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Loading ...Christian leaders issue ‘call of conscience’
11.20.2009 11:10am EST
(Washington) More than 150 Christian leaders, most of them conservative evangelicals and traditionalist Roman Catholics, issued a joint declaration Friday reaffirming their opposition to abortion and gay marriage and pledging to protect religious freedoms.
The 4,700-word document, called “The Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience,” sounds familiar themes from political and social debates over the health care overhaul and gay marriage battles.While acknowledging that “Christians and our institutions have too often scandalously failed to uphold the institution of marriage,” the group rejects same-sex marriage. The declaration states that opening a legal door for gay marriage would do the same for “polyamorous partnerships, polygamous households, even adult brothers, sisters, or brothers and sisters living in incestuous relationships.”
President Barack Obama’s desire to reduce the need for abortion is “a commendable goal,” but his proposals are likely to increase the number of elective abortions, the document contends.
“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,” it says.
Obama has said he wants to strike a balance on abortion coverage in the health care overhaul.
The declaration also cites threats to health care workers’ conscience clauses and anti-discrimination statutes it argues impinge on religious freedoms.
Signatories include 15 Roman Catholic bishops, including New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan and Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl; Focus on the Family founder James Dobson; National Association of Evangelicals president Leith Anderson; seminary leaders, professors and pastors.
How about the useless gay organizations like HRC team with GLAAD and others to issue our own Manhattan Declaration that religious cults will be targeted for removal of their tax exempt status for starters? The war with them is just beginning. Time for our collective gloves to come off. Fight back, give them what they give us only more deadly.
I am disappointed that 365Gay in this instance did not take the time to rewrite the headline or any part of this story. You are abdicating your responsibility to the LGBTQ community by allowing this point of view to go unchallenged. At the very least the headline should have been changed to accurately reflect what is truly happening here: Religious institutions are banding together to attack the LGBTQ community.
I hope in the future 365Gay will act more responsibly, as it usually does, on behalf of the community it otherwise so well serves.
I laugh every time a christian thinks they have ownership over marriage and feel the need to police it.
They will lose, no doubt about it.
A declaration of war on organized religion is so tempting in retribution for all the hatred and torment it has caused in the name of a loving God, but would be counterproductive. My guess is that 75-80% of Americans give neither gay rights nor religious doctrine much serious thought at all. They sort of go with the prevailing wind as far as positive or negative views.
However, most of those people view organized religion as something commendable, even if it does seem to be out of touch with their day-to-day lives. They see it as something striving for good and the betterment of society, even if it very often falls short. By declaring jihad on christian denominations, we would play right into the hands of the 5% who are fervent christians who say that homosexuals are filled with the devil and the country will go to hell in a hand basket if we are given civil rights.
There is definitely a time for being strident and antagonistic. But how will that achieve our goal of convincing people that we are no better and no worse than they, just a little different in our sexual orientation and expression? Demonizing churches which are admired by the majority of Americans will curry no favor with voters, legislators, or casual church-goers.
They must be REALLY afraid that the brainwashing is starting to wear off!
Opponents of marriage equality always argue that it will open the door to people marrying family members or animals or objects. Personally, I’ve never met even one person who wanted to marry a family member, animal, or object, but apparently it happens in their world with an alarming frequency. I really think they should be examining this! Maybe move to a different neighborhood or something…
At first I wanted to laugh at the idea of Christian leaders having a conscience, but then I realized that this is exactly the core of the problem: religion/ conscience are personal, while equality of civil rights is a public matter. Religious leaders are trying to impose their own personal views over everybody else. Unfortunately for them, we are not living in the dark ages anymore. How would they feel if not wearing burquas or eating pork were made illegal? Those are conscience issues for Muslims. How about banning killing mosquitoes? That is a conscience issue for Buddhists.
Christian leaders should stop abusing children, start paying tax, then they may talk. Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
And this is news…….how?
here’s your fekkin Call of Christian Conscience…WILMINGTON, Del. – The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington says it is obligated to keep paying retirement benefits to six priests who church officials have confirmed are pedophiles.
