Praying With 'Pagans'
from "New York Lutheran Leader Suspended" Saturday, July 6, 2002;
Page A02
and "Rift in Lutheran Denomination Deepens" Saturday, July 20, 2002;
Page A03
by Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
A high-ranking Lutheran pastor has been suspended from his duties and ordered
to apologize to all Christians for participating with Muslims, Jews, Sikhs and
Hindus in an interfaith prayer service in New York's Yankee Stadium after Sept.
11.
"By President Benke's joining with other pagan clerics in an interfaith
service [no matter what the intent might have been], a crystal clear signal
was given to others at the event and to thousands more watching by C-Span. The
signal was: While there may be differences as to how people worship or pray,
in the end, all religions pray to the same God," the Rev. Wallace Schultz,
the Missouri Synod's national second vice president, wrote in the suspension
letter.
"To participate with pagans in an interfaith service and, additionally,
to give the impression that there might be more than one God, is an extremely
serious offense against the God of the Bible," Schultz added.
The charges against Benke included "unionism" -- mixing the beliefs
of various Christian denominations -- as well as "syncretism" -- mixing
Christian and non-Christian views. Both are forbidden by the 1847 constitution
of the Missouri Synod, which is based in St. Louis and is the country's second-largest
Lutheran group, after the 5.1-million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America.
"In brotherly love and admonition," he wrote, "I appeal to you,
President Benke, please make a sincere apology to our Lord, to all members of
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and to all Christians who are part of Christ's
Body. Joining in prayer with pagan clerics in Yankee Stadium was an offense
both to God and to all Christians."
By mid July, deluged with criticism of that decision, the executive committee
of Lutheran Hour Ministries -- an independent auxiliary of the church -- voted
this month to suspend Schultz as the main preacher on its flagship "Lutheran
Hour," the Missouri Synod's most prominent pulpit.
The radio show was immediately engulfed in controversy, according to Jim Telle, a spokesman for Lutheran Hour Ministries. "Our staff of about 200 people in St. Louis has been totally inundated and practically paralyzed on many days by phone calls on all sides of this issue," Telle said. "Some of [the callers] are fiercely upset that Dr. Schultz judged the way he did on Dr. Benke. We can't tell whether they're liberal or conservative. We just know they're furious, and the whole fallout for our church has been a black mark."