U. S. Protestants and Catholics Unite on Ethical Policy

The NY Times has covered an encouraging development in the sphere of religion and politics. They write,

"145 evangelical, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders have signed a declaration saying they will not cooperate with laws that they say could be used to compel their institutions to participate in abortions, or to bless or in any way recognize same-sex couples."

The pledge entitled, "Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience" (October 20, 2009, reads,

"We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence."

Chuck Colson's comments regarding the "big three" issues—abortion, stem-cell research, and gay marriage—are critical to the discussion:

"We argue that there is a hierarchy of issues. A lot of the younger evangelicals say they're all alike. We're hoping to educate them that these are the three most important issues."

I have been arguing this for years, but rarely is it articulated in discussions among Christians of differing opinions on the issues at hand. (For a defense of this, see my "Procedure for Ethical Political Decision-Making").