If one theme emerged from the second annual Essential Summit in Columbus, Ohio, it’s that it’s as important as ever to stand up for the family. In fact, this year’s event, put on by the Center for Christian Virtue, was titled “Reviving the Roots—Restoring the Family.”
The Heritage Foundation and The Daily Signal were key sponsors of the summit, and along with a roster of church and civic leaders, the 700 attendees were treated to several Heritage experts and Rob Bluey, The Daily Signal’s executive editor and president.
Bluey and State Sen. Rob McColley helped kick off the event Thursday morning, joining Center for Christian Virtue President Aaron Baer for a keynote address and question and answer session. Baer spoke about his organization as well as the current state of the family.
Baer asked Bluey about Heritage’s forthcoming report on family policy, along with other issues, including the government shutdown.
Beyond the keynote sessions on the main stage, attendees were broken up into five different tracks: Christian Education; Marketplace Impact; Church Leadership; Pregnancy Center Leadership; and Faith in Action.
Those in the Faith in Action track were able to hear from Delano Squires, a research fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Human Flourishing.
Squires discussed the state of the family across generations, especially the declining marriage rate, with a particular aim on welfare policies and feminism, and for good reason.
The presentation included slides from Squires’ report released last month, “Moving Beyond Moynihan: A New Blueprint to Revive Marriage and Rebuild the Black Family,” as well as his commentary on “The Black Family Blueprint.” Squires has discussed his report over X as well as on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal.”
Squires referenced the failed “War on Poverty” from decades ago, as well as the country’s future and America’s approaching 250th birthday. As Squires put it, “the key to America’s next 250 years … hinges on an even more fundamental institution,” adding that “the family is the foundation of civilization.”
“The home is where fathers, mothers and children cultivate virtue and practice cooperation. It’s also where they learn responsibility, stewardship, and self-reliance. In many respects, a strong family dependent on God and one another is itself a declaration of independence and advances the cause of liberty by minimizing the need of government in daily lives. Our constitution secures the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity,” Squires further shared.
On the ills of feminism, Squires referenced Alice Walker, the feminist writer of “The Color Purple,” and the effect she had on her daughter, Rebecca.
Rebecca Walker shared her experience in 2008, with Squires pointing out how she herself was a feminist and author “who perfectly captured the hostility her mother and contemporaries had toward the family.”
“It was drummed into me that being a mother, raising children and running a home for a form of slavery. Having a career, traveling the world and being independent, were what really mattered, according to her,” Walker said.
“The daughter rejected the views of her iconic mother, and said having a child was the most rewarding experience of her life.” Squires declared. “She stated, ‘Feminism has much to answer for has much to answer for denigrating men and encouraging women to seek independence, whatever the cost to their families.'”
Squires also offered a message of hope in making the case for marriage, and caling on churches to encourage a revival, as well as making proper use of the education system.
Feminism was discussed in another keynote session on the main stage, by Dr. Rosaria Butterfield, previously a lesbian and tenured professor at Syracuse University. After having frequent meetings with a pastor and his wife, Butterfield became a Christian, denounced her previous lifestyle, and married Pastor Kent Butterfield.
Butterfield made clear that her early relationships with men did not work “in no small part because my feminist worldview despised the created order” and that her “feminism [was] fueling my lesbianism from the very beginning.”
Emma Waters, a policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation also moderated a question and answer session involving Butterfield. One of her questions brought to mind how, following the COVID-19 pandemic, many women returned home after schools were closed, and ultimately ended up staying there.
Waters also asked about the next steps, with a consensus arising from the discussion about how the need to instill an inspiring vision for women when it comes to marriage and motherhood. As she phrased it, it’s a matter of how “we encourage women to go forward.”
Waters discussed motherhood in the era of birth control and reproductive technology, noting how “we cannot ignore the fact that the birth control pill was the first widely available tool that severed sex from marriage.” Such barriers are “undermining the decision that God put in place.”
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