Divorce lobby says children, religion being used in referendum campaign

Pro- and anti-divorce lobbies at loggerheads over using ‘children’ in divorce campaign.

25 April 2011, 12:00am
by Matthew Vella

2 min read

The pro-divorce movement Iva ghad-Divorzju has lashed out at Zwieg bla Divorzju, which today announced its campaign slogan ‘Flimkien ghal-Uliedna’ (Together for our children), claiming that the no-divorce group was using children and religion in the referendum campaign.

“It’s clear that they are going to use children and religion instead of allowing a calm discussion based on reason,” Iva chairperson Deborah Schembri said.

Schembri said Zwieg bla Divorzju was omitting to mention the reality of children born out of wedlock in new relationships between separated spouses. “They claim their slogan is for voiceless children who will be affected by divorce. At the same time, they are campaigning to deny the right to these same children to benefit from the remarriage of their parents if divorce is allowed.”

Schembri said one-third of children born in Malta were born out of wedlock, amongst them children of people who could not remarry. “The longer it takes for divorce to be introduced, the greater the number of children born out of wedlock. Zwieg bla Divorzju wants to deny this right to children.”

Zwieg bla Divorzju today launched a new slogan ‘Fliemkien Ghal Uliedna’ as part of its campaign against divorce. Chairman Andre Camilleri said the logo and the slogan emphasise the need for society to work together to strengthen the family, with the main attention given to children most affected by divorce.

Camilleri said that since its inception in January the anti-divorce movement has been composed of people from different political backgrounds and different segments of society who are all in favour of strengthening the family and to ensure children do not face the negative effects of the proposed divorce law.

“No survey has ever been conducted to assess the impact of divorce on our society, and the patterns of marriage should not be changed before impact has been properly assessed,” Camilleri said.

Camilleri said divorce would lead to a lack of commitment between married couples, stating that a person wanting a divorce “without proper reason” will be imposing this choice on the other party.

On their part, Moviment IVA said no studies showed that what children experienced during divorce would be anything different or worse than what they experienced during parental separations or annulment. “Zwieg bla Divorzju is going to also use the Catholic Church to spread fear on divorce.

Already, a different climate is being felt from that augured by the bishops months ago when they said they did not want any crusades,” Schembri said.

“Paragraph 2383 of the Catholic Church’s cathecism states that ‘if civil divorce remains the only possible way of ensuring certain legal rights, the care of the children, or the protection of inheritance, it can be tolerated and does not constitute a moral offense’.”

Additional reporting by Rachel Zammit Cutajar

Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...

Gladio •

I was a child once and nothing made me happier then the day my parents finally separtated and eventually divorced. It was goodbye to constant fighting,sometimes with violence, to being used as a pawn in their fighting ,to constant fear of going home from school to live a miserable life. My childhood was taken away from me.To those that say divorce is bad for the child,ask someone who has been through those trials and finally was given a chance to live somewhere near a normal life. Please vote yes for divorce,if you care for the children,let alone everything else.

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i simply cannot understand the hypocrisy of the church. firstly they seem to have no respect for children - they allow their images to be used bluntly, and most worrying is that those few rotten priests within the clergy who where caught red handed abusing of children never got to the courts doorstep. mela my reasoning on the matter of divorce, at least from the church's side is just a protection of their financial income through their "legal" annulments. Because the church lawyers have God's permission to argue for the annulment of a bond that was formed in front of God himself, BUT non church lawyers and the civil justice system don't don this same privilege.

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Remember the church will do anything to push its agend 'cos they've got God on their side. So anything is allowed even kids. Remember the children's crusade? If you really want to see a frank discussion of the divorce issue in Malta go to [email protected]

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Children will suffer up to certain extent. But in the end they will benefit by gaining a foster parent as well, which is the most important think in the end. The No to divorce movement are just playing around with words and mess around with our intelligence.

