This manifesto was printed in newspapers around Australia and issued separately as a handbill. It is one of the few arguments made publicly against conscription by Protestant ministers.
Victorian Congregational Minister Ernest H. Hope-Hume was forced to resign his post in Deepdene as a result of signing this manifesto. Alfred Rivett and Bernard Linden-Webb from NSW had already been forced to resign theirs because of their opposition to the war and conscription.