Last week I received a package inviting me to sign an enclosed petition in favour of something called “The Manhattan Declaration”. The accompanying letter did not give any details about this declaration but when I Googled it I found out that the 4,700-word declaration claims to speak in defence of the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty. It is run by American fundamentalist Christians from various denominations who do not necessarily represent the official views of their denominations. The letter is signed by two individuals with indecipherable signatures purporting to be the Chairman and Director of the Business Community respectively of an organisation called Voices for Life. It seeks to tie in several issues that naturally trouble most Belizeans such as violent crime, high HIV infection rates in Belize and abortion.
The letter is long on unsubstantiated and misleading “facts” and very short on specifics and claims that it supports Belizeans being able to choose again. This well financed campaign is part of the larger response of members of the US religious right to turn back the clock in their own country, especially on abortion. In Belize it is being masterminded by a few foreign missionaries with representation of some Belizean figureheads. Though the letter is cloaked in high sounding appeals to a Christian heritage, the writers appear to be unconcerned with the ninth commandment which exhorts not to bear false witness against our neighbour or Proverbs 12:22 which states that lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. It is certainly unethical to mislead people and to ask them to sign a petition without making it clear what exactly the petition calls for.
The letter mentions in particular their desire to amend Belizean laws on abortion to make them more restrictive. Unlike the US, abortion is not legal in Belize but there are some exceptions that allow an abortion if two doctors consider that it is in the best interests of the health of the mother. Contrary to the claims in the letter, these exceptions are rarely applied in Belize and those abortions that do occur are mainly done outside of the law. Since most abortions are not done legally they show up in the system only when a complication of the procedure leads to hospitalisation of the patient. Changing the law would in no way affect such procedures. However, to take one example, it would mean that a mother who discovers at four months that the baby she is carrying has not developed any brain would still have to carry that fetus for another five months and go through the pain of childbirth knowing that the baby cannot survive. It would also mean that a physician would not be able to perform an abortion, at any stage, even if the pregnancy was likely to kill the mother and/or the baby. Women who have become pregnant because of incest or rape would also have no legal choices.
When this group speaks for the rights of Belizeans being able to choose again it really means the right of the leaders of this group to choose for all Belizeans. It seeks to take the current laws on abortion which date from the 1950s back to legislation that dates from 1890 or thereabouts.
There is nothing wrong with ministers preaching to their flocks about the evil of abortion or adultery or any other activity they consider sinful but they certainly overreach when they seek to dictate changes to Belizean law. What happened to the admonition in Luke 20:19 that Christians should render under Caesar the things that are Caesar’s?
Belizeans should be very careful before they are railroaded into signing onto something that they do not fully understand because they may find that they have been duped into supporting a position they do not in fact hold. Many good and thoughtful Christians recognise that issues such as these are not clear cut and that in the end they are matters for each individual to decide on. And that is the real choice before any Belizean who is asked to sign this petition as a “good Christian”.
