THE WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES V AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLAN
The organizers of the World Congress of Families (WCF) chose to hold the fifth Congress in the Netherlands, because it is the heart of liberal Europe.It was in this country that many of the destructive anti-family policies of today first became socially and legally acceptable.For example, thirty years ago, the Netherlands shocked the world with its policies on physician assisted suicide, unrestricted abortions, legal non-medical use of drugs, wide open prostitution, and finally, same-sex marriage (1994).If Europe has lost its soul, one can look to the Netherlands for showing the way.
It is interesting, that in 2007, when the WCF IV was held in Warsaw, the European left mocked the Congress for holding its meeting in such a socially conservative country.However, when it was announced that the fifth Congress was to be held in the heart of liberal Europe, the European left was outraged that the Congress was daring to trespass on its territory
The Autonomous Feminist Action (AFA) organization in Amsterdam posted on its website, in July, a menacing drawing of a man and a woman with a child and a cross between them, with a dotted line going through the necks of the couple and a pair of scissors ready to cut off their heads.It warned that the Congress was a group of “fundamentalistic [sic] Christians” who “will plead for going back to Christian traditions of traditional relationship between man and woman.”The AFA described WCF as anti-feminist, anti-abortion, homophobic and opposed to divorce.It was joined in its protest by homosexual groups, who found it intolerable that the Netherlands would be the host of an organization promoting the natural family of mother, father and children.
On July 30th, the Amsterdam offices of EuroCongress were vandalized and damaged.EuroCongress is the professional conference organizer for World Congress of Families V – Amsterdam, August 10-12, at the RAI Centre.
These vandals defaced and damaged the outside of the EuroCongress building by smearing paint, and writing various obscenities and anti-Christian slogans.How very illiberal and intolerant of a supposedly, liberal, tolerant nation!The purpose of these threats was, as usual, to intimidate people, in order to keep them away from the Congress.
On the morning of the first day of the Congress, an uninspiring motley group of just ten, bedraggled picketers stood outside the Convention Centre for an hour (see photograph).They then disappeared and never showed up again.As usual, it’s the intimidation tactic that prevails: all these agitators accomplished was to expose themselves as bereft of common sense.
Many Countries Represented at WCF V
Representatives from over 61 countries attended the WCF V.Speakers included scholars and leaders with Catholic, Judaic, Islamic, Protestant and secular backgrounds.Speakers, such as the Chief Rabbi of the Netherlands, the President of the Pakistan Family Forum, the Archbishop of Utrecht, the former President of the US Southern Baptist Convention and the Executive Director of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia represent a sample of the religious diversity at the Congress.In fact, many WCF speakers do not agree on specific religious practices, but they do share values and principles regarding family, marriage and children as found in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948.
The knowledgeable speakers from around the world provided an exciting and varied program.They discussed parental rights, home-schooling, preserving marriage, declining birth rates, internet pornography, combating trafficking in women and children, defending the family at the United Nations and other international forums, and supporting families in the developing world, among other timely issues confronting the family.
The next WCF (the sixth!) is to take place in May 2011.The Selection Committee for the Congress will be meeting in late November to review the applications from countries wishing to host the next Congress.
