FOR ALL FAMILIES--A PETITION THAT NEEDS TO BE SIGNED

Editor's Note: I received this via e-mail, and it had been forwarded several times, so I do not know who the author is. However, the subject matter is of such vital importance, I have included it here with little editing.

One month ago today I was in Hawaii. You may say, "Wow, a vacation! How fun." Well, it WAS fun, but I was actually there on business. It was the National Convention for an organization called American Mothers, Inc. I serve on the National Board and was therefore required to attend the convention. While there, our keynote speaker was a man by the name of Richard Wilkins, who is a Law Professor at Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah. Keep in mind, this was a gathering of men and women from across the United States, representing many religions & cultures. Richard Wilkins spoke shortly after each state Mother-of-the-Year had given her speech. As he came to the pulpit, he was visibly emotional, and he expressed his gratitude to those outstanding mothers for the tender things they had shared about mothering and families. He then surprised us all by saying, "In our world today, it takes great courage to stand and boldly speak out for families. Do you realize that in many audiences you would have been stoned for saying such things. I know that to be true, because I have addressed such audiences." He then proceeded to share information that alarmed me and inspired me.

To help you follow this abbreviated story, I want to share some background information which was new to me, and perhaps will be helpful to you. During the past decade the UNITED NATIONS has assumed a major new role, that of international lawmaker. However, as an international lawmaker, the input they have been receiving as they create these laws has been largely HOSTILE TO the TRADITIONAL FAMILY and religion. As a result of their lop-sided view, due to their limited input, there are some serious threats to family stability. In June 1996 there was a UN Conference in Istanbul, Turkey. The conference was known as Habitat II. There would be 25,000 participants from across the earth. Today I will be spending most of my time informing you about events that transpired at this conference.

The Habitat II conference was the culmination of a series of 5 conferences designed to develop a "blueprint for international laws for the coming century". Now you understand, these laws would set a precedent and would directly affect the laws made in individual countries of the world. Among those 25,000 participants were many governmental officials, along with many NGOs. NGOs are non-governmental organizations. Among the NGOs who were planning on attending was an organization called United Families International and American Mother, Inc. Leaders of these organizations became alarmed when they realized how FEW participants at the conference REPRESENTED TRADITIONAL FAMILY VALUES, whereas the opposing side had a powerful, well-funded, well-oiled lobbying machine. Foremost among those fighting against the traditional family and religion was an NGO called the Women's Caucus, a US feminist organization headed by Bella Abzug.

In the past 4 conferences, these women had literally DOMINATED the conferences, with their twisted ideology. As one scholar put it, these women have "marginalized parents, ignored the family, denigrated cultural and religious values, and enshrined reproductive and sexual health." Because of their efforts at the previous 4 conferences, the women's caucus had been extremely influential in the language of the UN document which had already been drafted. At this 5th and final conference, that UN draft would be finalized and adopted, making it international law. Thus far, the drafted document included language in support of same-sex marriages and abortion on demand. Realizing the lack of support for traditional families, leaders of the United Families International and American Mothers, Inc. thought of Richard Wilkins. Richard had been serving as a Bishop in Provo, was a well-respected professor of law at BYU, and had been very active in fighting for family-values in Utah. They asked (begged) him to accompany them to Istanbul for the Habitat II conference. Richard told of his desire to say no--he was weary. He had worked his heart out and had continually lost family-value battles here in Utah. He said, "I thought it was useless. It was like slogging through molasses. I tried everything in the world to back out." But because of the insistence of the promptings of the Spirit, he agreed to go.

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