Church-State Essays Near Completion

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Religious freedom and church-state relations will be addressed in a new book of essays authored by Lutherans with backgrounds in theology, ethics and law.  A nine-member writing team assembled by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) met here Jan. 23-25 for the last time before the book's publication in 1999.
     The project's co-directors -- the Rev. John R. Stumme, ELCA associate director for studies, Chicago, and Dr. Robert W. Tuttle, associate professor, George Washington University Law School, Washington, D.C. -- said the writers have been able to build on "significant work" done on the subjects by Lutheran scholars in the 1960s and later.  The co-directors will edit the essays this year and write the book's introduction.
     Many of the issues have changed in the past 30 years, said Stumme. For example, the Supreme Court of the United States has made a number of decisions influencing church-state relations, such as its recent opposition to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
     "This project seeks to clarify a Lutheran perspective on the relationship between church and state," said Tuttle.  He said there will be essays on the Lutheran tradition, on the history of U.S. Constitutional law relating to church/state questions, and on several areas of special interest, including education, social services and zoning law.
     "The essays are not, however, specific responses to current problems. They attempt to provide a useful foundation from which people can go on to make informed judgments about contemporary problems," said Tuttle.
     "Every week we read about new areas of conflict or dispute between religion and government in our pluralistic society," said Stumme.  The book of essays will not provide "pat answers" for each issue.  "Instead it aims to help form our leaders so they are better prepared when they do confront quandaries and conflicts," he said.
     "We' re interested in cultivating a Lutheran tradition on church and state.  The first step is to let what we have received shape and inform us. Then we need to see what we should do so our tradition continues to bear fruit," said Stumme.
     "It comes as a surprise sometimes when people discover that we Lutherans are not 'strict separationists.'  We really can't be, because we believe the same God rules both the church and the world," he said.  Stumme said the ELCA sums up its attitude toward church-state relations with the phrase "institutional separation and functional interaction" -- church and state are two separate institutions that "interact for the good of society."
     The writing team expressed interest in Stumme and Tuttle preparing study materials to accompany the essays.  Those materials would facilitate study of church-state relations and religious freedom in ELCA congregations.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html