Leaders across the nation –– nearly half a million strong –– have already signed the Manhattan Declaration declaring that moral principles take precedence over laws that ignore the value of human life and individual freedom. These deeply-held religious beliefs are inviolable, non-negotiable, and they are protected under the U.S. Constitution. Thousands of America’s Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical Christian leaders have laid down a gauntlet: By reaffirming the fundamental truth that life and liberty come, not from man-made laws, but from God, we have joined together “to defend the sanctity of life, the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife, and the rights of conscience and religious liberty.”

We have, in good faith, expressed our objections and righteous indignation over and over again only to be repeatedly rebuffed and ignored. Poll after poll demonstrates that U.S. citizens are strongly opposed to ObamaCare and its impact on our nation. Yet the Obama/Reid/Pelosi axis is determined to ignore the will of the people that they were elected to represent and to dictatorially impose on the nation their ideas of what’s best. They have lived so long in the rarified air of elitism that they think the “masses” will simply accept their “superior wisdom.” These unprecedented assaults on basic American principles compel Manhattan Declaration signers to forcefully mount a defense of human life, marriage and religious freedom.

Manhattan Declaration signers have said that civil disobedience is necessary when faced with gravely unjust laws requiring submission to laws that violate our principled moral beliefs about abortion, marriage, and religious freedom. As the Manhattan Declaration states, “We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s.”