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An international three-day conference held in Amman on “Family and Societal Harmony” concluded with a statement stressing the importance of having a cultural and religious reference authority to manage family affairs.
The conference also underlined the significance of family integration as a key social value in human culture and the need to enhance dialogue as a contributing factor to harmony within the family which is the backbone of the human fabric.
The statement was read out by Father Nabil Haddad head of the Jordanian Interfaith Coexistence Research Centre on behalf of the organizing entities NCFA and the Centre in the presence of experts, academics, Islamic and Christian figures and representatives from government bodies and civil society in Jordan, Palestine, Qatar, Lebanon, Tunis, Sudan, Iraq, Malaysia and United States.
Throughout the conference, panellists stressed the role of family cohesion in achieving societal harmony and the importance of family relations that are built on love, affection and respect being the first line of defense against extremism and the key to building a strong and coherent community. They also agreed that the basic contributing factor to societal harmony in Jordan is constitutional protection as the law protects the family’s legitimacy and strengthens its bonds and values being the basis of society which is founded on religion, morals and patriotism.
They also stressed the need to address challenges that affect family integration and harmony, including the shrinking role of family upbringing; the undermining of its pillars by the emergence of new forms of families; and enhanced individualism and destabilization of its structure and relations which threatens family foundations and social cohesion.
Attendants also discussed the issue of delayed marriages and its effect on the gradual disintegration of relations; cohabitation instead of the sacred bond of marriage; and the increased numbers of illegitimate children, divorce rates and children of single-parent families.
Such issues, as they pointed out, are the factors behind the emergence of psychological, mental, spiritual and societal disorders in the lives of children across the world which in the end affects their education and advancement at the global level.
In this regard, they all agreed that there is a need to strengthen the roles of educational, religious, social and media institutions through the adoption of practical strategies and projects that promote family and societal harmony.
In his speech, NCFA’s Acting Secretary-General Mohammad Miqdady called on Arab countries to concentrate on the family, enhance its quality of life and mobilize support to strengthen its role not only among Arab countries but also on a global scale