The war against the family

the long version

Believing it is high time for someone to speak out in defense of the family, William Gairdner, the author of The Trouble with Canada, has turned his attention to what he calls the "civil war of values" that is weakening the soul of the family in Canada. Among his findings: Traditional marriage is being demoted in our children's textbooks as only one choice among many types of "family" relationships; Massive funding is given to radical lobby groups devoted to destroying the family, while those supporting it go begging; "Sex education," at one time the concern of families, has become the property of "sexologists" and peer groups; The mainline churches have abandoned souls for political causes and pagan theories; The law and the courts of the land are decimating the traditional privileges of the family in the name of individual "rights." In writing that is vigorous and compelling, Gairdner traces the war against the family to a political ideology springing from Plato, Rousseau, and a utopian liberalism that has become a caricature of itself, everywhere promoting rights but forgetting duties. Powered by this ideology, the modern State, eager for votes and hostile to freedom, effectively weakens the family unit, which it sees as a bastion of privacy, privilege, and authority. In The War Against the Family, Gairdner throws down the gauntlet, forcing into the open a much-needed debate about the future of the family in Western societies. The family of today and future generations are sure to benefit. - Jacket flap.