A New Manhatten Project
Drafted by Dr. Robert George, Dr. Timothy George and Chuck Colson , signed by 125 religious leaders
By Kathleen Gilbert
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A group of prominent Christian leaders and scholars unveiled a manifesto Friday declaring firm opposition to current and future laws infringing upon the sanctity of life, marriage, faith, and liberty.
The 4,700-word "Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience" was drafted by Dr. Robert George, Dr. Timothy George and Chuck Colson and signed by more than 125 Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical Christian leaders, including Focus on the Family Dr. James Dobson and National Association of Evangelicals president Leith Anderson. 15 Roman Catholic bishops, including Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York and Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., were among the signatories.
The declaration issues a clarion call to Christians to adhere to their convictions and informs civil authorities that the signers will not - under any circumstance - abandon their Christian consciences.
For more information: http://www.manhattandeclaration.org/
"We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right - and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation - to speak and act in defense of these truths," reads the declaration.
"We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence."
The document lays out the groups' arguments against anti-life, anti-family, and anti-religious public policy as contravening "foundational principles of justice and the common good," in defense of which the group says they are "compelled by our Christian faith to speak and act."
In asserting Christians' right to conscientious objection to such policy, the declaration says it is "ironic" that those who advance as "rights" various immoral practices "are very often in the vanguard of those who would trample upon the freedom of others to express their religious and moral commitments to the sanctity of life and to the dignity of marriage."
"Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family," it concludes.
"We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar's. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God's."
Co-author Timothy George, who is founding dean of Beeson Divinity School of Samford University and a senior editor of Christianity Today, said the Manhattan Declaration "represents an ecumenism of the trenches that has been going on for a number of years among many denominations and confessional traditions."
"While we recognize that many important differences of doctrine and discipline still divide us, we nonetheless earnestly seek that unity for which Jesus prayed when he asked that his disciples be one in their love for God, for one another, and for the world," said George.
On his radio show BreakPoint Wednesday, Evangelical leader Chuck Colson called the Manhattan Declaration "probably the most important document I've ever signed."
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A group of prominent Christian leaders and scholars unveiled a manifesto Friday declaring firm opposition to current and future laws infringing upon the sanctity of life, marriage, faith, and liberty.
The 4,700-word "Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience" was drafted by Dr. Robert George, Dr. Timothy George and Chuck Colson and signed by more than 125 Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical Christian leaders, including Focus on the Family Dr. James Dobson and National Association of Evangelicals president Leith Anderson. 15 Roman Catholic bishops, including Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York and Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., were among the signatories.
The declaration issues a clarion call to Christians to adhere to their convictions and informs civil authorities that the signers will not - under any circumstance - abandon their Christian consciences.
For more information: http://www.manhattandeclaration.org/
"We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right - and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation - to speak and act in defense of these truths," reads the declaration.
"We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence."
The document lays out the groups' arguments against anti-life, anti-family, and anti-religious public policy as contravening "foundational principles of justice and the common good," in defense of which the group says they are "compelled by our Christian faith to speak and act."
In asserting Christians' right to conscientious objection to such policy, the declaration says it is "ironic" that those who advance as "rights" various immoral practices "are very often in the vanguard of those who would trample upon the freedom of others to express their religious and moral commitments to the sanctity of life and to the dignity of marriage."
"Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family," it concludes.
"We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar's. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God's."
Co-author Timothy George, who is founding dean of Beeson Divinity School of Samford University and a senior editor of Christianity Today, said the Manhattan Declaration "represents an ecumenism of the trenches that has been going on for a number of years among many denominations and confessional traditions."
"While we recognize that many important differences of doctrine and discipline still divide us, we nonetheless earnestly seek that unity for which Jesus prayed when he asked that his disciples be one in their love for God, for one another, and for the world," said George.
On his radio show BreakPoint Wednesday, Evangelical leader Chuck Colson called the Manhattan Declaration "probably the most important document I've ever signed."
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15 Bishops including Chaput, Rigali & Cordileone as well as those above. My question, where are the rest of the US Bishops? OK, I know this wasn't intended to include all the Bishops in the original signers, just a sampling. & I am sure many others will sign on. But there are some like Weakland, Gumbleton & Mahony (& my Archbishop Hanus) who I know will never sign. & I think we all know why.
15 Bishops including Chaput, Rigali & Cordileone as well as those above. My question, where are the rest of the US Bishops? OK, I know this wasn't intended to include all the Bishops in the original signers, just a sampling. & I am sure many others will sign on. But there are some like Weakland, Gumbleton & Mahony (& my Archbishop Hanus) who I know will never sign. & I think we all know why.
In addition to the Bishops there were also a lot of other Catholics & non-Catholics I recognized.
What this document is not is a false ecumenism like the left tries to push. Nobody is ignoring the differences or pretending like they can be. What this is acknowledging is that there are absolute truths that every Christian must uphold.
This is clearly not going to go over well with the Catholic in Name Only crowd, or those in other "Christian" denominations that are Christian in Name Only while having abandoned any semblance of real Christianlty, just like their Catholic counterparts.
I can hear the left already warming up the labels about this being the "religious right" or the new "moral majority". But so what? Let them label us. Let them attack us. Those of us who are standing up for what is right need to expect that we will be opposed & attacked. In the end it doesn't matter what other people say. Nor does it matter that God is on our side. What matters is that we are on God's side. & defending life & marriage as God intended is a sign we are heading in the right direction.
posted by Al @ 5:08 AM
1 Comments:
At 23/11/09 2:24 AM ,
TH2 said...
"But so what? Let them label us. Let them attack us. Those of us who are standing up for what is right need to expect that we will be opposed & attacked."
Right on.
An argument they like to also use, in a more "civilized" manner, is that conservatives are "uncharitable" (even some conservative types say this - I confess that that annoys me). I have never fell for this one.
A person can express their view in a reasonable fashion, and still throw in polemic and humor. That is what makes the debate in the public square much more interesting, because there is so much at stake.
The atmosphere now is much more heated, but that is life and that is what happens when lines are drawn in the sand of the "culture war".
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