November 15, 1999
"Interview with Prof. Richard Wilkins at World Family Congress II-Geneva
Mary Mostert: We are interviewing Richard Wilkins who is one of the co-conveners of the World Congress of Families II, in Geneva, Switzerland. Richard is a professor of law at J. Reuben Clark Law School. Mr. Wilkins, tell us how you got involved in this. We know the family is in trouble. We'd like to know why you feel this has happened to the entire world and what you feel the World Congress of Families II is going to be able to do to change it.
Richard Wilkins: Well, Mary, about three years ago I had a life changing experience because I happened to go for the first time to a UN Conference and I saw first hand that there really is an organized effort to change some very fundamental ideas about the family to redefine the very concept of marriage, to diminish parental control of the education and upbringing of children, and to really diminish or eliminate the influence of religion on private life.
I'd heard some of this before but I had never seen it up close. When you are an academic sitting in your ivory tower you think well that's the realm of the nut-cakes and the fruit-cakes who are really not quite in touch with reality.
I went to the conference and I saw that some of those nut-cakes and fruit-cakes were right to be worried. This was the United Nations' Habitat II Conference in Istanbul. Indeed, what had happened is that over the last half of this century there has developed a remarkable coalition or a preponderance of views in academia that marriage is harmful to women, that it subjugates women; that motherhood is somehow a secondary role; that children are a net burden on society because they drain the resources; that children subjugate women and the way to free women and make them equal to men is to free them from bondage of children. Also, there are really well-organized efforts that religious practices perpetuate harmful traditional stereotypes.
When I saw that up close, it frightened me and it energized me was the prospect of what happened at Instanbul, because what I saw happening in Instanbul was people from all over the world, from various faiths, from various cultures coming together and saying with real emphasis that they really still believed in their families; that they believed in their traditional cultures; that they believed in the fundamental values that their grandmothers had taught them.
I guess it made this cynical Westerner sit up and take notice. First, that there was a problem and that, second, and maybe more importantly, that there was something that we could really do about it.
Over the last three years I have learned that there is REAL common ground when it comes to the family. We have produced at this Congress a very significant piece of international research conducted by Wirthlin International which shows striking uniformity throughout the world, in all five major regions of the world, on what constitutes marriage; on the importance of marriage; on the fact that society is really best ordered around the family - not the individual, not government, not even church - but the FAMILY is the primary organization, the fundamental unit of society.
We say surprising unanimity that children - even in countries where we have terribly poor conditions - are viewed as part of the so lution, not as part of the problem.
What we have done with this World Congress is to bring together for the first time leaders from Christian religions, from Jewish denominations, from Muslim denominations. We don't have quite as heavy a representation from some of the non-theisitic religions. We only have one Hindu here for example, but it is a beginning. Even with this beginning we have demonstrated that there is indeed a common perception of the family and furthermore that there is the political will to do something to protect that common perception.
Mary Mostert: I seems to me that there is a change in direction from the United Nations meetings, which appear to be built around a legalistic form of government solutions and we are now moving in this World Congress of Families to a family as the solution. Would you agree with that?
Richard Wilkins: I think that is part of the message that we are trying to put across that indeed the family and informal mechanisms are the BEST way to deal with many social problems that we face. The Family is the fundamental safety net, the social security safety net for the entire world, even in industrialized nations in Europe and the United States.
If our families totally cease to function our governments would be bankrupt overnight. Governments simply cannot do ANYWHERE in the World what families do. I think more and more we are beginning to see recognition of that fact, not only in academic research, but perhaps in approaches of government to solutions to the problems.
Mary Mostert: Richard, is there anything else you would like to share with us?
Richard Wilkins: Just, don't give up! Don't be discouraged! Oftentimes I think it's hard for people who are involved in family and life issues, because they feel so overwhelmed! They feel so outgunned. But, the message of the Wirthlin Study is: Don't give up! Most of the world agrees and most of the world understands the importance of the family and understands the importance of life; understands the importance of religious values.
The world understands this. It has just been ignored.
So don't be discouraged, because we can raise the level of consciousness. And, once we raise the level of consciousness, we can turn this tide.
Mary Mostert: I totally agree with that. And I think that in changing it that one of the major areas of change is going to happen is a change that will take place in the media itself as it changes increasingly to an electronic direction with the Internet and e-mail.
Richard Wilkins: It is certainly more democratic! The Internet is going to greatly diminish the power of monolithic media centers like CNN!
Mary Mostert: Yes. With the Internet and e-mail, everybody who has a computer and a modem is part of the media.
Richard Wilkins: That's been one of the biggest boons and curses in my life recently! There was no way, five or six years, ago I could communicate with two to three hundred people a day! But as we have worked on this Congress the past few months, there have been some days where I have literally had personal communication with over three hundred people in the course of a day. And that could not have happened without the Internet.
Mary Mostert: If someone like you communicates with those three hundred people, and each of them communicates with ten people each - look at the mathematics of that...and that's what is happening...
Richard Wilkins: (Laugh) That IS what is happening!
Mary Mostert: Richard, thank you very much for your time.
Richard Wilkins: Thank you, Mary.