Issues We Follow - Illinois Family Institute

Illinois Family Institute works to educate and activate our constituents and the Illinois public on issues that impact families and the values that make them strong.

More than just communication, we combine information with the tools necessary for people to effectively make their voices heard by legislators and other decision makers in Illinois.

Platform

SANCTITY OF LIFE ● We wholeheartedly support the right to life from conception until natural death, seeking legislative and judicial protection of that right against those who perform abortions. We oppose the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court and believe it erred in granting a “privacy right” to abortion that tragically overrode the right of unborn children to live, leading to the needless deaths of millions of innocent babies in the womb. We also oppose the use of public funds for abortion or public funding of organizations that advocate it. We renew our commitment to supporting women face with untimely pregnancies.

FAMILY POLICY ● We believe that parents have a fundamental right and responsibility to oversee the upbringing of their children, and recognize the role of parents as the first and best teachers of infants and young children, and the primary caregivers for all minor children. We support state and federal efforts to recognize the preeminent role of parents in shaping their children’s lives.

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY ● The history of the United States as evidenced by the writings of the Founders indicates the importance of religious institutions and individuals as active participants in the public square. We support efforts to reinstate the strongest constitutional protections for religious liberty; we will work to restore those liberties that Americans of all faiths have been unconstitutionally denied by overreaching court decisions. We distinguish the difference between the Supreme Court’s misinterpretation of President Thomas Jefferson’s “wall of separation between church and state” and the correct meaning that the state is forbidden to encroach on the duties man owes to his Creator.

MARRIAGE ● We strongly support the institution of marriage, which is the union of one man and one woman. We oppose the redefinition of marriage that allows for the legal recognition of intrinsically non-marital, same-sex relationships as marriages. We believe the 2015 Obergefell ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court not only overruled state’s rights, but also erodes the public understanding of and respect for true marriage and the natural family (i.e., mother, father, and children) as the proper foundation of our society. We support the enactment of a U.S. Constitutional amendment to protect marriage and restrict activist courts.

EDUCATION ● Parents have a fundamental right to oversee the upbringing and education of their children. All parents should be able to choose a safe and effective school for their children. We support parental choice mechanisms that allow parents to choose government, independent, religious, or home schools and that do not compromise the religious integrity or independence of private schools. We oppose mandatory sex education, since we believe such education is the proper role of the family and/or church, and oppose the provision of school-based social services, including school-based clinics and mental health care, that seek to bypass parental authority.

HOMOSEXUAL/BISEXUAL/’TRANSGENDER’ AGENDA ● We oppose efforts to include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as a categories for preferential status under civil rights statutes at the federal, state and local levels. We support a full repeal of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” and “civil unions” laws. We believe such laws invariably erode the freedom of people of faith and others who oppose homosexuality and normalizing gender confusion (“transgenderism”) as a matter of conscience. We support laws to protect adoptive and foster children from being placed in homosexual households, and stand united with those private organizations that wish to live by their own moral creed, including the belief that homosexual behavior is against God’s will. We reject all hatred toward and abuse of homosexuals as unchristian, knowing as we do that it is through the love and forgiveness of Christ that many men and women who once practiced homosexuality are now living lives in line with God’s natural created order. As sinners ourselves, we must never be arrogant toward others struggling with various sins and temptations–but must point them toward redemption and wholeness through the atoning work of our risen Savior, Jesus Christ, on the cross.

PORNOGRAPHY/DECENCY ● Child sexual exploitation and other illegal pornography is not just a threat to society, it is a crime and must be treated as such. We therefore strongly support enforcement of all current state laws that prohibit trafficking in illegal pornography and seek to enact necessary and appropriate legislation that will address technology to maintain a decent society. IFI’s vision is for people to take charge of their own neighborhood by enforcing decency laws to rid their area of harmful and degrading pornography and sex-oriented businesses. We oppose liberal- and libertarian-inspired calls to legalize prostitution.

ECONOMIC POLICY ● Tax policy should not penalize citizens for choosing marriage over cohabitation, and tax laws which penalize marriage should be amended.

JUDICIAL REFORM ● Judicial activism, whether by liberal or conservative judges, must be restrained – it is an assault on the constitutional order. Activist judges violate their rightful role to interpret laws and wrongly usurp the authority of the legislative and executive branches, and thus violate the separation of powers required by the U.S. and Illinois Constitutions.

GAMBLING ● The expansion of gambling carries a high cost. Gambling’s harmful effects on society have been overwhelming, destroying families and putting millions of Americans in debt due to their gambling addiction. We support legislation to limit all forms of gambling in Illinois.

ILLEGAL DRUGS ● We oppose the legalization or decriminalization of any illegal drug, including laws that promote marijuana-as-medicine, and we strongly oppose hypodermic needle giveaways or exchanges. We support efforts which involve the religious community in drug rehabilitation.

ISLAMIC SHARIA ● Sharia is the law that the god of Islam and his prophet gave to the Islamic community to regulate their day-to-day life. Muslims were then ordered them to spread it throughout the world. These day-to-day regulations are derived from the Quran and Hadith (Quran 33:36) (Quran 24:51). Sharia promotes two dangerous concepts. The first is the concept of superiority of Muslims in the world (Quran 3:139) (Quran 47:35), and the second is that the people who don’t believe in the Quran and practice the Islamic Sharia are infidels (Quran 5:44) (Quran 9:32). Sharia is a destructive ideology incompatible with any healthy, free society that values human rights, equality, and justice.