After Apple Computer, Inc. saw an on-line petition signed by 7,700 homosexual activists, it deleted from it's popular iTunes/iPhone store the "Manhattan Declaration" (which includes a petition signed by nearly half a million Americans) because of its pro-family/pro-life stance, and advocacy for religious liberty.
In a statement, Apple said, "We removed the Manhattan Declaration app from the App Store because it violates our developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people."
UPDATE 12/28/10: App Rejected Again; "Apple's statement amounts to the charge that [Christianity] is 'potentially harmful to others.'"
UPDATE 12/21/10: Steve Jobs laying low - won't respond to media on this
UPDATE 12/14/10 (video) Steve Jobs has become "Big Brother"
UPDATE 12/11/10: Washington Post discovers Apple/Manhattan Declaration controversy
UPDATE 12/9/10: Revised app submitted to Apple as "olive branch"
-- From "Conservative Christians blast Apple decision to discontinue app" by Dan Gilgoff, CNN 12/1/10
A coalition of conservative Christian leaders blasted Apple on Wednesday for discontinuing an app the group had created because the technology giant said the app was offensive.
The Christian leaders had created the app to promote a document that urges opposition to abortion and gay marriage and support for religious liberty, among other positions.
The Manhattan Declaration app allowed users to sign and share the the declaration and included a four-question quiz that featured questions like "Do you support same-sex relationships?" and "Do you support the right of choice regarding abortion?"
A spokeswoman for the declaration said Wednesday that Apple had approved and posted its app in October and that it had received a 4 plus rating for "no objectionable content."
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From "Christian Leaders Protest Apple's Removal of 'Anti-Gay' App" By Ki Mae Heussner, ABC News 12/2/10
The iPhone application initially disappeared from the app store in late November after more than 7,000 people signed a Change.org petition urging Apple to delete it.
Calling it "anti-gay" and "anti-choice," the petition questioned Apple's decision to approve the application and deem it free of "objectionable content."
According to the Manhattan Declaration website, the declaration calls on Christians to "resist sexual immorality."
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Apple's removal of Christian app draws ire" by Michael Foust, assistant editor of Baptist Press 12/3/10
The app -- one of more than 200,000 applications, or software programs, in the app store -- included the complete text of the Manhattan Declaration, a 4,700-word statement on the culture that about 150 evangelical, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox leaders signed last year and that more than 475,000 other people have since signed.
Conservatives also note that there are dozens if not hundreds of apps containing the word "gay" in the iPhone/iPad app store, covering everything from same-sex dating to "gay travel" to "gay news."
"That Apple would deem the Manhattan Declaration as 'offensive' is alarming and distressing," the ManhattanDeclaration.org petition states. "Some who are 'offended' by the Manhattan Declaration can only be offended by the positions the Manhattan Declaration takes -- positions based on biblical Christianity and affirmed by nearly half a million Christians representing dozens of denominations."
Apple has a history of helping liberal causes, and in 2008 donated $100,000 to opponents of California Prop 8, the constitutional amendment that protected the traditional definition of marriage. Prop 8 passed.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
