Church representatives call on the government to remove the Alliance for the Family and its representatives from state structures
A total of 17 representatives of Czech churches and religious organizations have called on the Czech government to stop cooperating with the Alliance for the Family and its representatives. The Alliance for the Family, or rather its representatives, cooperate as an advisory body with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Justice and Ms Jana Jochová is an assistant to MP Václav Kral (ODS).
The initiators of the appeal, which is in the form of a public letter addressed to Prime Minister Fiala, Minister Jureček, Minister Blažek and MP Kral, demand that the aforementioned "remove the Alliance for the Family and its representatives from the advisory bodies of the Czech government, ministries and other state structures". They observe that the Alliance for the Family goes against the values of understanding, empathy and belonging between people.
"Unfortunately, we do not see these values in the Alliance for the Family. On the contrary, we observe that they are trying to achieve goals that go against these values. We, the undersigned, do not agree with such goals of the Alliance for the Family because they not only go against the meaning and values of our religions, but they also go against the principles of a free, democratic state as we understand it as citizens of our country," the appeal reads.
As reasons for their concern, the signatories cite, for example, the fact that the Alliance for the Family downplays the importance of women's suffrage, spreads moral panic and mob hysteria, denies and disparages scientific knowledge, and implies that homosexuality is a disease, thus endangering the health and psychological development of children and youth.
The signatories also point to the Alliance for the Family's collaboration with Ordo Iuris and Alliance Defending Freedom, which are tied to government structures criticized for threatening individual rights and freedoms in a democratic state.
Instead of signing, share
The Pastoral Brothers, a duo made up of evangelical pastor Jakub Helebrant and CCE school chaplain Karel Müller, announced the call this morning on their Facebook page. Both of them have signed the appeal, as have Hussite parish priest Martina Viktorie Kopecká, Roman Catholic priest Tomáš Petráček, theologian Benedikt Tomáš Mohelník and the vice-dean of the Charles University Faculty of Arts Jiří Pavlík.
The appeal is not a petition and you cannot sign it. You can express your support by informing about it. "If you want to support our call, please share, like, spread," Pastoral Brother urged in the post.
