Christian Leaders Issue Manifesto Defending Life, Freedom and Biblical Truth
Christian leaders from across Australia have released a powerful manifesto defending biblical values, life, and free speech against growing cultural and legislative pressure.
A coalition of Christian leaders has released a bold declaration affirming biblical truth and defending fundamental freedoms, amid growing concern over laws and cultural forces that threaten to silence faith-based convictions in Australia.
Titled “A Christian Manifesto,” the document was made public in July 2025 by Dr Barry Manuel, pastor of Healinglife Church in Adelaide, with support from pastors, ministry leaders and Christian advocates across multiple denominations and states. The manifesto calls on believers to uphold essential Christian teachings on life, family, marriage, sex and freedom, “no matter what laws are made to oppose them.”
“This manifesto is a statement by Christian leaders declaring essential Christian beliefs that must be upheld, taught, and practised,” Dr Manuel wrote. He plans to meet with his federal MP, a current government minister, and request that the Prime Minister receive a copy.
“Jesus Christ is God, the second person of the Holy Trinity… He is alive and accessible to each one of us personally,” the manifesto declares. “Christians are committed to faithfully obey Jesus, their Saviour and Lord.”
The document affirms the sacredness of life, grounded in the Christian conviction that every human being is made in the image and likeness of God. “Fundamental rights to life, religion, and freedom of speech are prior to the existence of the ‘State’,” it reads.
The manifesto draws a firm line on the issue of sexuality, proclaiming that “God made human beings as male and female. The two sexes are biologically determined.” It defends marriage as a divinely instituted covenant between one man and one woman, designed for the conception and nurturing of children.
On abortion, the signatories state plainly: “Since every human being has the right to life, the child in the mother’s womb must enjoy the protection of the law. There is no human right to an abortion because there is no human right to end the life of another innocent human being.”
Challenging Government Overreach
The manifesto also warns of increasing government interference in religious belief and speech, insisting that “the State has no authority to unreasonably restrict these rights and freedoms.” According to the signatories, the State must be subject to God’s law and should protect the God-given rights of its citizens.
One area of concern is the redefinition of freedom. The document stresses that freedom is not “license,” but must be exercised in service of life and truth. The document condemns both suicide and euthanasia, stating, “We are not free to kill either ourselves… or another innocent human being.”
The authors also defend the right of individuals to seek help in areas of moral struggle, including same-sex attraction. “Persons are free to seek prayer and counselling… if they of their own volition choose that,” the statement reads. This presents a direct challenge to legislation in an increasing number of Australian jurisdictions that criminalises prayer-based support for individuals seeking to leave homosexual lifestyles.
“Freedom is to be exercised in the service of life and truth,” the document asserts, offering a definition of liberty grounded in moral responsibility rather than mere personal autonomy.
The manifesto also addresses growing concerns around compelled participation in non-Christian religious practices, particularly in public ceremonies. It states that no one “must be compelled to be involved in the religious practices of sub-groups within the State,” identifying smoking ceremonies as religious rituals into which citizens should not be coerced.
Defending Religious Speech
The manifesto’s authors express alarm at the rise of speech restrictions targeting Christian beliefs. “It is perverse to describe the Christian Gospel of love and redemption as hate speech,” they write, warning against government efforts to classify Christian moral teaching as offensive or punishable.
They remind readers that the Australian Constitution forbids the restriction of the free exercise of religion, a clause increasingly invoked by believers concerned about laws that limit faith-based speech on unpopular topics.
“Disagreeing with a religion’s teaching is no justification for the State to depict and punish the promotion of Christian moral teachings as hate speech.”
The manifesto is currently endorsed by more than a dozen pastors and Christian leaders across South Australia, Queensland, and beyond, including Dave Pellowe, Founder of Church and State; Pastor Ray Ledger, SA State Coordinator of Full Gospel Churches of Australia; Pastor Dr Brendan Kirby of Hope Church, Klemzig; and this author.
Dr Manuel has encouraged readers to contact him directly at this email address to add their names to the list of signatories. He hopes the document will reach more members of parliament and serve as a clear voice for Christian Australians in the national conversation.
Read “A Christian Manifesto” here.
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Image courtesy of Unsplash.
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Fantastic 👏👏👏! Let’s hope lots of people sign it and the politicians take note.
Great initiative. I am fully in support.
Great article!!!
This manifesto is of the devil because it perverts the Gospel by stating that all are still in the image and likeness of God which according to Scripture is not man’s humanity, intellect or status above the animals but righteousness, holiness and an intimate knowledge of God (Eph 4:24, Col 3:10) which is found only in those who are born again in Christ Jesus who is the Image of God (2 Cor 4:4).
The True Image of God
https://maxamir.substack.com/p/the-true-image-of-god
Great job Ps Barry – we must stand strong together and “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).
Great. I am fully supportive
.
It is sad that in Australia now it requires a manifesto to express the freedom to be faithful to Jesus and his commands!
This document is like a compass of truth, in just over one page, it starts with Jesus as true north then points out key errors of direction society is heading in because it has lost both its moral compass and source of spiritual wellbeing in him.
This is incredibly important. The complete inversion of the principle of keeping government regulation away from religious convictions and behaviours to perversely suggest govt may regulate and silence Christianity is precisely the kind of tyranny which prompted the Pilgrims to flee England and found the New World in the Americas, eventuating in a Bill of Rights which one of the framers described as separating Church And State – restricting GOVERNMENT, not people.
A Bill of Rights to restrict Government overreach sounds like a great idea for Australia.
The time has come for the Govt’s in this Country to recognise that they are fighting not us but perfect love, namely God the father, his Son Jesus Christ His word, and His Holy Spirit, who runs this planet, and need to bow the knee to Him.
Great document, we need brave Christian leaders who are aware of our society’s shift away from Christian values and are also willing to speak up. Excellently expressed.
Thank you Barry for a much needed article. This nation has lost its bearings. We need to get back to our Christian heritage and foundations whereby Australia prospered. “Blessed is a nation whose God is the Lord”.
The release of this Manifesto is timely. It is as much a welcome reminder to Christians of the uniqueness of Christ’s claims in the marketplace of ideas, as it is a reminder to our Governments that erosion of religious freedom has become a clear-and-present-danger in Australia. I thought the right to believe and practice differently was at the heart of ‘inclusion’ in our liberal Western democracies? This article states this explicitly!
Thanks Kurt for presenting this on the Declaration. Much appreciated. A lot of thought was put into this sttement and some excellent contributions by other pastors and a priest.
It is time for the sleeping Giant; the Church of God to rise up and take back what the devil has
stollen from it. Thanks Kurt for release of this Manifesto.
Great article – I fully support it