The city ‘that never sleeps’ and which is the cure for ‘small town blues’ has rather incongruously become the location for a gathering of evangelical, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox ministers to issue a joint statement against the current cultural moral decline called the Manhattan Declaration. Since then, a firestorm!
Those evangelicals who signed it are accused of compromising because throughout the Manhattan Declaration the term ‘Christian’ is used to define all three groups. Plus, very little mention is made in the declaration about the gospel itself (inevitably given the different views on the gospel the original signatories of the document hold).
Common cause
In their defence, the evangelical leaders have said that this is very different from the much-pilloried Evangelicals and Catholics Together statements, because the intention is not to define the gospel but rather acknowledge a common cause on moral issues with other religious groups. There certainly are those who have signed the Manhattan Declaration who would not sign an Evangelicals and Catholics Together statement.
