It has long been my own personal observation that the "table" of ideas, leadership and civic authority in America has been reduced by one chair. Christians have been inexorably, deliberately excluded from their traditional seat at this table. Pervasive secularly-defined tolerance has elbowed aside meaningful contribution from moral voices.
Only recently, here in our small town, Christians discovered how small was their influence and how puny was their voice. Civic leaders made a decision with a moral undertone without expecting any backlash. When Christians arrived at a meeting, they were greeted with open skepticism and a deaf ear. The city's leaders seemed not to have considered that Christians would have anything to say regarding their decision.
Recent political developments have alarmed lots of pastors. It is not far from hate-crimes and hate-speech legislation to political censorship of spiritual thought. Already erosion of freedom in the pulpits of America has occurred as pastors have been legally threatened for preaching the Biblical view of homosexuality.
This far, but no further. We are facing anti-life, anti-marriage, anti-free speech political forces that are stepping into the moral sphere. We render to Caesar what is Caesar's but we reserve for God the spiritual, moral world that is His. Our denominational points of separation are of minimal importance in this stance. We must begin to stand together and elbow our way back up to the table of public debate.
Please read the Manhattan Declaration. I urge you to sign it. And to stick to it.
