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Office of Ecumenical & Interreligious Relations
The Episcopal Church (Anglican Communion)
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Lutheran leader in New York suspended for interfaith participation
2002-174-3
7/10/2002
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[Episcopal News Service]
The highest-ranking leader of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in New York has been suspended for participating in an interfaith service at Yankee Stadium for the families of those killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The Rev. David Benke, president of the New York-based Atlantic District, was also ordered to apologize for mixing Christian and non-Christian views in violation of the denomination's constitution.
Benke has appealed the ruling, according to Alan Pollack, a lawyer for the board of directors of the district, which claims 42,000 members in the New York metropolitan area.
'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,' wrote the Rev. Wallace Schulz, the Missouri Synod official who suspended Benke. If he does not apologize or appeal he will automatically be removed from the Missouri Synod's clergy.
The denomination's president, the Rev. Gerald Kieschnick said in a July 9 letter that the church 'is experiencing a period of emotional anxiety and doctrinal disharmony, heightened by the filing of formal charges' against Benke. He announced that he was calling for a review of the decision, requesting that it be 'altered or reversed,' arguing that Benke was not violating the church's constitution.
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