Christian civil disobedience … time to think about it
The lengthy story in red that follows was in the Washington Times this morning … and then mysteriously removed.
This (click here, later) scaled down story replaced it.
Here is the one that went down the Orwellian memory hole, with bold highlights:
Religious leaders vow civil disobedience on anti-life issues
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.
Here at the ArchAngel Institute we have been foreshadowing this battle for more than two years now. In fact, our Executive Director, Bryan J. Brown, is shoulder deep in this battle. Come to our December 8 banquet to hear much about this. Also check out our category “Refuse, resist or rebel” for more on this subject, including Church teaching.
