Symposium battles trends that damage traditional family

PROVO, Utah — Speaking from a pulpit to Oxford University students troubled about pursuing an education during the turmoil of World War II, C.S. Lewis told them it was important they stick to their education — even philosophy, a field he routinely called \"slippery.\"

\"Good philosophy must exist,\" he said, \"if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.\"

In similar fashion, a group of BYU students of the Family Law Society organized and carried out a formal symposium, called Stand for the Family, meant to counter modern philosophies perceived to be damaging traditional family relationships and, ultimately, society.

After attending a several-day seminar in Southern California last summer at an interfaith organization, the Ruth Institute, BYU law student Alisa Rogers rallied support for a conference on strengthening the family.

Ruth Institute President Jennifer Morse attended and kicked off the two-day forum in a 20-minute keynote speech Friday night. Morse, a Roman Catholic, referred to her 170-plus predominantly Mormon audience as \"brothers and sisters\" standing \"shoulder to shoulder\" with her and other religions on moral issues, especially referencing opposition to same-sex marriage.

\"Despite what you've heard, the marriage issue is a unifying issue,\" she said. \"That is, our opponents are always saying, 'You guys are being so divisive.' But that's not what we've found at all. What we found in San Diego, and indeed all across California, is that the marriage issue is a unifying issue, and that the people who are orthodox across all the religious traditions stand together on the issue of the definition of marriage.\"

Mormons and Catholics had already strengthened ties with one another in California in 2000 over the definition of marriage. But in 2008, Proposition 8 brought out a host of others, including Jews and evangelicals. She recalled speaking to all four groups at once at an orthodox Jewish synagogue.

She said evangelical megachurch Pastor Jim Garlow and San Diego's former Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop, Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, had become friends during the campaign and \"both felt like they had more in common with each other than with some of the more liberal members of their own faith traditions.\"

Morse, who spent 15 years teaching at Yale and George Mason universities before founding her institute, outlined two general reasons why she believes marriage culture is unraveling: First, people are losing gendered language, and second, people are thinking that fathers, mothers and caretakers can perform the same parental duties interchangeably without losing \"something.\"