Originally published 05:45 a.m., November 21, 2009, updated 07:31 a.m., November 21, 2009
Religious leaders vow civil disobedience on anti-life issues
Julia Duin
More than 150 leaders across a spectrum of conservative Christianity on Friday
released a 4,700-word document vowing civil disobedience if they are forced to
take part in "anti-life acts" or bless gay marriages.
Called the "Manhattan Declaration," the six-page, single-spaced document was
drafted by Prison Fellowship founder Charles Colson, an evangelical, and
Princeton University professor Robert P. George, a Roman Catholic, and included
a bevy of Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox bishops, archbishops and cardinals as
signatories along with dozens of clergy and laity.
Archbishop of Washington Donald W. Wuerl is one of the signatories.
"Throughout the centuries, Christianity has taught that civil disobedience is
not only permitted, but sometimes required," says the document which cited civil
rights icon Martin Luther King and his willingness to go to jail for his
beliefs.
"Because we honor justice and the common good," it states, "we will not comply
with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in
abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide or 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."
When pressed to say what sorts of civil disobedience the writers were proposing,
its originators were vague on the details at Friday's news conference during
which the document was released.
"We certainly hope it doesn't come to that," said Mr. George, who added that he
has represented a West Virginia resident who has refused to pay a portion of her
state income tax that funds abortions. "However, we see case after case of
challenges to religious liberty," such as compelling pharmacists to carry
abortifacient drugs or health care workers to assist in abortions, he added.
"When the limits of conscience are reached and you cannot comply, it's better to
suffer a wrong than to do it," he said.
There are at least 224 million Christians in the United States, according to the
Web site Adherents.com.
The document, which was drafted over the summer, is being released at a time of
high stress for many of the groups that signed it. The Archdiocese of Washington
is under fire for saying it will not comply with a pending D.C. law that would
force the Catholic Church to give health benefits or adoption services to
same-sex couples.
Archbishop Wuerl, who attended the news conference, said it was a "joy" to
welcome the religious leaders at the news conference and emphasized that their
task "is to change human hearts. That is how society is changed."
Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali, one of the signers, said people's
consciences must be formed first.
"The institution of marriage is at risk of being redefined at its very essence,"
he said. "Justice demands that we not remain silent in face of these threats."
However, he twice dodged a reporter's question about whether it would be a
mortal sin for a politician to vote for a national health care bill that
obligates taxpayers to pay for abortions.
Several speakers said the document was moral, not political, in nature and that
the bulk of it defines three core issues: life, marriage and religious liberty.
"This is truly a matter of the heart," said the Rev. Robert Sirico, founder of
the Michigan-based Acton Institute. "To portray it as something other is to
mischaracterize our intentions."
But the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Washington-based Americans
United for Separation of Church and State, said the document was very political.
"I am optimistic that the people in the pews will not heed their leaders'
misguided call to action," he said. "Polls show that most churchgoers do not
want to see their faith politicized. But I am also well aware that religious
leaders have vast lobbying power that cannot be ignored."
The document does portray a gloomy picture of the current political situation,
citing the "pro-abortion ideology [that] prevails today in our government."
It adds, "The present administration is led and staffed by those who want to
make abortions legal at any stage of fetal development and who want to provide
abortions at taxpayer expense. Majorities in both houses [of Congress] hold
pro-abortion views."
The first 148 signatures include Southern Baptists, Anglicans, the Orthodox
Church of America (OCA), members of Reformed, evangelical, Hispanic Protestant,
Church of God in Christ, Antiochian Orthodox and Evangelical Free Church
traditions plus the executives of numerous parachurch ministries.
There were only a handful of Presbyterians, United Methodists and Pentecostals,
and no apparent signatories from Seventh-day Adventist, Messianic Jewish and
Episcopal churches.
Christians: gently but effectively hobbling dictatorial governments for 2000 years.