Several weeks ago we heard of a homophobic app called Manhattan Declaration getting pulled from the iTunes App Store by Apple due to a growing concern about the app’s message. Apple decided to remove the app after a petition was signed and thousands of angry e-mails were sent to the company complaining about the hatred and ignorance found within the app.
In case you aren’t familiar with Manhattan Declaration, here is what the GLAAD blog says:
The “Manhattan Declaration” application “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,” quotes the Christian Post. The Declaration is a 4,700-word statement signed by many Christian religious leaders and citizens that claims to speak “in defense of the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty. It issues a clarion call to Christians to adhere firmly to their convictions in these three areas.” It calls relationships among LGBT people “immoral sexual partnerships,” and says marriage “is not a civil right” for them, among sending other anti-LGBT messages. The declaration was written in late September 2009, and the application was created this year.
I’m glad to see that Apple hasn’t approved this particular app even though it was revised and resubmitted. Quite frankly, I keep my original stance in that the App Store doesn’t need this kind of ignorance and hatred.
In my original post, I was lambasted for denouncing this app, but made no mention of Bible apps. There is a huge distinction between what’s written in the Bible and translated into apps and an organization that interprets those words into this sort of vile. We can take the former as a historical work not only to get a rough idea of what might have been going on during biblical times (proven to be historically inaccurate in many cases), but also as a look into what men were thinking when they wrote such things. Taking it a step further by forming an organization that piggy-backs off the bible and says LGBT people are immoral and have no civil rights is asinine.
[Via: GLAAD]