On Friday, November 20, Archbishop Robert Duncan and numerous ecumenical Christian leaders from around the globe released the “Manhattan Declaration,” a 4,700 word statement which addresses the sanctity of human life, defense of a biblical and traditional definition of marriage, and the importance of religious liberty.
The document grounds itself in the Christian mandate to proclaim the truth regardless of cultural circumstances, stating that:
“Going back to the earliest days of the church, Christians have refused to compromise their proclamation of the gospel. In Acts 4, Peter and John were ordered to stop preaching. Their answer was, ‘Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.’”
The Declaration was initially signed by more than 125 Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical leaders including Archbishop Duncan, Archbishop Peter Akinola (Primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria), Bishop David Zubik of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, and Archbishop Donald Wuerl of the Catholic Diocese of Washington, D.C., and former Catholic Bishop of Pittsburgh. Since the Declaration’s release, the number of signatories has grown to nearly 80,000.
The Manhattan Declaration website can be found at manhattandeclaration.org, where visitors can add their names to the rapidly growing list of support. A PDF version of the text is also attached to this email.
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