Ignore, resist, or engage? Global responses to religious nationalism

The Lutheran World Federation, in partnership with the ELCA and the Indonesia Consortium for Religious Studies, will be hosting a webinar on September 22 to engage questions of responding to religious nationalism on a global scale.

The world has witnessed a rise in religious nationalism in recent years. Political leaders have incorporated it in their platforms in order to turn fear into votes. The use of religious symbols and language has become commonplace across the political landscape, from Delhi to D.C.

What role can we play as public theologians to respond? What is the responsibility of faith leaders in countering such rhetoric? How can we collaborate at local and national levels to support initiatives aimed at promoting more inclusive societies?

This webinar aims to support religious leaders and concerned citizens of all faiths and traditions to respond constructively to religious nationalism. The conversation will span the rise of nationalism associated with versions of Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. Drawing on insights from India, Indonesia, and the United States of America, the webinar will lift up a variety of perspectives, fueling discussions and reflections of global relevance.

Speakers:

• Sathianathan Clarke, the Bishop Sundo Kim Chair in World Christianity and Professor of Theology, Culture, and Mission at Wesley Theological Seminary. Author of Competing Fundamentalisms: Violent Extremism in Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism 

• Dicky Sofjan, Core Doctoral Faculty in the Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS), the Principal Investigator for a nine-country program entitled “Religion, Public Policy and Social Transformation in Southeast Asia”

• Angela Denker, Lutheran Pastor, writer, speaker. Author of Red State Christians: Understanding the Voters Who Elected Donald Trump 

Moderator:

• Sivin Kit, Program Executive for Public Theology and Interreligious Relations, Lutheran World Federation.

Closing Remarks:

• Kathryn Lohre, Assistant to the Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Executive for Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations & Theological Discernment.

We hope you’ll join us on Tuesday 22 September 2020
9:00 – 10:30 am CT, 10:00 -11:30 ET

Register today by following the link: REGISTER

By Kathryn Mary Lohre

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the lawyer asks Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” We, too, are prone to ask this of Jesus – perhaps not in so many words, but with the same intentions. Like the lawyer, we try to arbitrate who is worthy of mercy and love, of neighbor justice. i  Too often we are willing to consider only those who live in closest proximity to us, or whose beliefs are most proximate to ours, as our neighbors. If only we could choose!
In his treatment of the parable, Martin Luther defined our neighbor as “any human being, especially one who needs our help. ii  There is no loophole. Without exception, everyone is our neighbor. The boundless mercy and love of our Creator cannot be contained by the boundaries we create to divide ourselves. What is more is that our neighbors need us, and we need them.

Extending God’s mercy and love to all those in need is central to our Christian vocation, though it is certainly not the exclusive domain of the body of Christ. Our neighbors of other religions and worldviews, too, are dedicated to the well-being of creation and the alleviation of human suffering. Though other religious and spiritual convictions or philosophies may undergird our neighbors’ actions, we share a commitment to the common good. As people, we are bound in our suffering and in our service.

This is critically important in a time when the Oikoumene, the whole inhabited earth, is infected and affected by COVID-19, racism, and injustice. In times of all-consuming death and devastation, our healing practice must be all-inclusive, and our treatment plans must be all-encompassing. To guide and encourage us in these complicated theological and practical matters, we can look to the recently issued joint document of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID), “Serving a Wounded World in Interreligious Solidarity: A Christian Call to Reflection and Action During COVID-19 and Beyond.”

Solidarity as the body of Christ and with our neighbors of other religions and worldviews is the most effective means for healing all that ails this wounded world. It is also the antidote to our despair. If we read the parable of the Good Samaritan closely, we come to understand that it is precisely through our God-given neighbors that we most readily receive the generosity of God’s mercy and love. Being a neighbor and receiving the neighborliness of others made in God’s image, not only heals our bodies, but buoys our faith and gives us hope. This spiritual refreshment is precisely what sustains us as we work with our neighbors to bind the wounds of the whole inhabited earth, God’s beloved neighborhood.

i. “Neighbor justice” is a term proposed in “Faith, Sexism, and Justice: A Call to Action,” a social statement of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Neighbor justice is rooted in the biblical directive to “love your neighbor as yourself.” This term expresses the idea that faith is active in love and love necessarily calls for justice in relationships and in the structures of society. Neighbor justice is meeting neighbors’ needs across the globe and in our local communities.
ii. Martin Luther, “Letters to the Galatians, 1535,” Luther’s Works.

Kathryn Mary Lohre serves as Assistant to the Presiding Bishop and Executive for Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations & Theological Discernment for the ELCA

By Rev. Dr. Carmelo Santos

The image became emblazoned in my memory. It was such a powerful visual representation of what it means to take seriously the divine command to love thy neighbor even across religious divides. A Coptic church in Egypt had been bombed resulting in the deaths of 23 Christians and injuring 93 others. The attack was believed to have been perpetrated by a self-proclaimed Muslim militant group. Tensions between Christians and Muslims were already high, the flames of discord were being fanned by extremist groups and by government officials alike. There were also widespread protests and riots against the increasingly authoritarian and antidemocratic government of Hosni Mubarak which exploded into what is now called the 25 January Revolution , leading to the eventual deposition of the ruling government.

