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Pro-family forces converge in Poland

The largest international pro-family gathering in the world kicks off tomorrow in Poland, a country that is trying to maintain its commitment to traditional family values in the face of pressure from fellow European Union countries. World Congress of Families IV will address falling birth rates and a decreasing emphasis on marriage in much of the developed world.



More than 3,000 delegates from over 60 nations are expected to attend the three-day conference here in the Polish capital. The organizations, scholars, and leaders comprising the World Congress of Families (WCF) seek to restore the natural family as the fundamental social unit of civil society. Allan Carlson, WCF founder and international secretary, says the conference in Warsaw will focus on developing strategies to protect and strengthen the natural family. Specifically, it will confront the pressing problem of "demographic winter" -- or falling birthrates well below replacement level.

Carlson says there is currently a global conflict of worldviews. "If Europe succumbs to the modern, post-family, secular worldview completely, it's like losing a great ally in a global contest," he shares. "The ramifications will be direct and indirect for the United States, so we need to be there -- we need to support pro-family movements and people and governments that exist in Europe right now."

According to the WCF, the European family is "disappearing." It notes that nine of the ten nations with the lowest birthrates worldwide are in Europe. The only European nation with a replacement-level birthrate is the Muslim nation of Albania.

World Congress of Families IV continues through Sunday, May 13. The opening address at the event will be given by Polish President Lech Kaczynski who, when he was mayor of Warsaw, banned homosexual rights parades. "[That] was quite a controversial thing at the time," notes Carlson. Kaczynski, honorary patron of WCF IV, noted recently that if the homosexual "approach to sexual life were to be promoted on a grand scale, the human race would disappear."

The WCF founder does not seem worried that the Warsaw event may draw protests from homosexual activists. "Some may come," Carlson states. "We do have a security plan in place to deal with that."

Several EU member nations recently criticized Poland over proposed legislation that would ban discussion of homosexuality from its public schools.