Government seeking to impose new family models on Argentinean children, archbishop warns

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Aug 23, 2006 / 22:00 pm

Archbishop Hector Aguer of La Plata, Argentina, has denounced the country’s government for seeking to impose new “definitions of the family” on young children by altering sciences textbooks used by second graders.

During his program, “Keys for a Better World,” the archbishop warned that in the midst of the government’s spearheading of a debate on the country’s education laws, it is also implementing strategies to instill in minors the idea that different types of families exist besides that which is born of the marital union between a man and a woman.

“It is said that there is not a single type of family, nor one that is the best, but rather that there are many models, and that it doesn’t matter what form they take,” Archbishop Aguer noted, saying such an attitude stems from “a relativistic understanding” that is foreign to the customs of the Argentinean people, not to mention natural law.

The archbishop said that what concerns him most is that “the State attributes to itself not only the capability and power to force these things to be taught, but also to intervene in an authoritarian way to ensure compliance,” and he warned that “the policy is reminiscent of a subtle brainwashing operation.”