Contact: Don Feder, Communications Director, 508-405-1337, dfeder@rcn.com; Judy Hodge, 815-964-5819, media@worldcongress.org; both with World Congress of Families

ROCKFORD, Ill., April 4, 2012 /Standard Newswire/ -- World Congress of Families Managing Director Larry Jacobs noted: "Many faith communities will be represented at World Congress of Families VI in Madrid, May 25-27, 2012.  We are greatly encouraged by the number of prominent religious leaders who will be coming together in Spain to support the natural family."

The participation by religious leaders at WCF VI Madrid highlights the religious diversity found in the international pro-family movement.

Speakers at WCF VI will include: Rabbi Moshe Bendahan (Chief Rabbi of Spain), Cardinal Ennio Antonelli (President of the Pontifical Council for the Family), Paige Patterson (President, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, former President of the Southern Baptist Convention), Erich W. Kopischke (Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), Richard Land (President, Ethics and Religious Commission of the SBC), Father Jaroslaw Szymczak (Polish Family Institute), Archpriest Dimitry Smirnof (Moscow Patriarchate, Department for Relations with the Armed Forces, Russian Orthodox Church), and Bishop Juan Antonio Reig Pia (Bishop of Alcala de Henares, Madrid Archdiocese).

Jacobs emphasized that the World Congress of Families is not an "ecumenical" effort to blur doctrinal lines. "Rather, it is an alliance of orthodox believers, based on their commitment to the natural family."

Jacobs observed: "We all believe that the natural family is the cornerstone of civilization and incubator of civic virtues. Moreover, we're all concerned about the persecution of believers by a militant secularism, especially in the Western world."

Topics at World Congress of Families VI will include: How Hate Speech Laws and Anti-Discrimination Measures Lead to the Marginalization of Believers, Fighting for Freedom to Educate, and Politics without God.  WCF VI will also cover such timely topics as abortion, contraception, the social cost of pornography, pre-marital abstinence and purity, and authentic women and rediscovering the role of homemaking.

Jacobs added: "Religion should be celebrated, not feared.  Faith is the ally of democracy, social progress and the natural family.  As our president and founder Allan Carlson, says, 'Faith and family are two sides of the same coin.'"

World Congress of Families VI will be held May 25-27, 2012, in Madrid, Spain, at the Palacio de Congresos, and is the world's largest gathering of pro-family leaders, scholars and activists.   The theme for the 2012 World Congress is "Marriage and Family: The Future of Society." Those interested in attending World Congress of Families VI can register online at www.worldcongress.es (in euros) and www.worldcongress.org (in dollars). 

WCF VI  is organized by HazteOir.org (the local host committee)  and The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society.   Co-conveners for WCF VI in Madrid include Alliance Defense Fund, Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute and Focus on the Family.  World Congress of Families is also supported annually by our 35 partners, in 11 countries.  Click here for a complete list of WCF Partners.

For more information on World Congress of Families go to www.worldcongress.org.  To schedule an interview with Larry Jacobs, contact Communications Director Don Feder at 508-405-1337, dfeder@rcn.com or Judy Hodge 815-964-5819, media@worldcongress.org.

The World Congress of Families (WCF) is an international network of pro-family organizations, scholars, leaders and inter-faith people of goodwill from more than 80  countries that seek to restore the natural family as the fundamental social unit and the 'seedbed' of civil society (as found in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948).  The WCF was founded in 1997 by Allan Carlson and is a project of The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society in Rockford, Illinois.  To date, there have been five World Congresses of Families -- Prague (1997), Geneva (1999), Mexico City (2004), Warsaw, Poland (2007) and Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2009). 

World Congress of Families VI will be held in Madrid, Spain in May 25-27, 2012.