1. What is the Manhattan Declaration?
The Manhattan Declaration is a six-page document that highlights three threshold issues for the Christian community and for the non-Christian community. And that is the sanctity of human life, the importance of marriage defined as one-man, one-woman, and also religious freedom. These are three threshold issues that the framers and the signers agree to. Chuck Colson, Dr. Robbie George from Princeton, as well as Dr. Timothy George from Beeson Divinity School were the drafters of the document, and now I think we have over 150,000, maybe 200,000 signers to the document. Very basic Christian principles that are trying to unite the Christian community and provide a proposal to the culture to say these core things are important to the culture. Not just Christians benefit from the sanctity of human life, but all of humanity benefits when we are defending innocent life.
2. Why was it important for you to personally sign the declaration?
It was important for me to sign the document fundamentally because I believe in the tenets of the document: the idea that marriage is important as defined as one man and one woman. This isn't what we're against, it's what we're for – and the importance of marriage in raising the next generation of children and teaching our faith to those kids, along with the idea of religious freedom.
3. You were present at the signing. What was the most profound moment for you?
One of the most profound moments being there at the press conference for the declaration was the Eastern Orthodox representative talking about their ability to speak freely about their faith being muzzled during the Soviet Union in the time of communism and the dominance of communism in the East Block. People were tortured and killed because of what they believed; not what they did but what they thought and what they expressed in their faith in Christ. We never want to see a country have to go through that again – and especially the United States, where our No. 1 amendment, the First Amendment, talks about religious freedom. We need to preserve that right, and this document declares that right.
4. Why do you think the declaration is resonating with so many people?
I think for many reasons it's resonating with a lot of people around the country – Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant believers and even non-believers. We've heard from some people that would oppose us on the idea of God, but at the same time they agree with the principles of religious freedom. And I think that is attracting a lot of signers from a lot of different faiths and people of no faith – because they see the importance of religious freedom.
5. Is the declaration a political document?
I don't think this is a political document. I think again what we've said and what Dr. Dobson has said for many years is these are the moral issues that have found their way into the public square. Government has grabbed these issues like abortion, like marriage. These are fundamentally sacred issues that the church has always led. And I believe that's why people are resonating with the document. That's why people are willing to sign it, because these cornerstone threshold values are so deeply held by most religious people.
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