One of my heros is Richard John Neuhaus who died in January of this year. He with Chuck Colson founded a group which united Evangelicals and Catholics and sought to have religion occupy its rightful place in the public square. That effort and others like it have become a prelude to the recently released, Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience published on November 20th, 2009. It is drafted by an ecumenical group and signed by over 150 people of conscience. In detail it explains reasonable conscientious objections to laws that dispose of life either embryonic, mature or aged, to laws that redefine traditional marriage, and to laws that deny religious liberty and rights of conscience. While lengthly it is historically accurate, logical and traditional for people of courage and faith. I highly commend it, if only to see the names of the signers at the end!
While I’m at it, there was an interesting item in foxnews.com today, Tensions Flare Between Religious Leaders and Lawmakers Over Abortion. It relates, inter alia, RI Bishop Tobin taking one of the little Kennedy squirts, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., down a notch; Kennedy, like Pelosi, Biden, Sebelius, and others call themselves Catholic–lies like so many others they’ve told. In Secretary of Health Sebelius’ case Archbishop Naumann likewise clipped her Catholic wings for her hyper-pro abortion stance. As a Catholic, I say kudos to Bishops Tobin and Naumann; there should be more like them!
Tom Motherway