World Family Declaration: Paragraphs
Dive into the truths of The World Family Declaration. Each photograph represents a paragraph of the Declaration. As you hover over the picture, you can read each paragraph. If you choose to click on "Learn More," you will be taken to a page where you can discover scriptures, spoken words and science that have a relation to that paragraph.
PARAGRAPH 1
We the people of many lands and cultures reaffirm the truth enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and echoed in international treaties and many of our national constitutions, that “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.” Hence the family exists prior to the state and possesses inherent dignity and rights which states are morally bound to respect and protect.
PARAGRAPH 5
Recognizing that, as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance,” and, as stated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, every child should, “wherever possible, grow up in the care and under the responsibility of his [or her] parents,” we declare that a functional, nurturing family founded on marriage between a man and a woman provides the surest safeguard of the special care and assistance to which children are entitled.
PARAGRAPH 7
We call for a culture that honors and enables faithful, fulfilling, and resilient marriages; that recognizes and protects the uniquely valuable contributions of both mothers and fathers to the lives of their children; and that encourages the values and vision necessary for young people to look forward to and prepare for successful marriage and parenting.
PARAGRAPH 2
We declare that the family, a universal community based on the marital union of a man and a woman, is the bedrock of society, the strength of our nations, and the hope of humanity. As the ultimate foundation of every civilization known to history, the family is the proven bulwark of liberty and the key to development, prosperity, and peace.
PARAGRAPH 4
Children are our future, and we gratefully acknowledge the selfless service rendered by parents, grandparents, guardians, and other caregivers who provide opportunities, as prescribed in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, for children “to develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and socially in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity.”
PARAGRAPH 6
Gravely concerned by the escalating calamities afflicting children and society due to the rapid decline of marriage and family, we recall the sobering observation that “throughout history, nations have been able to survive a multiplicity of disasters— invasions, famines, earthquakes, epidemics, depressions— but they have never been able to survive the disintegration of the family.” We affirm the ancient wisdom that the world cannot be put in order without first putting in order the family.