Read part one

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If the revaluing of the family is to take root, it must be applied around the world in nations and regions with different contexts and challenges. Here are some areas of interest.

North and South America

Despite external pressures, Latin American cultures are still overwhelmingly conservative in their core; they retain an inclination to value family and human dignity, despite the anti-family forces that have been unleashed against them. Tragically, Western-funded programs that undermine those values have emerged and must be identified, rooted out, and resisted. The political situation in many Latin American countries is concerning; progressive, anti-traditional, and anti-religious regimes are in power in many countries. Some notable exceptions include Argentina, Paraguay, and El Salvador.

The recent election of a new secretary-general for the Organization of American States saw a China-backed candidate take the position — in the United States’ own backyard. China’s increasing influence in Central and South America signifies a blanket of oppression that has been settling over the region. Nicaragua continues to persecute religious and political dissidents. Brazilians face horrible crackdowns on religious and political freedom, and free speech, including from their own Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the United States shares its northern and southern borders with the two liberal governments of Canada and Mexico, who have taken anti-faith, anti-family, and anti-freedom actions in recent years. Much attention will be directed toward these two borders as Trump deals with issues of territorial integrity, national sovereignty, and national security.

Yet, the people in many countries in the Americas are primed for change. In Colombia, the church is finding its voice; in the summer of 2024, millions of Christians demonstrated around the country against the government’s promotion of gender ideology. The people of the Americas are ready to receive help from other countries who will come alongside them and encourage, equip, and enable them to strengthen family and freedom in their communities.

Africa

In addition to suffering from the West’s export of anti-family ideas discussed earlier, the continent of Africa also contains many places suffering from religious persecution. Radical Islamist movements are seeking to spread south, purging whole Christian villages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Nigeria, and elsewhere. African countries also suffer from repression of freedom, as the opportunity to participate in a corruption-free society is denied in many places.

Asia

Asia encompasses a vast amount of terrain and cultures, but many of its societies still maintain “traditional” views of the family. Attempts to undermine these views are typically met with resistance. However, that has not stopped Western influences from trying.

The situation within Asia is complex. The alliance of Iran, Russia, China, and North Korea has rallied to “defend” itself against anything perceived as Western, including anti-family ideas. This positions the “East” as the “defender” of the family, even as these countries actively undermine their peoples’ faith and freedom. In Asian countries that are part of a Western alliance — such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan — the quest for help against their anti-Western neighbors has, sadly, led to the acceptance of anti-family ideas, which have come in with everything else from the West. This is not a good bargain. Flourishing, righteousness, and justice will be obtained only when adhering to pro-family and pro-life principles in addition to the pillar of freedom.

Europe

Western countries have pushed LGBT ideology on smaller countries they feel like they can bully. One manifestation of this is the flying of Pride flags at embassies in overwhelmingly conservative countries that would never want them flown. (Notably, the United States has not sought to fly the Pride flag in Saudi Arabia or China, just Albania and Armenia.) Ukraine remains at a crossroads, seeking help from the West against its Eastern aggressor, Russia, with its people culturally misaligned with the anti-family values Brussels and its allied forces would want to ship in along with weapons.

Middle East

The Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, was the deadliest attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust. It changed the global landscape regarding Israel — and it is indeed a global landscape, as anti-Semitic protests, provocations, and attacks have sprung up not only among Israel’s neighbors but also on college campuses and in city squares around the world. The psychological war is not only against Israel; it is against the Jewish people and their freedom.

In the Middle East, the situation continues to evolve. Not only has Israel gone after Hamas, but a new Turkish-backed jihadist group has taken control of Syria’s central government in Damascus, posing a threat to the nascent freedom in the country’s Northeast Region. Meanwhile, Lebanon (where Israel has carved out a buffer zone) is in upheaval, and the Iranian regime is on the ropes. The freedom and well-being of many people hangs in the balance.

Turkey is flexing its muscles, with a covetous eye cast outward onto its former Ottoman glory — areas now including the Balkans and tiny Armenia to the east. Armenia, the world’s first Christian nation, has been embroiled in a war with Azerbaijan on one side and is squeezed by Turkey on the other. Meanwhile, the Islamist populations surrounding Israel continue to propagate their views at home and abroad. These cultural views are irreconcilable with the Judeo-Christian seeds upon which Western Civilization has been tended and that are indispensable to its rebirth. It seems the time has come for a Middle East realignment for freedom — between Israel, the Kurds, Armenia, and anyone else in the region who desires freedom — to stand against the tyranny of Islamist oppression.

In some cases, the governments of Israel’s neighbors align with one worldview; the views of their populations align with another. In other cases, the governments and the people are aligned. Regardless — we must remain observant of who is aligned with biblical principles: God as creator, and God as author of human life, family, and freedom. As we keep a prayerful eye on Israel, let us also observe which nations bless her, for we are reminded of God’s promise to Abraham: “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).

A Hoped-for Future

The current global landscape of faith, family, and freedom has many challenges, but it also offers many opportunities. Positive changes are underway as the U.S. government pauses and rolls back anti-family positions and policies. However, there is still much work to be done.

Although the government can encourage and incentivize the rebuilding of families, the actual work must be done at the local, community, and family levels. Policies and programs must be implemented, aligned with this objective, and tracked to ensure they are actually helping people “on the ground,” at the family level. Such a focus will yield results in the form of a return to the protection of all human life, and the recognition of human dignity, and the family structure as designed and created by God (one man and one woman in marriage, having and raising children).

The freedom to uphold these values must be respected. True human rights are grounded in the recognition of our inherent dignity. Labeling a country “family-friendly” even as they suppress religious liberty, freedom of speech, and other fundamental human rights is not enough (nor is it acceptable to outsource these decisions to international organizations that the people of a country never elected). We ideally would see every nation reclaim its sovereignty and tend its seeds of faith, family, and freedom. Such would be the welcome fruit of repairing the damage wrought by our exportation of anti-family ideas throughout the world.