Sauerbrey to Speak at Questioned Conference

Read "THE FOURTH WORLD CONGRESS ON FAMILIES" by J. Goodrich on The American Prospect Online Edition.

The 4th World Congress on Families (organized by the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society in Warsaw, 11-13 May) is perhaps not what you might think. It defines its purpose as follows:

We assemble in this World Congress, from many national, ethnic, cultural, social and religious communities, to affirm that the natural human family is established by the Creator and essential to good society. We address ourselves to all people of good will who, with the majority of the world's people, value the natural family. Ideologies of statism, individualism and sexual revolution, today challenge the family's very legitimacy as an institution. Associated with this challenge are the problems of divorce, devaluation of parenting, declining family time, morally relativistic public education, confusions over sexual identity, promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases, abortion, poverty, human trafficking, violence against women, child abuse, isolation of the elderly, excessive taxation and below-replacement fertility. To defend the family and to guide public policy and cultural norms, this Declaration asserts principles that respect and uphold the vital roles that the family plays in society.

Ellen R. Sauerbrey, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, is scheduled to speak at the meeting. Sauerbrey is a very conservative political appointee, who failed as a candidate for governor of Maryland.

The European Parliamentary Working Group on Separation of Religion and Politics has urged her to withdraw from participating in the event, stating:

The United States rightly prides itself on supporting and spreading religious tolerance, pluralism and inclusion. This conference, and many who will be attending, reject that ethos outright. We have no problem with people expressing beliefs and convictions that we do not share. In a free society, that is right and just. However, we do object when foreign government officials lend support to such views, especially when platforms are used to denigrate and attack those with whom they disagree.