In the midst of all that, faithful and pious Muslims and Christians from Egypt offered a glimpse to the rest of the world of what it means to take seriously the divine command to love thy neighbor. The image traveled around the world: a group of Muslims prostrating in prayer at Tahrir square while a group of Christians formed a ring around them, holding hands to protect them, and looking outwardly to give them privacy. Likewise, Muslims would mount guard around Christian churches ensuring their protection while they prayed inside. Similar gestures of inter-religious mutual care and respect abound even if they are not always as dramatic or are not frequently covered by the media. Certainly Christian-Muslim relations in Egypt and around the world are complicated and there are serious issues of justice that need to be addressed for there to be genuine peace, but those instances of mutual solidarity even if ephemeral, can stand as a reminder of what could be possible. That is what makes the image so powerful.

That image, emblazoned in my memory, came back to me as I pondered Martin Luther’s 1520 treatise, The Freedom of a Christian. 1  The treatise is a brilliant and profound presentation of the fundamentals of the Christian faith from Luther’s perspective in the early years of the Reformation movement. This year (2020) marks the 500th Anniversary of its publication. For that reason, the ELCA is been encouraged by our presiding bishop, Elizabeth Eaton, to study the treatise and engage it. Resources such as a study guide, case studies and a PDF of the treatise, are available at https://www.elca500.org/ for anyone interested in studying it or making a contribution to the project.

Towards the end of the treatise, recapping the main point of the treatise, Luther writes about the centrality of love of neighbor to the Christian faith. He says:

Therefore, we conclude that Christian individuals do not live in themselves but in Christ and their neighbor, or else they are not Christian. They live in Christ through faith and in the neighbor through love. Through faith they are caught up beyond themselves into God; likewise through love they fall down beneath themselves into the neighbor—remaining nevertheless always in God and God’s love (Freedom of a Christian, 32) . 2

Love of neighbor is not abstract or generic; it is concrete and specific. We learn how to love from Christ. The Freedom of a Christian emphasizes that the love Christ has for all humanity is pure grace; it is not something that we can earn whether by our piety, our good works, or even by our religious beliefs. Out of pure love God in Christ reaches out to us as we are and takes upon the divine self all that we are, including our sin, our infirmities, our mortality, and whatever debt our deeds might have accrued. In turn, we are offered Christ’s holiness, righteousness, eternal life, and all that belongs to Christ. Luther calls this the happy exchange.

When our hearts are opened wide to the grace of God then our insecurities, fears, and prejudices begin to lose their grip on us. And by faith we become capable of love. We begin to see others as Christ has seen us. We become like little Christs for each other and another happy exchange takes place, this time between our neighbors and us. Luther explains it this way:

Just as my faith and righteousness ought to be placed before God to cover and intercede for the neighbor’s sins, which I take upon myself, so also I labor under and am subject to them as if they were my very own. For this is what Christ did for us. For this is true love and the genuine rule of the Christian life. Now where there is true and genuine faith, there is true and genuine love. Hence, the Apostle in 1 Cor. 13[:5] attributes to love that “it does not seek its own.” (Freedom of a Christian, 32).

What does this mean? (Generations of Lutherans grew up having to memorize Luther’s Small Catechism which featured the question: “what does this mean,” after each line of the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Catechism). So, what does this mean? What does it mean to “love thy neighbor as thyself,” in today’s world, where many writhe with the pains and frustrations of injustices such as Racism, White Supremacy, fear and hatred of migrants, misogyny, environmental catastrophes, and so much more?

From the image of Egyptian Muslims and Christians protecting each other’s sacred right to pray, and from Luther’s understanding of freedom as joyful service to the neighbor, I have learned the importance of opening up and protecting space for those who are different than me to be as they are. It means that I must learn to approach the otherness of my neighbor not as a problem but in the same way that God has approached my otherness through Christ.

Whether we are dealing with religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic class, ethnic origin, political persuasion, or anything else, I must let grace, faith and love guide my vision, not fear, prejudice, or a sense of benevolent superiority that wishes to fix in my neighbor what I perceive to be mistaken or broken with them. It means, first of all, doing what the faithful Muslims and Christians from the picture did almost ten years ago, mutually securing vital spaces for the other to be able to be fully who they are, just as God has done for all of us in Christ. In the overlapping spaces in between those vital spaces of sacred otherness we meet each other and learn what it means to love each other and to be surprised by the loving kindness of God that comes to us embodied even in the otherness of the neighbor.

