Contact: Larry Jacobs, 815-964-5819, 513-515-3685 cell; Don Feder, 815-964-5819, 513-515-3685, both with World Congress of Families, media@worldcongress.org

MEDIA ADVISORY, Oct. 11 /Christian Newswire/ -- World Congress of Families Global Coordinator Allan Carlson cautioned Sweden against adopting same-sex marriage, saying it would "accelerate the precipitous decline of the Swedish family."

The Scandinavian nation, which has had civil partnerships for gays since 1995, is now considering homosexual marriage. A parliamentary committee studying the change is expected to issue its report early next year.

Opinion polls show only 46% of Swedes favor same-sex marriage, while 31% are opposed and the rest undecided.

Carlson commented: "Sweden already has the lowest marriage rate in the world, and leads the world in cohabitation. In the United States, 8% of coupled households are cohabiting. In Sweden, the figure is 28%."

"This failure to form families is having predictable consequences," Carlson observed. "While the nation's fertility rate (1.64 children per woman) is above some European nations, it's well below replacement level (2.1). Legalizing alternative marriage will further weaken the natural family."

While the nation's largest denomination, the Church of Sweden, favors the change, 10% of its priests have signed a petition urging parliament not to amend the marriage law.

In response to the proposed move, the Swedish Evangelical Alliance and it's project "Bevara äktenskapet" (Defend the marriage) is calling on all denominations and churches to celebrate the institution of marriage at church services on October 21.  Carlson was recently interviewed on gay marriage by the Swedish Christian newspaper, Varlden idag (The World Today). This article (in Swedish) is available online at: www.profam.org/Special/acc.vaid.0710.pdf.

For more information on the World Congress of Families, visit our website, www.worldcongress.org, which includes our monthly newsletter World Congress of Families News.  Subscribe to the email newsletter free online at: www.worldcongress.org/WCFUpdate/sub/wcf_update_sub.htm.

To sign an online petition to the Swedish Parliament go to www.gopetition.com/online/14688.html.

To schedule an interview with Allan Carlson, contact Larry Jacobs at 1-800-461-3113.

The World Congress of Families (WCF) is an international network of pro-family organizations, scholars, leaders and people of goodwill from more than 60  countries that seeks to restore the natural family as the fundamental social unit and the ‘seedbed’ of civil society.  The WCF was founded in 1997 by Allan Carlson and is a project of The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society in Rockford, Illinois (www.profam.org).  To date, there have been four World Congresses of Families – Prague (1997), Geneva (1999), Mexico City (2004) and Warsaw, Poland (2007).