When the term subversive is mentioned people usually imagine a scene out of some spy-thriller blockbuster, but subversive tactics are far from exclusive to double-agents, danger, and deceit. In fact, the latest international efforts against the family are nothing less than blockbuster-worthy subversion. Subversion can come in many forms but it is in general an action which seeks to cause the downfall, ruin, or destruction of an entity, organization, or belief -in short, to corrupt.
In connection to the upcoming International Year of Youth, the Mexican World Conference on Youth (WCY) will be held this month in Leon, Mexico. This conference, while not officially sanctioned by the United Nations (UN), is working alongside UN agencies which are sympathetic to their efforts to provide rights to youth which serve to completely undermine many of the basic foundations of the family for which UFI fights. The draft declaration to be considered at the conference calls for “a comprehensive development of young people that includes: a humanist education to face ethical challenges, human rights, solidarity, education for peace and harmonious coexistence, care of the environment, sexuality education…” The draft also specifically includes guarantees for youth “taking into account diverse…gender contexts.” Much of what this conference threatens to support is in direct conflict with rights of parents and children as outlined by international documents such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). In fact, the draft declaration seeks to undermine the rights of parents entirely by abstaining from any reference to “parents” or “child.”
As the conference coordinators seek to present the WCY as a multilateral convention with wide-spread international consensus, their claims couldn’t be farther from the truth. The intention of the conference is to mislead the United Nations General Assembly after their declaration is produced and endorsed and then walk it in the backdoor. The conference seeks to gain the support of the General Assembly by asserting that their document is representative of international opinions but conveniently fails to mention that not a single pro-family organization was invited, let alone a participatory member of the committee that drafted such a declaration. Subversive? We think so.
But what is the threat of this declaration to UFI and to the family? Outside of the obvious problems with endorsing sexual promiscuity as a social norm, and encouraging young girls to seek “safe” abortions as a means of contraceptive, the idea of implementing all these programs under the auspices of secular humanism is especially worrisome.
Secular humanism is a way of thinking about the world that is entirely non-religious. It approaches all aspects of life as being understandable through reason, ethics, and justice and completely rejects any reference to or existence of the supernatural or religious, especially in regard to morality. Secular Humanism specifically asserts that human beings are capable of making moral decisions without any reference to a higher truth. The tenets of such belief hinge upon the explicit rejection of the idea of faith and urges all to test and question all ideologies and traditions and only rely upon what can be reasonably evidenced via the scientific method. It also encourages ethics as a completely individual affair, rejecting the idea of any higher set of morals which govern the behavior of individuals. This philosophy encourages individuals to find principles for ethical conduct based upon what they individually deem as viable.
Through this way of thinking, the WCY and its proponents, including many agencies of the United Nations, work to undermine the acceptability of individuals choosing to follow their religious beliefs, or worse yet, to speak openly in favor of such beliefs. This is especially true in regard to the issues of sexual education, sexuality and gender, and abortion. If all nations of the world were to fall victim to the tactics of the WCY and its supporters, the effects of signing tenets of secular humanism into international law would be to throw open wide the door to leftist ideologies such as extreme environmentalism and unrestrained “sexual rights” while pushing religion out of the dialogue and out the public square.
UFI has been fighting against such subversive actions in order to ensure the rights of parents, the sanctity of marriage, and the sanctity of life. Through UFI’s work at the United Nations and across the globe, the efforts of such organizations can be thwarted. We expect that the upcoming International Year of Youth will be packed full of sordid tricks on the part of the anti-family cabal to push:
* sexual rights for youth with the right to diverse sexual orientation and sexual experiences,
* the right to comprehensive sexual education outside of control of parents,
* sexual and reproductive health rights which includes access to abortion
* to remove parental authority and control from the lives of youth,
* and to minimize the impact and strength of religion around the world.
UFI will keep you updated as the months progress. To learn more about UFI’s fight against attempts to make Secular Humanism the foundation of education and to learn how you can help, please visit our website at www.unitedfamilies.org.
United Families International would like to acknowledge and thank Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-Fam) for their adept analysis and reporting on many of the details discussed in this alert.