Day of Families Commemorated in Russia

Tatyana Krasnosumova
April 21, 2012

St. Petersburg -- A round table on "The Family as Core," April 21

Family is a small but extremely important part of the human community. The well-being of families is a condition for prosperity of the entire nation. Problems in the families grow into problems of the society. We have to solve them, if we want our nation to be prosperous and well developed, where each citizen is a patriot ready to sacrifice his or her life for the motherland.

The first part of the program dealt with demographic problems in the modern society; it was presented by Lydia Verb, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences and Professor at the Culture and Art University. The following statistics were cited: annually, the population of the planet grows by 78 million, mainly in underdeveloped countries (97%). At the beginning of 2012, the population of Russia was 143 million. There are reasons for the limited growth of the population in developed nations, including Russia, among them:

Ecological catastrophes
Economic problems
Migration problems

The participants in the round table came to the opinion that these problems should be urgently addressed starting from primary school by including moral education in the school curriculum. A course developed by the Art and Culture University is available, and there are experts ready to teach it. It was decided to address the issue to the Legislative Board of St. Petersburg.

In the second part of the program, participants discussed the importance of preserving family traditions. This program block was presented by Tatyana Krasnosumova, Secretary General of UPF Northwest-Russia. The participants created a model of an ideal family symbolized by a house with LOVE as a basement and family RELATIONS (loyalty, respect, support, etc.) as walls. Then they came to the opinion that the roof of the house should be made of FAMILY TRADITIONS that unite all members of the family. The participants shared about traditions in their own families.

The third part of the program, on "One family under God," was opened by a Unification Church pastor, Yury Gavrilin. Touching but slightly on religious aspects, he explained the UPF founder's philosophy. Then all shared about their attitude towards religion, God, and the idea of "one world family under God."

After the round table, the participants communicated informally with each other.