Buenos Aires, Argentina, Feb 12, 2006 / 22:00 pm
The Bishops’ Conference of Argentina is calling for laws that promote responsible education programs on sexuality. During an annual gathering of university rectors, the bishops’ document on “The Challenge of Educating in Love” was presented for discussion, in view of the eventual passage of new law on sex education.
The bishops said new laws should be “positive and prudent” and should consider “the right and duty” of parents in the moral education of their children, a role which “cannot be substituted” by the state nor the school.
Likewise the bishops said laws must defend life “from the moment of conception, and absolutely forbid the crime of abortion.” They also said any new law must not promote anti-life policies and must recognize the inalienable right and duty of parents over the moral education of their children.
In their document the bishops warn that the State cannot be a substitute for the family, even families that are wounded by division or the absence of father or mother. At the same time they noted that the State should assist broken families “with prudence” and without falling into an “abuse of ideologies” with “no respect for the culture and tradition of nations.”