Contact: Don Feder, Communications Director, World Congress of Families, 508-405-1337, dfeder@worldcongress.org; The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society at 815-964-5819, media@worldcongress.org

ROCKFORD, Ill., Aug. 22, 2014 /Christian Newswire/ -- World Congress of Families Managing Director Larry Jacobs praised those leaders who signed an International Pro-Family Leadership Open Letter to the People of Australia in support of the August 30th  "Life, Family and Freedom Conference" in Melbourne.

"We are thankful and humbled by the support of the 80 leaders from Romania, Italy, the Czech Republic, Spain, Venezuela, the Philippines, Canada, France, South Africa, the Republic of Georgia, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Russia, Poland, Colombia, Jamaica, Trinidad, the Netherlands, Chile, Serbia, and the United States for standing with us against attacks on the Melbourne Conference and the international pro-family movement," Jacobs declared.

The petition notes that sexual radicals and extremists have launched a smear campaign alleging that to promote positive ideas regarding the natural family somehow "shames" others, including single-parent families, the divorced and homosexual couples. 

"That's absurd," Jacobs countered, "As a child raised in a loving home by divorced, single parents, I would never advocate for policies that would promote hate or shame mothers and fathers.  The real truth is that our natural family solutions to the social crisis help all parents and children by reducing poverty, improving education, maximizing mental and physical health, and saving lives.  A wealth of social science data demonstrates conclusively and unequivocally that children do best in married families with a mother and a father in the home.  To state that simple truth does not demonstrate a lack of compassions for those in different circumstances.  Just as saying that marriage is a social good doesn't 'stigmatize' or 'shame' the unmarried."

The Petition/Open Letter notes: "The natural-family philosophy was set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, which observes that 'men and women of full age… have the right to marry and found a family' and that the family is 'the natural and fundamental group unit of society' and, as such, is 'entitled to protection by society and the state.' This language is repeated in the constitutions of more than 100 nations around the world."

Moreover: "For the past 3,000 years, in every culture, this definition of the family (a man and women united by faith and tradition, raising their children in a loving environment) has been considered beyond dispute. Only in the past few decades have competing 'models' of the family been offered as the new norm.  The natural family is also affirmed by every major religion."

Jacobs said: "Attacks on proponents of the natural family and marriage are part of a cynical campaign by sexual radicals to avoid an honest discussion by labeling those who disagree with them 'hateful.'"

Jacobs concluded: "If you want to see 'hate' in action, look at efforts to deconstruct human dignity, re-define marriage, and marginalize the natural family which, if successful, will result in untold human suffering especially for children."

In the words of Winston Churchill: "It is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues, of human society are created, strengthened and maintained."

Larry Jacobs will be a speaker at the Melbourne conference, along with His Eminence Cardinal Raymond Burke who is the Vatican's Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.  The conference is organized by the Australian group Endeavour Forum and has been designated a World Congress of Families Regional Event. 

Click here: (www.endeavourforum.org.au/newsletter/153/wcf-melbourne.html) for the conference program and a complete list of speakers.

Click here:  (worldcongress.org/files/9914/0873/5451/Melbourne_Pro-Family_Conference_Leadership_Petition_2014.pdf) for the International Pro-Family Leadership Open Letter to the People of Australia, including a list of signers and their affiliations.

To schedule an interview with Larry Jacobs, contact World Congress of Families Communications Director Don Feder at 508-405-1337 or dfeder@rcn.com or The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society at 815-964-5819, media@worldcongress.org.