The annual World Congress of Families conference was held last week for the first time ever in the United States, in Salt Lake City. Packed with over 3,000 people from over 50 countries, many faiths and races came together around one conviction: the importance of the traditional family in society. Young parents walked around the conference with babies in tow, and speakers and attendees from as far away as Africa mingled with Mormons and millennial evangelicals from America.

Those of us with few children (I have four stepdaughters) almost felt a little out of place when many of the speakers indicated they had eight, ten or twelve children. Some of these drew laughs when they said they felt a little guilty being at the conference championing the family when they had so many children at home to take care of.

Speakers included former member of Congress and current Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece, Dr. Alveda King, Live Action’s Lila Rose, Utah Governor Gary Herbert, Mormon apostle Elder Russell Ballard and Ted Cruz’s father Rafael Cruz.

Dr. King addressed the devastating effects of abortion, saying, “A woman has a right to do what she wants with her body. But the baby’s not her body! Where’s the baby’s lawyer?”

Charmaine Yoest of Americans United for Life listed off all the harms abortion has done to women and society, and told about one of the abortion industry’s public relations debacles, which predictably failed: promoting shirts that said, “I had an abortion.”

A common theme among the speakers was that the family unit is under attack, which began with the sexual revolution of the 1960s, which devalued marriage, chastity and nuclear families. As one attendee put it, too many young people today know everything about sex but little about anything else. Many expressed concern about the decrease in birth rates.

The speakers urged attendees to speak out about the importance of family values. Brian Brown, of the National Organization for Marriage, advised people not to be upset about being attacked for posting their opinions on Facebook; martyrs of the past faced much worse. Cathy Ruse, an attorney with the Family Research Council, said (to a standing ovation) that it may be necessary to engage in civil disobedience if we continue to have judges who ignore natural law and the common sense will of the people.

One of the best loved speakers was Nick Vujicic of Life Without Limbs. This amazing man was born without legs or arms, but instead of giving in to despair serves as a motivational Christian speaker in public schools. He perched on a table to give his speech, and was carried on and off the stage. He shared how when asked by a detractor if he was violating the separation of church and state, he responded, “What are you going to do, handcuff me?”

The conference did see at least one dustup. A small group said they were both Mormons and LGBT, and tried to cross-examine panel members about same-sex marriage. Also, some natural marriage opponents attempted to hijack the conference’s hashtag #WCF9 on Twitter, criticizing the speakers for defending family values. Approximately 50 protesters from a local LGBT group showed up Thursday night to protest. Ultimately, their protests had little effect against the throng of believers and family advocates, who believe marriage is between one woman and one man, and never mind the rulings of a handful of activist judges.

The information on pornography was appalling, as it continues to become more “mainstream” and acceptable. Brian Willoughby, a millennial who speaks out against porn, said that 97 percent of 18-year-old males think pornography is acceptable, and over 60 percent of 18-year-old females. Sean Reyes, the Utah Attorney General, said that almost every sex trafficker he has arrested has said the gateway was pornography. Gwen Landolt, from the family group REAL Women of Canada, said that 88 percent of pornography contains violence against women. One question that was posed: where are the feminist objections?

The main conference concluded with a talk by the president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Everett Piper, who decried how education has destroyed family values. “Why after decades of teaching sexual promiscuity in schools do we expect to see less sex and pregnancies?” he asked.

With the traditional family under relentless attack from the media and left-wing activists, many of the attendees found it refreshing to see such a diverse group of faiths and races come together to defend the institution. Progressives can try to whitewash the truth all they want, but as speaker after speaker laid out during the conference, the evidence is overwhelming: children from intact, traditional families who regularly attend church tend to fare the best.