The World Peace Blessing U P F

The Significance of Marriage and Family for World Peace in the 21 st Century

The Need for Family Renewal

The family is the most important human institution. Without it we would not exist. Through it we transmit language, culture, ethics and core values.

The quality of character, and the quality of the love of the man and the woman, as husband and wife and as father and mother, makes them the pillars of the family.

 Children need to experience the love and security of parental care in order to develop into happy and mature individuals.  Without such an experience and example they lack the skills necessary to build their own family.

 A good experience in the family is the foundation of good character.  When children do not experience love in the home, they may seek fulfillment in other, self- destructive, anti-social behaviours.  Problems in the family are at the root of many social ills.

The family---marriage and parenthood--- is regarded as sacred by the world’s religions.

When the personal life is cultivated, the family will be regulated; when the family is regulated the state will be in order; when the state is in order, there will be peace throughout the world. The Great Learning When the family declines, ancient traditions are destroyed. With them are lost the spiritual foundation for life, and the family loses its sense of unity. Bhagavad-Gita 1.40

When a man honors his father and mother, God says, “I regard it as though I had dwelt among them and they had honored me. Talmud If a man does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for God’s church? I Timothy 3.5

Lord, give us joy in our wives and children, and make us models for the God-fearing. Qur’an My father, thank you for petting me; my mother, thank you for making me comfortable; thank you for robbing me with wisdom, which is more important than robbing me with clothes. Yoruba Nuptial Chant (Africa)

 From 1901 to 1970, divorce was up 700%  From 1970 to 1992, divorce was up 270%  Within 6 months: 50% have doubts, 30% report “big fights, 4% separated for at least one night  1970 to 1995: Married couples with children declined by a third. Single parent families nearly doubled

 Divorce : leading cause of child depression  75% of adolescent patients in drug abuse centers are from single-parent homes  63% of youth suicides are of single-parents  70% of teen pregnancies are from single-parent homes  75% of juveniles in jail are from single-parent homes

 In 1960, 243,000 children were living with a single parent who never married. By 1993 this figure had risen to 6,300,000  From , the suicide rate for girls rose 27%, boys rose 71% (10-14 years old)  In in 20 girls under 15 had sex. By 2001 it had risen to 1 in 3

 50% of all single mothers are living in poverty  The cost of teenage pregnancies in 1985 alone was $16.65 billion, paid through welfare benefits.  In 1990, more than one third of all murders were committed by someone under the age of 21  Since 1960, the juvenile crime rate is up 600%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Alcohol CigarettesMarijuana use Run from home Arrested School Suspension Attempted Suicide Virgin Non-virgin Virgin

 Sexual promiscuity, infidelity and pornography lead to sexually transmitted disease, divorce, and family breakdown  Family breakdown undermines social stability, good citizenship, educational development, and contributes to crime, youth alienation and suicide  To build a world of lasting peace, we need to restore true love, true parenthood and true family

“The most powerful means to destroy society is to destroy its one absolutely fundamental building block, the family - the only institution where most of us learn life’s most important lesson, unselfish love… The family is destroyed by destroying its foundation, stable marriage… Marriage is destroyed by loosening its glue, sexual fidelity… fidelity is destroyed by the sexual revolution.” Peter Kreeft Ecumenical Jihad: Ecumenism and the Culture War

 To deal with the root of problems we need to take a new look at the family and how it can be empowered to deal with the increasing freedoms and influences of the twenty first century world  To be successful, it will need to have the active participation of families, educational institutions, governments, religious bodies and the media  To build a world of lasting peace, the values of true love based on the family, should become the foundation for social relationships upon which all sectors of society develop

 Building a healthy family begins in the home, where children observe their parents relationship. The family is the primary place for children to learn about love.  As teenagers, children spend most of their waking hours in educational institutions and therefore a character based program on love, marriage and family should support good family values.  To support the development of healthy families, social policies should be evaluated based on whether they strengthen or weaken the family. The mass media and entertainment industry can play an important role in helping to strengthen the family.

 The focus should be on developing character, talents, capacities, and virtues, to become a good man, husband and father; or a good woman, wife and mother  Premarital sex is detrimental to our character development and to our capacity to establish a good marriage and family

 A partnership of man and woman  A sacred, exclusive and eternal commitment  Which forms the most fulfilling, secure and constructive base for: sexual/conjugal love creation of new life establishment of lineage raising/educating children

The family has the potential to manifest most fully, God’s ideal of true love.  Children’s love  Brotherly and sisterly love  Marital love  Parental love

 Affirms the sacred and social value of marriage and family  A public commitment to one universal human family bound together in solidarity and mutual respect, beyond the barriers of race, religion, nationality, and culture  Each of us has a ‘family-building’ responsibility – as a parent, a spouse, a sibling, a child – that contributes to the broader task of peace-building