Apple Refuses to Reinstate Christian App
Apple recently rejected the resubmission of a Christian app after it was pulled from the app store for being "offensive."
More than 46,000 people signed a petition asking the company to reinstate the Manhattan Declaration app, which is based on a document that upholds the traditional understanding of marriage and the sanctity of life.
But organizers behind the Manhattan Declaration said they were notified last week that the resubsmission was not accepted.
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"Apple is telling us that the apps' content is considered 'likely to expose a group to harm' and 'to be objectionable and potentially harmful to others," they said.
"Inasmuch as the Manhattan Declaration simply reaffirms the moral teachings of our Christian faith on the sanctity of human life, marriage and sexual morality, and religious freedom and the rights of conscience, Apple's statement amounts to the charge that our faith is 'potentially harmful to others.'"
The Manhattan Declaration app was initially approved in October and rated as a 4+, which indicated that it contained "no objectionable material."
But opponents of the app started a petition on Change.org demanding that Apple remove the "anti-gay, anti-choice" application. It was pulled over the Thanksgiving holiday. A revised version - that does not contain a poll asking users about same-sex relationships and abortion - was submitted to Apple early this month along with a petition addressed to Steve Jobs.
Those behind the Manhattan Declaration called the latest rejection by Apple "appalling."
"It is difficult to see how this is anything other than a statement of animus by a major American corporation against the beliefs of millions of Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox citizens," they stated.
The Manhattan Declaration, unveiled last November, outlines principles that uphold the sanctity of life, the historic understanding of marriage, and religious liberty. It has been endorsed by prominent evangelical, Orthodox and Catholic leaders and so far nearly half a million signatures have been added to it. The original drafters are Dr. Timothy George of Samford University, evangelical leader Chuck Colson, and Dr. Robert George of Princeton University.
Organizers plan to take their rejected app matter to Apple's App Review Board after they return from the Christmas and New Year's holiday observances.
