RON SIDER
Why Did I Sign? In November I joined a number of prominent political conservatives to endorse and promote the Manhattan Declaration at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The focus of the declaration is on three issues: the sanctity of human life, marriage, and religious freedom. Many of the news stories have said this declaration represents the return of the “Religious Right” with its view that these three issues are the most important moral issues of our time. So why did I speak at the press conference and urge people to sign the Manhattan Declaration? First, let me clear up some misunderstanding. The declaration does NOT say that the three issues it emphasizes are the three most important issues of our time. The declaration clearly affirms the way Christians over the centuries have worked for justice for the poor and oppressed and led the way in the battles against slavery and racism and in favor of the vote for women. It also insists that “ours is, and must be, a truly consistent ethic of love and life for all humans in all circumstances.” (That sounds to me like ESA’s “completely pro-life” agenda!) The declaration does say that we are “especially troubled” that human life, marriage, and religious freedom are severely threatened today. While it calls all three of these “foundational principles of justice,” it does not say they are the only foundational principles of justice. If it had I could not have signed, because I think God’s special concern for the poor, the call to stewardship/care for creation, and the summons to peacemaking, for example, are also foundational principles of justice. Nothing in the declaration says otherwise. It is true, nonetheless, that I was the only spokesperson at the National Press Club who
has often been identified as a political “liberal” or “progressive.” I object to these labels, because I am clearly conservative on some political issues and clearly liberal on others. So why was I there? First, because I believe what the declaration says on the three issues is right and important. Second, because I have always sought to build bridges. And third, because I think it helps us ESA folk win a hearing on issues like justice for the poor and creation care with political conservatives when we stand with them on issues like the sanctity of human life and marriage. Likewise, it helps us gain credibility with liberals on abortion and marriage when we work with them on equality for women, economic justice, and climate change. The Manhattan Declaration acknowledges that the sanctity of human life is under enormous threat by self-centered individualism. Too many women choose abortions because a baby is inconvenient. Too many people are comfortable with sacrificing human embryos so that others may someday enjoy better health. And too many are ready to help the sick and the elderly end their lives because caring for them is expensive and difficult. I believe it is urgent that we say no to this culture of death. I also think it will be almost impossible to preserve a decent society unless we can restore the institution of marriage to much greater health. Fifty years ago, less than five percent of our children were born out of wedlock. Today it is more than 40 percent. The declaration rightly confesses that Christians have contributed to the decline of marriage by easily embracing the culture of divorce and calls for repentance by Christians, and I agree that redefining marriage to include samesex unions will weaken, not strengthen, the institution of marriage. I also signed the Manhattan Declaration because all my life I have sought to build bridges across what many thought PRISM 2010
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were unbridgeable chasms. I have tried to help Christians focused on evangelism see that other Christians emphasizing social action were partly right (and vice versa). I have tried to help white evangelicals understand African American Christians. I have tried to help Catholics, evangelicals, mainline Protestants, and Orthodox Christians understand each other—and have counted it a high privilege to play a leadership role in Christian Churches Together. Within the last year, I worked with Jim Wallis, Michael Gerson, and others to bring together “liberal” and “conservative” Christians to find common ground on concrete programs to empower poor Americans (ThePovertyForum.org). I also recently joined in a Third Way project to bring evangelicals and secular progressives together to define some limited but substantial agreement on several issues, including abortion and homosexuality. (Click on “Come Let Us Reason Together” at ThirdWay.org.) More evangelicals are in fact moving toward what ESA has long called a stance that is pro-life and pro-poor, pro-family and pro-peace, pro-sexual integrity and pro-creation care. That is especially clear in the National Association of Evangelicals’ consensus document, “For the Health of the Nation.”The Manhattan Declaration is more narrowly focused, but it repeatedly affirms the importance of other significant issues. Thus, in its own way, it too is a reflection of the growing number of Christians who affirm what I call a “biblically balanced agenda.” The signers of the Manhattan Declaration represent a broad range of Christians. Prominent Catholics (two archbishops and the president of the major Orthodox seminary) joined evangelicals to speak at the press conference. Within less than a week of its release, over 165,000 people had added their signature! I invite you to do the same (go to ESA-online.org to read the Manhattan Declaration). n