Luke Camilleri •

I feel it is about time that Ms. Helen Damato,, Children's Commissioner steps in andtruly make a stand on the envisaged use of children in such campaigns ...... or is she just a paid -up bystander?

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@falzonsilvio I went to the link of the Knights of Malta and it lists our last two PM's as it's members. If the site is to be believed what worries me is the oath they took. It is first and foremost to the pope. This would explain efforts over the last 20 years or so to keep Malta as a Vatican Satellite state. Has the Opposition missed this?

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*Gozo* :) cause i laugh when I see these ridiculous and irresponsable

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The church is irresposable , I say just the latest, When that person names Angelik, saying that His virgin mary is talking to him, and saying this things to be , The church is quite ,as long as the things are the way they want them to be. for example when in Gozi in carnival thye dreses as religious church people, they quickly complained to get these people to court. But this angelik doing theatrical in the streets and saying NONSENSE , than its ok for the church. These earthquakes occured since the beginning of time, the lands moves, for ex now continent Africa is moving towards europe, so that makes that. So Yes Angelik must be stopped, from saying nonsense, well i doubt how many people belive this ridicolous lies. I talk to mnay people, old and young, thye just laugh about him , and that he is crazy.

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To JOE MC: Abstaining from voting is the coward's way. By abstaining you are supporting the status quo. Shame on you! But so understandably Maltese ....

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Terrimoti u mwiet Hawn Malta aktar mietu nies jarmaw ghal festa milli bit terrimoti. F'dawn l-ahhar hamsin sena ma niftakar lil hadd li miet jew wegga minn xi terrimot li nhass fil-gzira ta' Malta. Imma naf hafna li weggghu mill-ilsien hazin, u mill-azzjonijiet tar-religjuzi Maltin. Nitolbu ghalihom halli jrattbu qalbhom.

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Maybe as I am abstaining from voting I will be saved form a tremor or two? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTqeOCC6r1Y . We should protest against these fanatics

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Kids never suffer in divorce. They will suffer if God sends an earthquake as the crazies are claiming http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTqeOCC6r1Y

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The Movement Against Divorce are not being honest with the public of Malta. One has only to delve in the Bible to find out that Christ was not against all divorce and upheld the right 'for a just cause' divorce. Those who are interested read what this website has to say. http://christiandivorce.1hwy.com/

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Yes, that's right, we are voting YES for our children and to keep them away from you as much as possible! . YES FOR DIVORCE . NO FOR HYPOCRACY

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rajtu l -ibarazz li ghedin ixerdu dawk kontra id divorzju? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTqeOCC6r1Y terremoti jekk taqbel ma divorzju - u ejja

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Zewg slogans li jixirqu lil kampanja le: a. Kburin li uliedna bghula. b. Noffru l-uliedna ghal pjacir tar-religjuzi

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The Oath of the Knights of Columbus, Knights of Malta and Rhodes Scholars is based upon the Oath of the Jesuits (This is an extract of the Congressional Record of the House of Representatives dated February 15, 1913, where the oath is entered as purported to be of the Knights of Columbus). http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/jesuits.htm#Knights IF people understands this, than they will know the truth :-)

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the slogan is nonsense :) We are all living in the same world, and all things can happen to anyone. how illusioned one is, when he/she thinks that he/she thinks that these social situations might not get to him , or his children or granchildren :) All people are a subject to all circumstances, it can happen like a thunder in nice weather . I am counting days to see the divorce referendum finishes, so i will see what will happen in the coming months :) The Bishop said it's irreverible , I agree with him with that phrase, you kno why"cause it's irriversible the latest sex scandals of the child abuses that the church had done to thousands of kids worldwide. and after this referendum , the church will continue to decline with years :)

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yes ofcourse they are , any member must first swore his loyalty to the pope than to his country, I said this in the beginning of this so called referndum , i said from the start thats it's going to be all like it is. The church and PN together against, it's obvious with it's current PM :) he must obey the pope :) Initial Membership List of the Knights of Malta http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/kmlst1.htm

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Like I alreday said whatever the outcome the church stands to lose, it already has. @mikegold117 Your argument smells FIshy heard it all before somewhere else can't put my finger on it yet, and by the way Matrix was right PL has not got itself involved in a purely personnal matter there are more important things to concentrate on. @falzonsilvio EFA and gonz are SMOM members who swore their total aliance to the Pope and not to their country, Malta comes second in this instance but in fact in reality it comes last, family, friends and friends of friends all come before that.

