deception, advanced by the Human Rights Campaign and repeated by Munson, deals with laws in foreign countries. No WCF representative has ever advocated for the criminalization of homosexual activity or mistreatment or imprisonment of homosexuals in any country. Nor did WCF managing director Larry Jacobs say what Munson falsely accused him of saying. Jacobs was, in fact, lamenting the decline of faith and family and the rise of secular atheism.
Munson's characterization of a Russian law was also inaccurate. That Russian law prohibits the advocacy of nontraditional sexual relations to minors, just as a Utah law prohibits the advocacy of homosexuality to schoolchildren. More than 100 organizations in 33 countries supported this Russian Child Protection law. The Russian law does not criminalize speech or allow for imprisonment as Munson and the HRC erroneously claim. If such a law were to pass, the WCF would not support it in Russia, or in any other country.
Like Munson, we embrace Elder Dallin H. Oaks' call for goodwill toward all and, in the spirit of authentic tolerance, we hope that those with views different from those of the WCF can respect in action, not just in word, our desire and right to meet to discuss ways to strengthen the family.
Stan Swim is administrator of the World Congress of Families IX to be held in Salt Lake City in the fall of 2015.