The Deputy Minister of Social Development, Bongi Ntuli launched the ‘Green Paper on Families’ for public engagement and comment yesterday (May 15) to coincide with International Family Day.
“The Green Paper emphasises the need to build strong families that protect the most vulnerable members of society. It was approved by Cabinet last year with the aim of shifting the focus of government services from not only individuals but to the needs of family members.”
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The ‘National Family Policy’ presents the Christian Church in SA with unprecedented opportunities to impact and influence government policy that directly relate to marriage and family issues.
I strongly urge the various Christian denominations and independent Churches to establish think tanks to carefully read through the Green Paper and formulate proposals to submit to government.
Besides making policy proposals, the Christian Church can partner with government to help strengthen and restore marriages and families. Parenting advice is also a great need in SA.
There is a proposal to remove the ‘sexual orientation’ clause in the Constitution. This clause in the Bill of Rights serves only to provide homosexuals the power to demand special rights.
Homosexuals are protected as human beings in the Constitution like every other citizen. The sexual orientation clause provides special protections and privileges for their sexual preference and more importantly, provides legal sanction to penalise anyone who disagrees with their lifestyle.
A petition doing the rounds hysterically claims “The removal of the sexual orientation term will mean SA LGBTI citizens will face rampant homophobic discrimination and in many cases homophobic hate crimes with no recourse, the task team on “corrective rape” will be null and void and the country’s strengthening LGBTI community will have to go into hiding.”
Homosexual activists frequently resort to scare-mongering to advance their radical agenda. They claim homosexual citizens will be left vulnerable and violent attacks like rape will increase. This is untrue. Rape and violent assaults are rampant in SA and effect all citizens equally.
62 000 rapes were reported in 2011. A tiny fraction of these crimes were against homosexuals.
At the Film & Publication Seminar in Cape Town on May 14, Home Affairs Deputy Minister, Fatima Chohan said, “government wants to establish independent regulatory agencies to regulate the media but there is not enough support from religious bodies and institutions.”
She was addressing an issue I raised about self-regulating bodies like the Broadcasting Complaints Commission and the Advertising Standards Authority who make it difficult for the public to challenge the media – mainly because these bodies share the liberal ideology of the media.
Porn on TV will persist because the media are out of sync with the values of most SA citizens.
What Ms Chohan and other government officials are saying, is that the Christian Church is not speaking out consistently enough or loudly enough to advance its values in society.
Homosexual activists, porn merchants, corrupt and greedy corporations, pro-prostitution and other anti-family groups are all significantly more successful at advancing their agendas in society.
The Green Paper on Families is a great opportunity for the Body of Christ to fight for the values that protect and strengthen family life. The Church can also use the opportunity to highlight behaviours that are destructive to the family. Please speak to your Church about participating.
The family is critical to the success of society. Behaviours that harm it must be eradicated!
