The first international lecture of the pre-con events of the international conference on Imam Reza and Interreligious Dialogue was held online on December 13, 2023. At this session, Prof. Talal Atrisi  (Professor of Sociology, Head of the Research Center for Humanities and Religious Sciences) delivered his speech under the title “The Family in the Face of Value Changes”. 

The topic of values is one of the most significant subjects addressed by philosophers, sociologists, jurists, and various religious doctrines throughout history. The question that arises is whether values ​​change or remain constant. My, to some extent controversial, opinion is that despite their importance and the call for their stability, these values ​​are subject to change. Factors contributing to value change include intellectual, philosophical, social, political, economic, and cultural, as well as major events that may lead to or influence changes in values. When discussing the topic of values, it is observed that the family is considered the primary and fundamental place for instilling values on the one hand, and transmitting them on the other hand. Western families have undergone multiple changes, especially in recent decades since the 1960s, transitioning from conservative families to fragmented, liberated, and morally disintegrating. Understanding the intellectual, cultural, and social path experienced by Western families is of paramount importance for several reasons, as many societies operate within this framework, believing it to be a cosmic and positive path that must be followed. However, why did Western families transition from conservative to fragmented families, where the family ceased to be a singular system as traditionally understood, and instead transformed into various forms such as relationships between two men, two women, or other forms? This transition did not occur suddenly but rather was the result of multiple and varying elements. The intellectual and philosophical dimension of this path began with the exclusion of religion from life, or as Nietzsche expressed it, with the "death of God." The concept of the death of God implies the death of religion and the constant values. The economic dimension is represented by the rise of the capitalist economy, which sought to transform all members of society into consumers, finding that the diversity and freedom of relationships are part of this transformation towards the consumerist human, which clearly contradicts family values. From all these data, it can be inferred that this path will lead to a decline in the position of the family to its lowest point. Thus, the family has become one form of social institution rather than the basis of human society. Understanding this path will allow us to comprehend the familial transformations in the West and in our societies, to avoid replicating this path and not be confronted with the crises that the Western experience faced.