Manhattan Declaration Authors Beg For Money To Continue Their Battle With Apple

Saying that gay activists have forced them to redesign their iPhone app, the backers of the Manhattan Declaration today asked for more donations.

This controversy has caused us a lot of unanticipated expenses: The servers of the Manhattan Declaration website couldn't handle the crush of visitors to the site, so we had to upgrade the servers; we engaged in a public relations battle-a battle we had to win. By the way, we placed an op-ed with the San Francisco Chronicle-right in Apple's back yard. We have also had to pay to re-design the app. The questionnaire that we included in the app was a lightning rod for gay activists, so we deleted the questionnaire. All of this has put us behind budget by $30,000.

As you know, we operate on a shoestring, depending on ministries and organizations to donate their employees' time. But we must meet these unexpected expenses we just mentioned. We don't have any choice but to carry on this fight and win it. If Apple can arbitrarily block the Manhattan Declaration from its app store, then it can do so with any organization that bases its work on the Bible. I truly believe that the Manhattan Declaration was targeted by activists as a test case. If they succeed this time, they will be emboldened to target others.

RELATED: From Manhattan Declaration co-author Chuck Colson's op-ed in today's San Francisco Chronicle:

If the Manhattan Declaration's positions are offensive, then so are those of mainstream Christianity for the past 2,000 years. There is no doubt that the half a million signers of the Manhattan Declaration - along with the 50-plus Catholic bishops, numerous evangelical leaders and the metropolitan of the American Orthodox Church - would disagree strongly with those who support same-sex marriage. But disagreement is not hate. If the Manhattan Declaration's positions alone are enough to have its app removed, then I have to wonder whether Apple is considering removing other Bible-based - or even Jewish or Islamic - apps from its store.

Signers of the document vow to "civilly disobey" any law granting discrimination protections to LGBT Americans.