CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The highest legislative assembly of the
4.8 million member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
declared its opposition to "any escalation of the war" in Iraq
and called upon the U.S. government to "take immediate and
comprehensive steps to end the violence and establish a peaceful,
stable, and just society in that country."
The resolution, passed with no discussion and by a vote of
874 to 78, also urged Lutherans to engage in "moral deliberation
about the situation in Iraq and the policies and actions of the
government of the United States of America in relation to them"
and urged expanded concern for military personnel and their
families. Lutherans should also make their views known to members
of Congress, the resolution said.
The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of
the ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 6-11 at Navy Pier's Festival Hall.
About 2,000 people are participating, including 1,071 ELCA voting
members. The theme for the biennial assembly is "Living in God's
Amazing Grace: Thanks be to God!"
The resolution, adopted here Aug. 8, did not contain any
specific criticisms of U.S. policies on the Iraq war. But the
action grew out of memorials passed in six synods, regional units
of the denomination, and some of those declarations accused the
United States of being in a "first strike, pre-emptive war," with
"little or no national debate," and lamented the effect the war
is having on the U.S. economy and the stature of the United
States in the world.
In one of the memorials passed on to this Churchwide
Assembly, the ELCA Southwest California Synod of the ELCA
declared that "the war in Iraq is morally wrong and cannot be
justified with the teachings of Jesus Christ." A similar memorial
from the ELCA Northern Illinois Synod said that the Iraq war
"does not meet the criteria of a 'just' war."
Other memorials passed on to the assembly came from the ELCA
Northwest Washington Synod, the ELCA South-Central Synod of
Wisconsin, the ELCA La Crosse (Wisconsin) Area Synod, and the
ELCA Metropolitan Washington Synod.
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Information about the 2007 ELCA Churchwide Assembly can be
found at http://www.ELCA.org/assembly/ on the Web.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
