A Sacred Bond
That Can Never Be Replaced
I believe that the family is the foundation of a healthy society and that the loving union of a mother and father provides an important environment for raising children. God created men and women with unique and complementary gifts, and I believe those differences have a meaningful purpose in marriage, parenthood, and the upbringing of future generations. I believe that every child deserves, whenever possible, the love, guidance, protection, and presence of both their natural mother and father. Mothers and fathers each bring something valuable to a child’s life, and I believe children benefit from having strong, loving examples of both manhood and womanhood as they grow and develop.
I also recognize that life does not always unfold as intended. Death, abandonment, divorce, infertility, and other circumstances can prevent children from being raised by both biological parents. I believe children in these situations deserve every opportunity to experience the love, stability, and guidance of caring adults, including positive male and female role models who can help nurture and support them. I uphold the traditional Christian understanding of the nuclear family and believe society should encourage strong marriages, responsible motherhood and fatherhood, and the preservation of family relationships whenever it is safe and possible to do so. While I respect the dignity of individuals in different family arrangements, I do not believe that all family structures are identical or that the importance of mothers and fathers should be dismissed in discussions about children’s needs.
I oppose organizations, policies, and ideological movements that I believe deliberately weaken parental rights, undermine marriage, diminish the importance of biological parenthood, or disregard the natural bonds between children and their mothers and fathers. I believe institutions that influence family life should be held accountable and that policies which undermine the family should be challenged and replaced through lawful means with approaches that respect parental responsibility, children’s well-being, and the principles of natural law. Above all, I believe that children are not possessions, political statements, or instruments of social experimentation. They are gifts from God, deserving of love, stability, protection, and the opportunity to develop meaningful relationships with the people who brought them into the world, whenever those relationships are safe and possible.
“Honor your father and your mother.” — Exodus 20:12