More on the ‘Manifesto’

Evangelical document’s content isn’t the whole story | Joel Belz

It was important and appropriate in our May 3/10 issue to include a summary—spread across four pages—of the "Evangelical Manifesto," a document carefully not released to the public until May 7. The manifesto was authored by an impressive list of evangelical leaders, and our editor in chief Marvin Olasky properly credited it as a work whose "confessions are credible, its hopes holistic, and its goals generous." I totally agree.

The part of the story that was harder to discern prior to the public release of the manifesto was the motivation of its backers. Why did they feel such a statement was needed right at this point in history?

Some observers were quietly suspicious. They thought that the publication of the manifesto at the peak of a U.S. presidential campaign suggested the document might be loaded with political freight.