The Manhattan Declaration

I signed The Manhattan Declaration.

Here's what it's about:

Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their faith, have defended the weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly to protect and strengthen vital institutions of civil society, beginning with the family.

We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them. These truths are:

1. the sanctity of human life
2. the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife
3. the rights of conscience and religious liberty.
   

Inasmuch as these truths are foundational to human dignity and the well-being of society, they are inviolable and non-negotiable. Because they are increasingly under assault from powerful forces in our culture, we are compelled today to speak out forcefully in their defense, and to commit ourselves to honoring them fully no matter what pressures are brought upon us and our institutions to abandon or compromise them. We make this commitment not as partisans of any political group but as followers of Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

John MacArthur didn't sign it. He said, "...the gospel itself is nowhere presented (much less explained) in the document or any of the accompanying literature. Indeed, that would be a practical impossibility because of the contradictory views held by the broad range of signatories regarding what the gospel teaches and what it means to be a Christian."

In The Manhattan Declaration, Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians have come together to defend the unborn, traditional marriage, and religious liberty. As I see it, the sole purpose of this document is for Christians to go on record, not about specific doctrines of their respective Christian faiths, but about the specific, historic Christian values that are mentioned in the document. It is a line in the sand, an affirmation of long held beliefs, an oath to defend Christian civilization against the ravages of secular humanism and the tyranny that is showing its ugly head in America in the form of political correctness.

Now is not the time to pick nits over doctrine. All three groups named in the declaration adhere to the Nicene and Apostles Creeds. We agree on the basics: Christ's virgin birth and divinity, His sinless life, His literal death, His literal resurrection, the Holy Trinity, etc. Read the creeds for crying out loud! Our very survival is at stake here. Christianity is seriously under attack in our land today. And for those who cannot see that, I suggest you begin paying attention a bit more closely and take your proverbial head out of the sand.

We will not emerge victorious in this struggle if we stand alone. We all serve the same Lord and Savior. Now is the time to rally around our common faith and defend ourselves, our children, and all of those who haven't a clue about what is happening to this country.

In the words of Benjamin Franklin at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, ""We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."