Making a Statement
The Manhattan Declaration Is Even More Timely
The Manhattan Declaration is subtitled “A Statement of Christian Conscience”—and that is precisely what it is. One certainly need not be a Christian or a religious believer of any kind to understand and affirm the principles proclaimed and defended in the Manhattan Declaration: the sanctity of human life in all stages and conditions; the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife; religious liberty and the rights of conscience. These principles can be grasped by men and women of good will by the natural light of reason, even apart from any special revelation by God. One’s conscience need not be a specifically Christian conscience to affirm them. And many people of other faiths, and some people who regard themselves as secular, do affirm them.
Still, these principles, though not unique to Christianity, are at the heart of the moral teaching and social witness of the Christian faith. And they are, as the Manhattan Declaration says, principles that stand at the foundation of our civilization—a civilization shaped in every decisive respect by the Judeo-Christian worldview.
The Manhattan Declaration brought together Catholics, Evangelical Protestants, and Eastern Orthodox Christians in a common witness to these principles. Why, one might ask, would members of these different traditions of Christian faith choose this particular time to unite across the historic lines of theological difference to declare their commitment in conscience to stand for these principles, no matter the cost? The answer is simple: All three of these foundational principles of our civilization are under severe assault from politically, culturally, and economically powerful forces in our society.
Our Goal & Challenges
The Manhattan Declaration was issued in the fall of 2009. Most of its original signers were Christian leaders: Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in America, to name just three. Since that time, we have been joined by nearly half a million others, including priests, deacons, ministers, religious sisters, church officeholders of many descriptions, and ordinary lay Christians. They have added their names by going online to www.manhattandeclaration.org. We hope that many, many more of our fellow believers will join us.
Our hope is to obtain one million signatures. When that hope is realized, Charles Colson, Timothy George, and I, on behalf of all the signers, will request a personal meeting with President Obama to deliver the Declaration with its list of signatories, and to plead for a revision of the policies of his administration that threaten the lives of unborn children, undermine marriage, and jeopardize the religious freedom and rights of conscience of Christians and others who uphold the sanctity of human life and the conjugal understanding of marriage.
Of course, we wish we could obtain one million signatures more swiftly. It took virtually no time to obtain the first quarter-million—the initial “earned media” publicity following upon the release of the Manhattan Declaration made that possible. The second quarter-million, however, have come in more slowly. Among the challenges we face is a lack of funds for publicizing the Declaration and inviting people to sign. We have operated on a tiny budget, most of which has been devoted to creating and maintaining the website. And out of respect for those who have already signed, we have refrained from selling or renting the list of signatories. So we have no source of funds for doing sophisticated mass promotion.
Another challenge stems from the fact that within each of the three traditions of Christian faith represented—Catholic, Evangelical Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox—there have been some individuals who are opposed to the project. Partly this reflects the sad history of Christian division and the troubled relations between the traditions over the centuries. In all three camps, there are some people who simply do not wish to collaborate with people in the others.
There are some, particularly among certain Evangelical leaders, who say that they cannot in conscience participate in the project because they believe it rests upon, or expresses, a level of theological agreement that is inappropriate. Others, especially among the Catholics, are concerned that by joining with Evangelicals in the defense of life, marriage, and religious liberty, they would be sending a false message of overall agreement with the politics of the “religious right.” Still others, especially among the Eastern Orthodox, are opposed to bishops and other church leaders participating in “political” statements of any type.
Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University (web.princeton.edu/sites/jmadison). His books include In Defense of Natural Law (Oxford University Press) and Conscience and Its Enemies (ISI Books). He has served as chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. He is a senior editor of Touchstone.
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more from the online archives
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