The Roman Catholic Agenda Embedded in the Manhattan Declaration

The “Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience” is a manifesto issued by Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christian leaders to affirm support of “the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty”. It was drafted on October 20, 2009, and released November 20, 2009, having been signed by more than 150 American religious leaders. – Wikipedia

Of the 100 evangelicals who signed the document, the most famous people or institutions they head I know of are Dr. Mark Bailey, President, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dr. James Dobson, Founder, Focus on the Family, Campus Crusade for Christ International, Dr. Wayne Grudem, Christianity Today International, Jerry Jenkins, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Moody Bible Institute.

Those who did not sign include John MacArthur, R. C. Sproul, and James White.

What former Catholic priest, Richard Bennett has to say about it:

In order to soften up the Evangelicals in their separation from the Catholics on Biblical doctrinal issues, particularly the authority of the Bible alone and the Gospel, the Catholic modus operandi calls for using social issues on which both Evangelicals and Catholics agree as preliminary common ground. The major social issues selected by the Manhattan Declaration are acceptable, but what gives away the underlying Catholic far left political agenda is some of the vocabulary used. This vocabulary has a general meaning, to be sure, but in the context of Roman Catholic social doctrine, it means something quite specific.

As Evangelicals are drawn together with Catholics on social issues – like the social issues mentioned in this document – the ensuing ecumenical dialogue “serves to transform modes of thought and behavior and the daily life of their [Evangelical] communities [churches]. In this way, it [ecumenical dialogue] aims at preparing the way for their unity of faith in the bosom of a Church one and visible: thus ‘little by little’…all Christians will be gathered” into the Roman Catholic Church-State with its dual authority base, false gospel, and accompanying far left agenda.

The Roman Catholic Church-State’s primary goal is to make enforceable its claim that it is the only true church of Jesus Christ and its pope, the claimed “Vicar of Christ,” has the right to judge everybody, as he did during the Middle Ages. In order to accomplish this, the Papacy must do away with the supreme authority of the Bible and the Gospel and it must silence all who stand against it in this endeavor. This is the Roman Catholic context in which the Manhattan Declaration is set.

(Quoted from https://www.trinityfoundation.org/journal.php?id=270)