It’s called the Manhattan Declaration, and here it is in a nutshell:
THE MANHATTAN DECLARATION
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.
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The statement was drafted in New York on Septebmer 28, 2009 by Charles Colson, a prominent evangelical who founded Prison Fellowship after serving time in prison for his role in the Watergate scandal, Robert P. George, a Catholic professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University; and the Rev. Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School, an evangelical interdenominational school on the campus of Samford University, in Birmingham, Alabama. In just a few days since it was made public on November 20, it has received over 100,000 signatures, including those of over a 150 prominent religious leaders. Among the American Catholic hierarchy signing are: Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, Archbishops Donald Wuerl of Washington, Timothy Dolan of New York, Charles Chaput of Denver, Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, John Myers of Newark, John Nienstedt of St Paul and Minneapolis, Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, and Bishops Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, David Zubik of Pittsburgh, and Richard Malone of Portland, who just lately led the successful campaign to prevent Maine from changing the definition of marriage.
You can read the full 4,700 word statement and sign here:
More powerful testimony by Abby Johnson, former director of Bryan, TX Planned Parenthood, who quit to join the Coalition for Life:
She describes how watching an abortion via ultrasound changed her life and her view of abortion.
As Johnson noted, ultrasound abortions are very rarely done in abortion clinics, because it makes the reality of life and death in the womb too obvious.
There was another server shutdown all day yesterday, or I would have posted something before this about the final vote on the health care bill in the House. It was certain exciting. The biggest and best news was that after months of underhanded maneuvering to keep the Stupak-Pitts Amendment keeping public-funded abortions out of health care from reaching the floor for a vote, Speaker Pelosi finally had to relent, because it was becoming increasingly clear that the legislation would not pass without it. The Stupak-Pitts Amendment passed resoundingly 240-194, with 64 prolife Democrats supporting it. The final vote on the health care bill was much closer: 220-215. There is no guarantee, however, that this amendment will stay in the bill in conference, or when when combined with the Senate’s own bill.
In spite of my sneaky suspicion that it’s not really Christian to do so, it does feel sweet to listen to the proponents of the Culture of Death wail and gnash their teeth over this defeat.
Planned Parenthood, for one, says that now it has no choice but to oppose the health care bill. Because you know, it was never about real health care for women for them, but about abortion.
These are the folks who would accuse of being single issue voters! Maybe Rep. Patrick Kennedy should stand up and tell them that one side should not deal in “absolutes.” On the other hand, I can’t really see him doing that.
The thing is, you can promote either absolute good, or absolute evil. I know which I would rather do.
Shouts of “Kill the bill” and “Healthcare for all” by competing groups of demonstrators livened up the halls outside of Congressional offices yesterday. Protesters opposed to the Democrats’ health-care bill tore up copies of the legislation as the chanted. Arrested inside House Speaker Pelosi’s office was the frail, elderly Catholc prolife priest Fr. Norman Weslin, who was also tearing up bills. The video of this wild scene was evidently shot by someone in Randall Terry’s party (yes, he was there too). It’s up on his YouTube Channel.
The mainstream media has largely ignored the incident, as well as the protest of some 10-20,000 people outside.
Something tells me this fight is going to get even fiercer before it’s over.
Would you kill someone for a million dollars? That’s the question raised in the New film The Button. The couple who receive the proposal in the film evidently do some soul-searching for the answer. On the other hand, the pro-abortion comments I’m reading online makes it credible that many people would actually react as in this video (courtesty of www.Funnyordie.com).
Pausing to look at all the sights on our way to Jerusalem. . . Mainly about faith, the Church, film, writing, famous Christian authors, and anything else I'm interested in at the moment.
The photo above was taken at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome in March 2007.
Quote of the Month
"The history of the Catholic missions is by now a long road: at the beginning of that road is the Father of Mercy, who holds out his arms to all his children. All those who encounter the missionaries encounter the Father. And they also encounter the Son, the first missionary, who, obeying the Father, comes to earth, becomes flesh in human nature, is one of us, in solidarity with our misery (except for sin) and ends up dying for us in order to then return to heaven, carrying on his shoulders the human race his has won back.
Out of the same mold are the missionaries, who repeat, in some way, his journey. They too leave their fathers and families and depart to go among a foreign people. They too strip themselves of the refined culture they have acquired in their homelands; and of their native customs and habitat, of a hundred little comforts, in order to be in solidarity. With who? With a people who are on one hand naked and poor, and on the other rich in possibilities, which the missionaries intend to respect, value and elevate."
Albino Luciani (Pope John Paul I), to the people of his diocese of Vittorio Veneto, on his return from the diocesan missions in Africa in 1966
