NB: THIS ENTIRE PAGE IS A DRAFT DOCUMENT ONLY.  IT REPRESENTS THE DRAFT OF A PROPOSAL FOR ACTION THAT HAS NEITHER BEEN FORMALLY MADE NOR PUT INTO EFFECT.

THE FORT STREET GEORGE TOWN DECLARATION OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS

(“The Fort Street Declaration”)*

PROCLAIMED IN THE CAYMAN ISLANDS LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

WHEREAS

The Constitution of the Cayman Islands begins with an Affirmation of the intention of the people of the Cayman Islands to be, inter alia,

A God-fearing country based on traditional Christian values,

A country in which religion finds its expression in moral living and social justice,

A caring community based on mutual respect for all individuals and their basic human rights,

A community that practises honest and open dialogue,

A community protective of traditional Caymanian heritage and the family unit, and

A country that fosters the highest standards of integrity in the dealings of the private and public sectors,

AND WHEREAS

Successive Codes of Ethics put forth by the Cayman Ministers' Association in advance of general elections have proposed that electors should ensure, to the best of their ability, that the candidates they vote for

support and promote Christian family values,

have well thought out, high-principled and realistic plans to meet the present and future needs of the country, and

are committed to be accountable to the Legislative Assembly and the people of the country,

NOW THEREFORE IT IS DECLARED AND PROCLAIMED

that the sanctity of human life, the dignity of marriage as a faithful union of husband and wife, and the freedom of conscience and religion, being foundational principles of justice and the common good, must under every circumstance be defended and promoted in the Cayman Islands.

Life¹

WE ACCORDINGLY CALL upon all officials in our country, elected and appointed, to protect and serve every member of our society, including the most marginalised, voiceless and vulnerable among us.

We stand resolutely against the corrupt and degrading notion that it can somehow be in the best interests of women to submit to the deliberate killing of their unborn children. We affirm that the just, humane and Christian answer to problem pregnancies is for all of us to love and care for both mother and child.

We defend and speak for the unborn, the disabled and the dependent. We must be willing to defend, even at risk and cost to ourselves and our institutions, the lives of our brothers and sisters at every stage of development and in every condition.

Wherever such activities occur throughout the world, we stand against the loss of the sense of the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of human life that drives: -

the abortion industry and the movements for assisted suicide, euthanasia, and human cloning for biomedical research; and

ignoring those who are suffering as innocent victims of war,

the neglect and abuse of children,

the exploitation of vulnerable labourers,

the sexual trafficking or employment of girls, boys, young women or young men,

the abandonment of the aged,

racial oppression and discrimination,

the persecution of believers of all faiths, and

the failure to take steps necessary to halt the spread of preventable diseases.

Marriage²

WE FURTHERMORE AFFIRM that marriage is an objective reality – a covenantal union of husband and wife – that it is the duty of the law to recognise and support for the sake of justice and the common good. No one has a civil right to have a non-marital relationship treated as a marriage.

If the law fails to recognise and support the objective reality of the covenantal union of husband and wife, real social harms follow, in many areas such as the well-being of children, religious liberty, and the rights of parents. Civil society is damaged whenever the law itself becomes a tool for eroding a sound understanding of marriage, on which the flourishing of the marriage culture in any society vitally depends.

We cannot afford – ever – to re-define marriage in such a way as to embody in our laws a false proclamation about what marriage is.

Marriage is the first institution of human society, the institution on which all other institutions have their foundation, the original and most important institution for sustaining the health, education, and welfare of all persons in a society. Where the marriage culture begins to erode, social pathologies of every sort quickly manifest themselves.

To strengthen families we must stop glamorising promiscuity and infidelity and restore among our people a sense of the profound beauty, mystery and holiness of faithful marital love.

We must reform ill-advised policies that contribute to the weakening of the institution of marriage, including the discredited idea of unilateral divorce. We must work in the legal, cultural, and religious domains to impart in young and other people a sound understanding of what marriage is, what it requires, and why it is worth the commitment and sacrifices that faithful spouses make.

Yielding to the impulse to re-define marriage in order to recognise same-sex and multiple partner relationships must in all circumstances be resisted; for yielding to it would effect the abandonment of the possibility of restoring a sound understanding of marriage and, with it, the hope of rebuilding a healthy marriage culture. It would lock into place the false and destructive belief that marriage is all about romance and other adult satisfactions, and not, in any intrinsic way, about procreation and the unique character and value of acts and relationships whose meaning is shaped by their aptness for the generation, promotion and protection of life.

Therefore, out of both love and prudent concern for the common good, we pledge to preserve the legal definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman and to rebuild the marriage culture of our society.

Religious Liberty³

WE AFFIRM FURTHERMORE that no one should be compelled to embrace any religion against his will, nor should persons or communities of faith be forbidden, subject to a reasonable and sympathetic application of law, to worship God according to the dictates of conscience or to express freely and publicly their deeply held religious convictions.

We acknowledge that the right to religious freedom has its foundation in the example of Christ Himself and in the dignity of the human person created in the image of God.

We deplore wherever it is found the use of anti-discrimination statutes to force religious institutions, businesses and service providers of various sorts either to comply with activities they judge to be deeply immoral or to go out of business.

The biblical purpose of law is to preserve order and serve justice and the common good; yet laws that are unjust, and especially laws that purport to compel citizens to do what is unjust, undermine the common good, rather than serve it. Unjust laws degrade human beings, and inasmuch as they can claim no authority beyond sheer human will, they lack any power to bind in conscience.

Through the centuries Christianity has taught that civil disobedience is sometimes required⁴.

Because we honour justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we receive or promulgate any rule purporting to force our institutions to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as they and we know it, about morality, marriage and the family.

ACCORDINGLY, THE INTENTIONS, AFFIRMATIONS AND DECLARATIONS CONTAINED IN THE FORT STREET GEORGE TOWN DECLARATION OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS, KNOWN AS THE FORT STREET DECLARATION, ARE HEREBY PROCLAIMED AND TABLED IN THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS AS AN EXPRESSION OF THE VALUES THAT INFORM THE CONSTITUTION OF THESE CAYMAN ISLANDS AND ARE ASPIRED TO BY THOSE WHO INHABIT THEM.

********************

*Note:- The Fort Street Declaration makes use of words and phrases that are drawn from the 2009 Manhattan Declaration - A Call of Christian Conscience.

Footnotes

1. Genesis 1:27, John 10:10

2. Genesis 2: 23-24, Ephesians 5: 22-33

3. Isaiah 61:1, Matthew 22:21

4. Acts 4: 18-20