The diocese filed for Chapter 11 protection last month. Officials had told the judge the church would not make any payments to priests accused of sexual abuse without a court order, even if the abuse had not been substantiated.
But in a filing late Thursday, the diocese said it has an obligation to care for retired clergy, including priests dismissed from public ministry.
The motion asks for permission to continue paying benefits to six confirmed pedophiles, including 80-year-old former priest Francis DeLuca, who was defrocked after serving a jail term in New York for repeatedly abusing his grandnephew.
The implication is that myh civil rites should be compromised to 2nd class status because that might conflict with the beliefs of those they have effectively brainwashed with their mythologies.
There should be no tax exempt status for religious institutions simply because there is supposed to be a separation of church and state.
The moment we allow any religion to start dictating publicy policy, this country if effectively doomed.
Convenient that they don’t bring up the fact that where gay marriage is legal, like Canada, Spain etc. – there has not been a rush for people to go out and marry their siblings.
Their ignorance is laughable but their ability to effect the votes of their cult is not.
As if “Christian leaders” had a conscience.
It’s hard to believe what religion can get away with in your country.
There’s a lot of talk about this, but no apparent action – you MUST tie them up in litigation over their tax status. Otherwise, YOU will continue to fund the opposition to your equality. It’s as simple as that.
There’s a narrow line between religious observance and bigotry, and this document definitely crosses it.
It doesn’t cross that line by merely objecting to same-sex marriage. Every religion has a slightly different understanding of what a marriage should be, and for some their definition of a marriage is a union between a man and a woman. I can respect those beliefs. I disagree with them. I don’t believe for one second that any religious organization should have the right to dictate to the State or other religious groups who should or should not be allowed to marry, but I respect the right of certain religious organizations to believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman.
They are entitled to their beliefs as we are entitled to ours. They are entitled to publicize those beliefs as we are entitled to publicize ours. They are entitled to fight for their beliefs as they are entitled to fight for ours.
But the thing is, these religious groups know that they have no valid ammunition in the fight against same-sex marriage. They can refuse to recognize same-sex unions. They can refuse to conduct same-sex marriage ceremonies. But in a nation that embraces freedom of religion and permits non-religious civil marriage ceremonies, they know that their religious arguments alone just won’t cut it.
And so they resort to tactics like this. They produce documents like this one with hysterical claims that if you allow same-sex marriage then you’re opening the door to polygamous and incestuous unions. If you allow same-sex marriage then you’re inviting the evil gays to rape your children and burn your homes.
These groups are entitled to their beliefs. They are entitled to oppose same-sex marriage. But they know that if they engage in a fair fight against it, if they rely on the truth, it’s a battle they can’t possibly win, and so they come up with these same old lies time and time again.
I don’t blame them for speaking out against something they oppose – that’s something every man and woman should do – but it’s about time they cut the crap. It’s about time these religious groups stop coming out with these ridiculous, baseless lies and just say why they really oppose same-sex marriage.
Trouble is, simply saying that they believe it is against the will of their God isn’t quite as effective as the lies, now is it?
Interesting, though, that these so called Christians feel justified in resorting to such tactics. A common interpretation of the Ninth Commandment (thou shalt not bear false witness), an interpretation I heard espoused many times as a child when I was dragged to church, is that lying of any kind is a sin, a direct violation of God’s ten most holy laws. Other than the tongue-in-cheek interpretation of “thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s ass”, those same commandments say nothing about homosexuality, and yet they do seem to prohibit lying.
Interesting how in their so-called “call of conscience” the truth, and indeed their religion, seem to play a very minor role.
I have a suggestion. Let’s throw all the bastards into a huge pot of boiling bacon grease. PRAISE JESUS and YODA
Will someone please inform me as to where in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights is states that religious property should be exempt from taxes???