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Flimkien ghal-uliedna , wonder what their reaction was and still is at the abuse by priest of young boys? Or aslong as it is someone from the clergy it is not so big a deal stop you hypocracy.

Zack Depasquale •

@ mikegold117 Sweeping statements are very easy to make but than you have to check your facts and find that these statements are just that. The one made by Mikegold is a fine example. I challenge Mikegold to name one example where the PL is pushing Labour Supporters to vote yes for the referendum to give a defeat to Dr Gonzi. The Labour Party has made it clear from the beginning of the divorce debate that the party is leaving the Labour Supporters to vote freely and according to their concsience.

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Qeghdin jitqassmu santi mghamulin qarrieqa li taparsi lmaddonna qeghda tidher u ma taqbilx mad divorzju, u bid dati u lhin meta dehret lil angelique. jekk il moviment iva ma torganizawx attivita u tidhru iktar fuq it televizjoni ha tghamlu walkover ghax il gideb lampanti u drastiku li qieghed jsir mil kamp tal LE jew hu kbir hafna! Jiena nahseb li l-poplu Malti matur bizzejjed u mhux ha jinfluwenza ruhu bdawn laffarijiet moqzieza u lmoviment le ghandhom hafna flus u ha tkun kampanja kbira imma nahseb li issa nies tghalmu u jafu jahsbu bmohhom, fit 28 ta mejju ha tkun l-ikbar prova ghal poplu Malti!

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this is going to be a lesson to all who voted PN, and wants the divorce law to pass:) if the referendum will be YES , that is not thanks to the PN, who voted against Divorce, cause they are in goverment. and if the NO will pass, than in the election time think of what he did to you... than next time vote for him again. The opposition is very cautious , cause they are afraid of the church :) The No movemnet have the church and the PN The yes movement are al alone, just Alternattiva demokratika are in favour of the divorce law.

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So this is why the pl is pushing his supporters to vote yes in order to give a defeat to gonzi. lol The only people who will loose are the honest tax payers who will have to fork out money for this new trend

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This is not a surprise , from the beginning it was evident. The church and the PN are hand in hand. Why don't people get it? 2 of the PN P.M. 's are Knights of malta, rad what a knight of the order of Malta is. The church have given funds the the No movement etc.. ofcourse it's obvious . the No movemnet are representing the church and the PN :) It's going to be a tough one, I say this to the No movement"Al your struggle to stop the law, is temporary." In the future you will have no chance, after all this ends soon, the damage will be done to the PN and the Church. And after the referendum all will be the same and will continue like that"you have or wil have stopped just a law, "But you cannot control the people":) In the end the PN and the church will loose, just wait and see in the coming monts and years:)

Igor P. Shuvalov •

Dan is-slogan iffakkarni f'zewg slogans ta' certu partit politiku.... u mbaghad ninsitu li din il-kampanja mhux wahda politika.

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The slogan is a shortened version of "Flimkien inbiegħu uliedna lill-Knisja"

Isabelle Borg •

Yes of course "flimkien ghal uliedna" that's what me and my partner are voting for. Thanks for the anti divorce movement for reminding us.r

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Thank you M.A.D., it's very clear now. Flimkien Ghal Uliedna u nit****** minn Ulied haddiehor. I think the pro-divorce more than made a point here as a victory for the No's will leave so many children with an inferior status than if their parents were permitted to marry. I fear the authorities in the church are being pushed into a very dangerous game here by the hardliners and irrespective of the result will have a very negative ripple effect within less than a decade. As for the PN leadership.....