Dear Editor,
Many parts of the world seem to be going haywire, and in Belize we are facing severe challenges that we need to handle correctly so as not to undermine our future prospects. Is it possible for growth and development to take place if the very building blocks of our society become distorted and fragmented?

We need to ask this question because a radical and twisted foreign gender ideology, which strikes at the heart of what is known and understood about the human person and the human family, has been steadily infiltrating our domestic institutions and making inroads at the highest level of government policy-making. Before going any further down this road, we should take stock of what is known about the critical role played by family culture and traditions in national development.

A comprehensive study of family structure in nearly all civilizations throughout the course of recorded history was done some years ago, and the valuable insights from this were documented in the book, Family and Civilization, by Carle Zimmerman. He and his team of researchers identified three distinct types of families in this monumental work, and we should examine these.

One of the key findings was that a certain family type that they called “Trustee” was the foundation stone for the development of all the great civilizations. The members of such families viewed it as a sacred and immortal trust and acted to protect the name, rights and position of the family they were born into. Each member felt obligated to enhance and bequeath this to future generations.

Religion played a central role, and so they viewed marriage as a sacred covenant and children as blessings. Fathers were accorded high honor, leading their families in both worship and daily decision- making. For “Trustee” families, anything that led to the breakdown of the marriage covenant was looked upon as a punishable crime.

Zimmerman’s team also examined a second type of family that they named “Domestic”, the members of which were more individualistic, seeing their family not as a sacred trust, but more as an economic unit anchored in the marriage of the husband and wife and the children they produced. Fathers headed the family economic unit and children played a supporting role, since they would be inheriting any wealth that is created. Although persons frowned on sexual immorality as a threat to the family, their response to it was less drastic than in the case of “Trustee” families, since there was less emphasis on what is owed to future generations.

The researchers also identified a family type called “Atomistic”, which is furthest along on the scale of individualism. Religion plays no role in such families, and members consider their personal rights and pleasure to be more important than anything else. Their viewpoint is that the family exists for the sake of the individual, unlike members of “Trustee” families, who operated under the assumption that their life’s work is to promote the wellbeing of their family.

Marriage was not of the same importance for the “Atomistic,” and this tended to result in more infidelity, widespread divorce, and population decline.

It is foolish to ignore the lessons of history. Civilizations rise and fall with families that are its very heartbeat. Families that have a religious centre are a positive force in the rise of great civilizations, and “Domestic” families are also strong contributors, even though the cultural paradigm and traditions may not be as strong and cohesive as that of classical “Trustee” families.

The clear benefits of these family types have always been recognized, which is why governments have, throughout the centuries, made laws that encouraged their creation and wellbeing. Other family types are less stable and tend to deteriorate even to the point of supporting actual barbarism and the crumbling of civilizations; hence, governments have generally not felt it was in the public interest to encourage such models to proliferate.

What this is boiling down to is this question: are our national policies encouraging the development of strong God-centered families? You may have noticed that new organizations have been popping up like weeds in recent years, and that they have been pushing ideologies that contradict everything we know to be really beneficial for the body politic.

Well-financed from international sources, their members are strongly motivated to dismantle Belize’s Judeo-Christian foundations, and they have been steadily chipping away at it. Although they are recommending a path of sexual license that is perverted and unscientific, they have become influential by subverting the media and using it for propaganda purposes.

I find it truly amazing how many prominent seats at the decision-making tables of our society have been given in recent years to those who are purveyors of quack science when it comes to human sexuality. One of the poisonous fruits of their collaboration with the previous regime is the “Spotlight Initiative”. The children and youth of Belize are in its crosshairs.

It is time for the defenders of Belize to arise. Every sensible person should be raising a red flag and calling for a halt to this before more damage is done. For your information, the “Spotlight Initiative” seeks to promulgate Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) from kindergarten upwards.

The purveyors of this say it will be age-appropriate, but this is false. Every parent needs to acquaint themselves with the type of things Comprehensive Sexuality Education seeks to convey to the young. This is being promoted by UNFPA, UNDP and UNESCO, all of which have been hijacked by the purveyors of sexual quack science, who pervert the truth.

The whole thing is appalling. A recent study of CSE programmes in schools by Weed and Ericksen of “The Institute for Research & Evaluation,” found that such programmes did not reduce teen pregnancy and STDs, which is among the objectives, but that some actually resulted in increased pregnancy and risky sexual behaviour. This is not surprising.

Our government leaders need to pay more than lip service to the moral law and Christian ethic enshrined in our Constitution so that the moral and social fabric of our society does not become steadily weaker. It is time for us to demand a change in approach, a restoration of traditional standards of morality in the educational system for the upbringing of our children, and a refutation of all the attacks against the traditional family structure, which have been coming from these organizations.

Clear thinking is necessary now. The emotional appeals made by organizations such as Our Circle, PETAL, UNIBAM and others have caused some otherwise intelligent people to experience an intellectual meltdown as they embrace a “brave new world” of destructive sexual license. Some who are in the vanguard of rationalizing and explaining things to the rest of us are profiting financially. In essence, they have sold out. I’m praying they see the light and turn.

One thing should be very clear to all. Our children should never be put at risk. They are not laboratory rats to be experimented on, and if we do nothing, evil will triumph. The threats we are facing have come camouflaged under slogans such as “tolerance”, ‘love matters” and “live and let live”, which are designed to lull and obfuscate.

In reality, the wolf is at the door, and you need to see it for what it is. This is not a time to be fooling around playing video games, watching ESPN, smoking, drinking and “chilling out.” The welfare of our children and the future of our beloved Belize are teetering on the edge, and we must do something. We must be wise in our choices and our actions.

Our love for our fellowmen must be real, and based on truth. Any “love” that rejects truth is not love at all. It is counterfeit, which will produce no good for any of us in this nation.

Very sincerely,
Christine Vellos