What is the Manhattan Declaration?

By Deacon Nick Schwartz

In our country today we are witnessing: 1) an unrelenting assault on the sanctity of human life, 2) greater than ever pressure to abandon the biblical view of marriage as the conjugal union between husband and wife, and 3) an ever-increasing threat to the rights of conscious and religious liberty. I don’t think I am making an overstatement when I say our county is at a crossroads. But what should we do? What can we do?

A group of Christian leaders had the very same questions. After talking amongst themselves they had come to the conclusion that these issues have reached a critical tipping point; they also believed it was time for the church to take a united stand and to speak with one voice. So on September 28, 2009, the first draft of a statement was presented at a meeting of Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, and Evangelical religious leaders in Manhattan. This document became known as the Manhattan Declaration.

There were 193 original signers of the Manhattan Declaration, including 21 Catholic bishops and archbishops. Other Catholic signers you may recognize include Rev. Peter Stravinskas, Michael Novak, Dr. Peter Kreeft, Fr. Joseph Fessio, Dr. William Donohue, Dinesh D'Souza, and George Weigel.

The Manhattan Declaration is a statement of Christian conscience, a confession of religious conviction supported by followers of Jesus Christ from the Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical families of faith. It eloquently states, in no uncertain terms, that every human life from conception to natural death is sacred, inviolable, and possessed of the full dignity of a human person created in the image of God. The document continues by saying that marriage is the conjugal joining together of one man and one woman in a covenantal bond of mutual love and is the proper context for the nurture of children and the strengthening of family life. It also declares that religious liberty and freedom of conscience are intended for all persons and must not be trampled upon by the intrusive power of the state.

But the best may have been saved for last. The Manhattan Declaration concludes this superbly written document by saying: “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. 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.”

Since the release of the final draft on November 20, 2009, over 300,000 people have signed the document on-line. I urge you to go to www.manhattandeclaration.org, read the entire document and then sign the Declaration. Join with other American Christians who have drawn a line in the sand and said no more. We must return sanity and morality to our country.