Defense of Innocence

A Petition of Christian Conscience

January 25, 2010January 25, 2010 by Orthodox Editors

BreakPoint | by Chuck Colson | Jan. 22, 2010

One of my all-time favorite movies reminds me that it often takes a bold act to awaken the conscience of a nation. It’s one of the most dramatic scenes in a really great movie. The movie is Amazing Grace. The scene is the House of Commons in the latter years of the eighteenth century. William Wilberforce stuns his parliamentary colleagues by unrolling an enormous scroll down the aisle. On the scroll were the signatures of 390,000 Englishmen, demanding that Parliament abolish the slave trade—the greatest moral issue of the day. [Read more…]

The Critics of the Manhattan Declaration

January 19, 2010January 19, 2010 by Orthodox Editors

OrthodoxyToday | by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon | Dec. 20, 2009

Just as interesting as the recent Manhattan Declaration, perhaps, is the variety of responses the document elicited among those conservative Christians who declined to endorse it.

Commenting on this subject not long ago, I was reluctant to ascribe motives to such individuals, beyond the reasons they explicitly offered. I had my suspicions, nonetheless, as I hinted by mentioning their refusal to “associate with the other signers.” That is to say, I suspected that the identity of some of the signers was taken, in certain cases, as a reason for not signing. [Read more…]

Shameless Huck-stering

December 3, 2009December 3, 2009 by Orthodox Editors

Every time politicians give dangerous criminals a pass, innocence pays the price. It is time to stop this insanity and hold them accountable.

American Thinker | by Jane Jamison | Dec. 3, 2009

Mike Huckabee should never hold an executive public office again. His self-absorbed behavior in the past forty-eight hours shows he believes his personal political aspirations are more important than a respectful mourning period for four police officers. The cops are dead in major part due to a decision Huckabee made nine years ago.

The four young police officers, all of them parents, were killed execution-style in the Seattle suburbs Sunday morning as they enjoyed a quiet coffee break. The suspect, Maurice Clemmons, was a whacked-out, multi-convicted loser who was out on bail for raping eleven- and twelve-year-old girls. [Read more…]

Pulling the Plug on the Conscience Clause

December 3, 2009December 3, 2009 by Orthodox Editors

First Things | by Wesley J. Smith | December 2009

Over the past fifty years, the purposes and practices of medicine have changed radically. Where medical ethics was once life-affirming, today’s treatments and medical procedures increasingly involve the legal taking of human life. The litany is familiar: More than one million pregnancies are extinguished each year in the United States, thousands late-term. Physician-assisted suicide is legal in Oregon, Washington, and, as this is written, Montana via a court ruling (currently on appeal to the state supreme court). One day, doctors may be authorized to kill patients with active euthanasia, as they do already in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. [Read more…]

Manhattan Declaration – Religion Takes a Stand

November 23, 2009November 24, 2009 by Orthodox Editors

Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their faith, have defended the weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly to protect and strengthen vital institutions of civil society, beginning with the family.

We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them. [Read more…]

The Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience

November 23, 2009January 21, 2025 by Orthodox Editors

American Orthodox Institute | by Fr. Johannes Jacobse | Nov. 22, 2009

On November 22, 2009 group of Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant leaders unveiled a document called “The Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience” that affirms the traditional Christian teaching concerning abortion, homosexual marriage, and religious freedom. The Declaration asserts that these three issues (sanctity of life, the definition of marriage, and freedom of worship) are under assault in western Democracies and call Christians into non-violent resistance against the injustices and, if necessary, non-violent non-compliance with the laws that would require a Christian to violate his conscience. (Read full text.)

The Declaration opens:

We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them. These truths are (1) the sanctity of human life, (2) the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife, and (3) the rights of conscience and religious liberty…We make this commitment not as partisans of any political group but as followers of Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

[Read more…]

Remembering the Victims of Communism

November 9, 2009November 9, 2009 by Orthodox Editors

Twenty years ago today, the Berlin Wall was breached and Soviet communism finally entered its death spiral. After claiming more than 100 million victims communism was dismissed to the ash heap of history. But the innocents who were enslaved, imprisoned, tortured, and killed under its demonic reign have largely been ignored, especially by the left and the liberals. [Read more…]

Knocking Human Beings Off the Pedestal of Exceptionalism

November 5, 2009November 5, 2009 by Orthodox Editors

Church Report | by Wesley J. Smith | Oct. 30, 2009

Society’s belief in the unique moral value and importance of human life is under unprecedented assault. Most people still believe in human exceptionalism and are unaware that powerful social and cultural forces are working diligently to dismantle the sanctity of life ethic as the fundamental value of our social order. But the time has come to pay attention. If human life is knocked off the pedestal, universal human rights will be impossible to sustain. [Read more…]

Charity and Sacrifice in a Free Society

October 31, 2009 by Orthodox Editors

American Thinker | by Andrew Foy and Brenton Stransky | Oct. 31, 2009

The Founding Founders established a Republic under a written Constitution with the clear intent of protecting individual freedom; however, the role of our government has been grossly perverted over the last century to the point where politicians now violate individual rights routinely and without batting an eye. Most violations occur under the banner of providing for the public good, and to garner support, call upon the virtues of charity and sacrifice. Fortunately, charity and sacrifice in a free society are individual and personal undertakings and as a rule, cannot be subject to coercion if liberty is to be maintained. The current President and various members of both political parties do not abide by this rule and as such are positioning themselves as tyrants; servitude will be the price we pay unless we stand up today and defend our rights boldly and educate the broader public on the proper role of charity and sacrifice in a free society. [Read more…]

Remembering 9/11 and Thomas Gardner Firefighter FDNY

September 11, 2009September 11, 2009 by Orthodox Editors

by Adam Leiter | Sep. 11, 2009

The best way for me to remember 9/11 is to remind everyone of my friend FDNY Firefighter Tommy Gardner, lost in the South Tower on 9/11/01.

He and I were in first grade class together at PS 107 in 1968, in Flushing, Queens, NY. We were in every grade and school together until we graduated high school in 1980. He joined FDNY in 1982. He was in several FDNY units, the last being Hazmat 1. [Read more…]