There is an old adage that says, “You show your values through what and whom you feature.” That certainly is true of the ELCA.
Again this past June, in observance of Pride Month, “Living Lutheran,” the ELCA’s digital magazine, featured interviews with a number of LGBTQ+ persons. According to “Living Lutheran,” they are “excited to affirm and embrace everyone in the church, and to amplify the voices of our ELCA siblings in the LGBTQIA+ community.” Typical of the ELCA, they do nothing to “affirm and embrace” those with traditional views.
“Living Lutheran” featured interviews with several people during the month. The typical interviewee told of being intimidated and deeply harmed growing up by the way they were treated by the traditional church because of their sexual preferences and gender identity. But they thank God that God watched over them and guided them until they finally found an open and welcoming ELCA congregation that affirmed them as they are and taught them that God loves them and made them exactly as they are. One person even shared the dubious Biblical interpretation that “Jesus washed feet; therefore, he must accept all sexual preferences and gender identities.”
Most of the interviews I would describe as typical and to-be-expected. But one of them I consider to be dangerous – the interview with Elle Dowd published on June 3. Here is a link to that interview. At the bottom of the interview you will find the words – “Read more about – Voices of Faith.” If you click on “Voices of Faith,” you will find pictures and links for more articles. The ones entitled “A conversation with” are part of the series for Pride Month.
The first thing I noticed about the interview with Elle Dowd is the totally posed and artificial picture of her arrest. She begins by saying that she grew up in the ELCA and is now an ordained pastor, but she is currently on academic leave from call to finish up her Ph. D. in queer theology, researching bisexual theology. In other places she describes herself as “bi-furious.” Sounds like a wonderful person to be teaching your congregation’s future pastors. In 2021 the ELCA’s publishing ministry, Broadleaf Books, published her book entitled, “Baptized in Tear Gas: From White Moderate to Abolitionist.” (Link) She describes it as “my own conversion story through my experiences during the Ferguson Uprising.” In the promotional material for the book Elle Dowd describes herself as an “Assata Shakur-reading, courthouse-occupying abolitionist with an arrest record, hungry for the revolution.” That description naturally raises the question, Who is Assata Shakur? Be prepared for the worst. Assata Shakur is a convicted murderer and one of the FBI’s “Most Wanted Terrorists.” Assata was a member of the Black Liberation Army. In 1977, she was convicted in the first-degree murder of a state trooper during a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973. She escaped from prison in 1979 and is currently wanted by the FBI. There is a $1 million FBI reward for information leading to her capture, and an additional $1 million reward offered by the Attorney General of New Jersey. Such is the hero and role model of someone whom the ELCA lifts up and features.
At the end of the interview, in answer to the question, “What do you pray for?” Elle Dowd answers, “I pray for our collective liberation, for the dismantling of white supremacy, for an end to cis-hetero patriarchy, for the fall of capitalism and empire, for #landback, for abolition, for reparations. . . .”
A few years ago the interim bishop of the ELCA synod in which I was rostered before I retired, Southwest California, scheduled Elle Dowd to be the featured presenter for a spring, multi-conference assembly. I wrote to the bishop, expressing the same concerns I mentioned in this article. Typical of my experience when I try to communicate with ELCA leaders, I never received a response, not even the courtesy of a form letter acknowledging receipt of my letter.
What does the ELCA value? Look at whom it lifts up and features.
Scary. Thankyou Dennis, for your fearless faithfulness in lifting up the Word that never perishes.
Yes, it is scary. Thank you for your very kind and encouraging words.
Rev. Nelson: Thank you once again for a faithful, informative message that informs of church activity that we otherwise would know nothing of, and in-depth and in-context, below the first and even second levels of information that we often do not get in the mainstream media, especially when it is a topic that may be of interest to orthodox Christians or otherwise outside “the narrative.” As always, you are at once fair-minded and accurate, with well-researched primary sources. As Christians, we often have to face hard decisions and truths to practice and share our faith. We are called to do God’s Will and share His Gospel, not to do only what is comfortable or what fits our own convenience. Thank you for your continued work and witness.
David Keck
Thank you for your very kind and encouraging words.
I used to be mad about the ideological shift in the ELCA, now I’m just saddened. I grew up in Forest City IA where my dad taught at Waldorf college which was owned by the surrounding Lutheran Churches, My faith was nurtured there and the scriptures held in high regard. I finished undergraduate degree at Luther College and saw significant ideological drift there, I’m not sure how many religion professors had an orthodox view of Christianity. In summery, I echo what i have heard said, the ELCA is not truly evengelical, not truly Christian, and not a truly a Church, but is in America.
Yes, the ideological shift in the ELCA is very sad. I am certain the Lord of the Church also grieves.
I used to be mad about the ideological shift in the ELCA, now I’m just saddened. I grew up in Forest City IA where my dad taught at Waldorf college which was owned by the surrounding Lutheran Churches, My faith was nurtured there and the scriptures held in high regard. I finished undergraduate degree at Luther College and saw significant ideological drift there, I’m not sure how many religion professors had an orthodox view of Christianity.