Manhattan Declaration & Signers

http://www.demossnews.com/manhattandeclaration/press_kit/manhattan_declaration_signers October 20, 2009 Preamble


Christians are heirs of a 2,000-year tradition of proclaiming God's word, seeking justice in our societies, resisting tyranny, and reaching out with compassion to the poor, oppressed and suffering.

While fully acknowledging the imperfections and shortcomings of Christian institutions and communities in all ages, we claim the heritage of those Christians who defended innocent life by rescuing discarded babies from trash heaps in Roman cities and publicly denouncing the Empire's sanctioning of infanticide. We remember with reverence those believers who sacrificed their lives by remaining in Roman cities to tend the sick and dying during the plagues, and who died bravely in the coliseums rather than deny their Lord.

NEW BRIGHTON, MN: New Lutheran body to form after gay pastor vote

By PATRICK CONDON
http://www.thestate.com/166/story/1034068.html
November 18, 2009

The split over gay clergy within the country's largest Lutheran denomination has prompted a conservative faction to begin forming a new Lutheran church body separate from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Leaders of Lutheran CORE said Wednesday that a working group would immediately begin drafting a constitution and taking other steps to form the denomination, with hopes to have it off the ground by next August.

Catholic Bishops' Pastoral Letter on Marriage

By Mike McManus
November 18, 2009

This week America's Catholic Bishops issued a major Pastoral Letter, "Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan." It is the first such comprehensive declaration of support for marriage by any denomination I have witnessed in nearly three decades of writing this column.

The Letter was prompted by the bishops' concern about several disturbing trends.

First, while young people "esteem marriage," many are "reluctant to make the actual commitment necessary to enter and sustain it." Instead, many are choosing "to live in cohabiting relationships that may or may not lead to marriage and can be detrimental to the well-being of their children and themselves."

Latest US victims of gay-affirmative mandates

November 15th, 2009


When your politically-correct friends discuss the plight of gay victims, you could ask them what they are doing on behalf of those of other sexual 'orientations', whose ways of doing intimate relationships are still either frowned upon or completely anathematized by even the more liberated and progressive-minded in the West. What is ironic is that these other persecuted minorities repeat the LGBT mantra word for word. They cannot understand why they are such pariahs when, according to their literature, they are only doing what comes naturally to them (even as LGBT folk do) and are not hurting anyone else. What about them? Why are they kept in the closet by official LGBT organizations whose moral high ground centres upon the invaluable (but fallacious) 'all are wanted and welcome' claim?

A second point. What of the latest and (for the most part) ignored or mimimized victim category in the US today? Indeed, an almost complete sea change has occurred. The 'poor downtrodden gay' remains the default PC perception. But most are unware of the change which makes this an increasingly irrelevant and outdated perception.

American Muslim Terrorists

By Mike McManus
November 11, 2009

Two American Muslim terrorists are in the news. John Allen Muhammad was executed Tuesday for killing 10 people in Metro Washington in 2002. Last week Army Major Nidal M. Hassan killed 13 people and wounded 31 in Fort Hood, TX.

Muhammad expressed no remorse for his wanton killings. His accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, then 17, hid in the trunk of a car, and fired a stolen .223 caliber Bushmaster rifle at indiscriminate random targets: someone buying gas or sitting at a bus stop. Malvo was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

The killings of Hassan were particularly malevolent and traitorous. An Army Major sworn to protect the United States, deliberately killed U.S. soldiers being processed to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan. Every soldier was a volunteer, putting his life on the line for others. One signed up for the most dangerous duty - defusing bombs, the major killer of U.S. troops.

Free Speech Clause in U.K. Gay Hate Crimes Bill Defeated in House of Commons

By Hilary White

WESTMINSTER, November 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - MPs have voted down a proposal that would have ensured that Christians in the UK retained the freedom to criticise homosexual activity in the country under a proposed hate crimes bill. A free speech amendment in the proposed hate crimes legislation was rejected 342 votes to 145 by MPs on Monday night.

The defeated amendment, proposed by Lord David Waddington, reads, "For the avoidance of doubt, the discussion or criticism of sexual conduct or practices or the urging of persons to refrain from or modify such conduct or practices shall not be taken of itself to be threatening or intended to stir up hatred."

In the proposed bill the offense of "stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation" carries a sentence of up to seven years' imprisonment. Government ministers contend that the clause is unnecessary.

PARIS: Rise of French evangelicals puts secularism in a spin

by Lizzy Davies in Paris
THE GUARDIAN
http://www.theage.com.au/world/rise-of-french-evangelicals-puts-secularism-in-a-spin-20091107-i2te.html
November 8, 2009

Belief in the gospel truth is spreading.

AS THE piano strikes up, the congregation sways, fists in the air, murmurs of hallelujah punctuating the music. Pastor Franck Lefillatre, bathed in the spotlight on his podium, intones into a microphone.

"Let out the words that are in your heart," he urges. His whispers crescendo to booming rhetoric. Behind him, emblazoned in gold lettering, are the words: "Jesus Christ: the same yesterday, today, eternally."

United Methodists hold line on gay issues
Delegates pray prior to a vote on issues related to homosexuality during the 2008 United Methodist General Conference in Fort Worth, Texas.

By Linda Bloom
umc.org
Nov. 4, 2009

Ten years ago, the Rev. Greg Dell was put on trial by The United Methodist Church for performing a same-sex union ceremony.

Since then, a few states have legalized gay marriage and some mainline Protestant denominations, including the Episcopal Church and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, now accept non-celibate gay and lesbian clergy.

Comeback Time for Christians

By William Murchison
http://patriotpost.us/opinion/william-murchison/2009/10/27/comeback-time-for-christians/
October 27, 2009

The Holy Father -- Pope Benedict XVI -- offers to let Episcopalians and other Anglicans of Catholic disposition join the Roman Catholic Church, while retaining characteristics of their Anglican identity. And who in the booming pagan market cares a flying broomstick what the pope does about anything?

Not the Wiccans, an estimated 340,000 strong. Not the worshippers of Wotan or the fallen gods and spirits of the pre-Christian world. Not best-selling God revilers such as Richard Dawkins. Not secularist lawyers arguing in behalf of secularist clients against the display of religious symbols in public places.

PAPHOS, Cyprus: Orthodox-Catholic Commission Studies Primacy of Peter
Concludes 11th Plenary Session in Paphos

By Jesús Colina
Zenit.org
October 23, 2009

The International Mixed Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church has progressed in its reflection on the role of the bishop of Rome. The commission issued a joint communiqué reporting on its progress at the end of its 11th plenary session, ended today in Paphos. The document in question is titled "The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium."

The document is based on a draft prepared by an Orthodox-Catholic committee, which met in Crete last year. At present, the commission is reflecting on the role of the Bishop of Rome in the communion of the Church in the first millennium -- before the Great Schism of 1054. The current work of the commission responds to the appeal made by Pope John Paul II in his 1995 encyclical "Ut Unum Sint" on the "ecumenical commitment," in which he proposed "finding a way to exercise the primacy that, without giving up in any way what is essential to its mission, opens to a new situation."