By JOHN FORTMEYER
CNNW publisher

PORTLAND -- Only a renewed focus on “eternal, changless principles” can save society from its downward trend, the head of one of the nation’s most influential Christian-oriented public policy organizations said at a special Portland gathering last month.

“The radical secularization of our country represents a much greater threat than terrorists,” said Ken Connor, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council. “This threat undermines us from within. It is insidious and like a cancer ... It is a world view that leads to despair, plain and simple.”

But people of faith who care enough to stand up for “eternal verities and truths” can confront the threat, said Connor.

He spoke at an evening dinner event May 7 at the Multnomah Athletic Club; it was Connor’s firsr visit to Oregon as president of the national organization.

The gathering was sponsored by Salem-based Oregon Center for Family Policy, which that evening also unveiled its new name

-- Stronger Families.

The Oregon organization is one of 36 statewide “family policy councils” that maintain close relationships with such national groups as well as the Focus on the Family ministry.

Both the Family Research Council and the Oregon agency conduct policy analysis, promote responsible and informed citizenship, facilitate strategic leadership involvement and seek to influence public opinion from a traditional values, Judeo-Christian perspective.

Connor, the council’s third president, has held his post since 2000. A prominent attorney from Florida and former gubernatorial candidate there, he has been president of Florida Right to Life, vice chairman of Americans United for Life, and board chairman of CareNet, an umbrella organization of 500 pregnancy resource centers nationally.

Prior to his talk, Connor showed a video spotlighting the work his agency is doing nationally, including the extensive media attention it receives through analysis of such “hot button” issues as sex education, abortion, tax relief, homosexual rights, education reform, immigration and religious freedom.

One of the newest controversial issues is science’s rapid advance toward cloning of human beings, and Connor made crystal clear his opposition.

“I’m convinced that the whole issue of human cloning raises a potential for dangers that we can’t even conceive,” he said.

He also reiterated his organization’s longstanding and deeply felt opposition to abortion.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the right to life is that right without which no other right can exist,” he said. “Unless we first protect the foundational right to life, all other rights become meaningless.”

A focus on God is essential to moral renewal in the nation, said Connor.

“The root cause of decline in our culture results from a denial of the existence of God, the demotion of man from being made in the image of God to being the ‘best of the beasts,’ and a deconstruction of truth,” he said.

Speaking briefly before Connor’s presentation, Mike Howden, executive director of Oregon Center for Family Policy, noted his agency’s close working relationship with the Family Policy Council. He said the work of both the national and state organizations touches a wide range of concerns, and that faith in God motivates the efforts of both.

“When I look across the field of human endeavor, I ask, what is it, that God is not interested in?” said Howden. “Our goal is to make a difference for influence, on behalf of the Lord and His kingdom.”