wfn.org | MAINLINE CONSERVATIVES ORGANIZE BEIJING DELEGATION

[PCUSA_NEWS@ecunet.org]

3-Jul-95

95216   MAINLINE CONSERVATIVES ORGANIZE BEIJING DELEGATION 
 
                     by Religion News Service 
 
WASHINGTON--The Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD), an advocacy 
group of conservatives belonging to mainline Protestant denominations, says 
it is organizing a delegation to attend the United Nations World Conference 
on Women in Beijing Sept. 4-15 to present an alternative to mainline church 
views. 
 
     The IRD includes as one of its constituent organizations Presbyterians 
for Democracy and Religious Freedom (PDRF). 
 
     "We are not confident that the delegations to Beijing from U.S. 
Protestant churches, such as the Presbyterian, Episcopal or United 
Methodist, will represent the views of the vast majority of women in these 
denominations," said Terry Schlossberg, executive director of Presbyterians 
Pro-Life and a spokeswoman for the IRD-created Ecumenical Coalition on 
Women and Society. 
 
     IRD president Diane Knippers said the draft plan of action to be 
discussed by the approximately 175 nations at the Beijing meeting is an 
"arrogant, intrusive and comprehensive experiment in social engineering and 
restructuring society." 
 
     She said that in the effort to promote the goals of equal educational 
and employment opportunity, the draft plan ignored the central role of the 
family.  The plan should assure that women who want to be homemakers will 
not have a lesser status than those who opt to be in the work force, she 
said. 
 
     "We will lend strong support to an understanding of the family as the 
essential mediating institution and building block of society," she said. 
"We will also support the fundamental rights of women, including their 
religious rights." 
 
 

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