The Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali, former Bishop of Rochester, is chairman of a steering group for the Westminster Declaration, which applies Christian truth to seven categories of life in the United Kingdom. The new declaration builds on the foundation of a considerably shorter Westminster Declaration issued in 2010.
The declaration has undergone a thorough revision and addresses such additional concerns as freedom of belief and conscience, parents’ rights and education, biological sex and gender theory, higher education, and AI and moral reflection.
Among the first 35 people to support the 2010 declaration were Lord Carey; Baroness Cox; Philip Giddings, chairman of the Mission and Public Affairs Council in the Church of England; Canon Yaqub Masih, chairman of Pakistan Christian Concern; Nazir-Ali; Cardinal Keith O’Brien of the Catholic Church in Scotland; and Chris Sugden, executive secretary of Anglican Mainstream.
This year, those who wish to support the declaration are directed to CitizenGo, a website that offers an array of conservative petitions. The Westminster Declaration started with the simple goal of attracting 500 signatures.
The website for the 2025 document offers this summary version of the seven categories:
Freedom of belief and conscience: “Freedom to hold, live out and express Christian belief in public and in private is essential to a just society.”
Life: “Every human being bears God‑given dignity from the beginning of life to its natural end. We commend compassionate care and conscience protections in healthcare.”
Marriage and family: “Marriage between one man and one woman is the foundation and fullest expression of family life, the best context for raising children, and a public good. We call for policies that strengthen marriage and family stability.”
Parents and schools: “Parents have primary responsibility for their children’s education. Schools should teach clearly about the family and avoid promoting contested sexual ideologies.”
Biological sex and gender: “We affirm the givenness of biological sex and the complementarity of men and women. Compassion must guide practice and policy, with this givenness as the governing truth.”
Universities: “We uphold the need for freedom of speech and of belief among both faculty and students as central to the true purpose of education. Without these freedoms, the pursuit of truth is distorted. Groupthink and cancel culture are mortal threats to that purpose, silencing honest debate and leading to the closing of the Western mind.”
Artificial Intelligence: “The rapid development of technology, including artificial intelligence, requires careful moral oversight. Such oversight should be entrusted to an interdisciplinary body that includes Christians trained in moral thinking and decision-making.”
The longer version of this year’s declaration spells out how the signatories differ from trends on the left and the right. Its position on euthanasia is at odds with that of Lord Carey, who spoke in the House of Lords on September 19 in favor of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
Here are the points on which the declaration rejects beliefs and practices as non-Christian or immoral:
Freedom of belief and conscience: “Religion is a protected characteristic, of equal standing with the eight other characteristics stated as having protection under law. We oppose therefore any attempt to subordinate religious freedom to the demands of activist or political groups seeking to assert dominance. We believe in freedom of conscience.”
Life: “We oppose the termination of life in the womb, whether by pharmaceutical or surgical intervention. Accordingly, there must be freedom of conscience for medical, administrative and other staff to decline participation in any procedure relating to abortion, including handling aborted foetuses, or stem cells derived from the destruction of embryos.
“[W]e oppose the causing or hastening of death by pharmaceutical means or by the withdrawal of nutrition and water. This is contrary to Christian belief, and alien to a civilized society. At the end of life, while it is permissible to administer analgesics with the sole purpose of relieving pain, the intentional causing or hastening of death by any means, direct or indirect, is unacceptable to Christian consciences.”
Marriage and family: “We deplore the current epidemic of family instability which causes so much harm to children. We call for policies and legislation which strengthen marriage and family life, and we reject ideologies which weaken family ties by falsely claiming that other types of relationship are of equivalent value to marriage. While affirming the importance of mothers and fathers jointly raising children, we also believe that those who find themselves single parents deserve society’s support.”
Parents and schools: “While children need to be taught about different beliefs, values and lifestyles in our plural society, this is not the same as promoting various lifestyle and sexual ideologies, such as are being disseminated in schools. Training teachers to understand the traditional view of the family, and ensuring that view is taught in classrooms, is vital for the wellbeing of our children. This includes teaching the normative role of marriage between a man and a woman in raising and nurturing children, and in sustaining family life.”
Biological sex and gender: “Compassion for those confused about their gender is, however, a Christian duty, willingly undertaken. Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that the terms ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in the 2010 Equality Act refer to biological sex, the Department of Education must ensure that classroom teaching reflects this ruling.”
Universities: “We uphold the need for freedom of speech and of belief among faculty and students as central to the true purpose of education; both ‘group think’ and ‘cancel culture’ are mortal threats to that purpose and are leading to the closing of the western mind. Such an understanding of the vocation of universities needs re-emphasis today.”
Artificial Intelligence: “While bringing much benefit to the practice of medical science, engineering, and many other professions, we must be mindful that AI can never attain the ability of moral discernment, nor will it ever be able to empathise or establish authentic relationships. If we believe we are relating to a fellow person, we have become fools.”
Nazir-Ali, who continues his ministry as a priest in the Catholic Church of England and Wales, leads a seven-member steering group and is one of six speakers who will promote the declaration.
The drafters of the declaration, both in 2010 and this year, represent “Christians from Anglican, Roman Catholic, free church, and independent church leaders, with support from a wide range of partner organisations.”
Another Westminster Declaration, published in 2018, concentrated far more on opposing censorship and promoting freedom of speech, and drew support from writers in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Douglas LeBlanc is an Associate Editor and writes about Christianity and culture. He and his wife, Monica, attend St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Henrico, Virginia.