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1.  For a study guide, case studies, and the actual text of Luther’s treatise see https://www.elca500.org/
2.  Martin Luther, The Freedom of a Christian, The Annotated Luther Edition, Timothy J. Wengert, editor (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2016). 1517 Media has generously made this version available free of charge for ELCA members and congregations until December 2020.

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i. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_revolution_of_2011
ii. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-12407793
iii. For other examples of inter-religious encounters and collaborations see, Carol SChersten LaHurd, editor, Darrell Jodock and Kathryn Mary Lohre, consulting editors, Engaging Others Knowing Ourselves: A Lutheran Calling in a Multi-Religious World (Minneapolis: Lutheran University Press, 2016).

The Rev. Dr Carmelo Santos is Director of Theological Diversity and Ecumenical & Interreligious Engagement in the Office of the Presiding Bishop, ELCA.

He can be reached at Carmelo.Santos@elca.org

[Jesus] answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
Luke 10:27 (NRSV)

By Rev. Paul Gehrs

I write to you from Treaty 1 Territory: the land of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene Peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation. I acknowledge that from time immemorial, Indigenous Peoples have lived as stewards and defenders of this land; this work is ongoing. I am grateful every time Indigenous leaders welcome me to a place; usually this comes with encouragement for all on our spiritual journeys. The consistent message I hear from Indigenous leaders is that place is important, that every place has a history; and that the People and Nations who live in a place have a holistic and spiritual connection to the land.

Acknowledging traditional Indigenous territory is respectful and helps to start a gathering in a good way. For me, acknowledging territory is a liturgical and worshipful action. It grounds me in my current context: this time, this place, the need for reconciliation between Indigenous and non-indigenous Peoples, the need to address racism in all its forms, the need for healthy relationships with the Earth. It opens me to God’s call.

On September 27, 2019, I attended a local (Winnipeg) expression of the global strike for climate action. Primarily organized by young people, the event highlighted the urgency of the climate crisis and the urgent need for action. Thousands of people attended, including my daughter Emma, a teacher, who attended with her grade 10 students. Like many demonstrations, there was a march, speeches, music, photos posted to social media, and informal conversation.

The challenges of addressing climate justice can be overwhelming. We need to change practices and for various reasons, at different times, we are reluctant to adapt. There are those who benefit from the existing systems and actively resist change. The voices from the climate strike speaking of urgency continue to echo within me and to move me forward.

For me, the 2019 climate strike day began with an interfaith worship service. It was good to hear reflections from various faith groups. Intentional silence and prayer were moving. We need multiple faith traditions and spiritual practices to work together for climate justice.

In the midst of worship, I realised that part of what was giving meaning to this particular march was the presence of my daughter and her students. I certainly want to honour the presence of everyone who showed up; we need you all. Nevertheless, it was important for me to recognize that the presence of someone I care about and respect was helping me to be present at the climate strike in a deeper way.

I believe we need act for climate justice with our whole being. We need the resources of heart, soul, strength, mind, family and neighbours to continue the journey. Worship and prayer are practices that help me to be energized, grounded, creative and loving.

The Season of Creation is an annual celebration of prayer and action to protect creation. It runs from September 1 to October 4. Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I proclaimed September 1 as a day of prayer for creation (World Day of Prayer for Creation, or Creation Day) for the Orthodox in 1989. Other Christian European churches embraced it in 2001 and Pope Francis for the Roman Catholic Church in 2015. Many traditions celebrate St. Francis of Assisi on October 4.  1

This year for Season of Creation, the presiding bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), The Episcopal Church (TEC), the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) have prepared a series of devotions to guide us in our journey through this season together.

These four churches share a sense of call to follow Jesus together in this part of the world where we live, serve, worship, witness and work for justice. Sometimes we call this Full Communion. Sometimes it feels like desperately trying to be the church in some small way. In prayer and conversation, we have a growing sense that ELCA, TEC, ACC and ELCIC need each other on the journey of discipleship.

These devotions are an invitation to enter more deeply into the Season of Creation and more hopefully into the journey of faithful discipleship. Thanks to Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, Archbishop Linda Nicholls and National Bishop Susan Johnson for lifting up the Scriptures and encouraging us on our way.

1 www.seasonofcreation.org/about/

The Rev. Paul Gehrs serves as the Assistant to the Bishop, Justice and Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC).

The following is a statement of the National Council of the Churches of Christ USA (republished with permission). You can view their entire statement, including links to Orthodox Times articles, by visiting https://nationalcouncilofchurches.us/statement-on-hagia-sophia-and-remember-srebrenica-genocide/

The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA decries the decision of the Turkish Government to convert the Hagia Sophia from its long-term status as a museum to a mosque. It was a political decision made just this past Friday, July 10, by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a decision that was fueled by nationalist zeal that reflects his disregard for religious tolerance, and his cynicism in manipulating the Muslim majority in his country to support him.

The NCC joins the Orthodox Churches worldwide, the Vatican, the World Council of Churches, the Middle East Council of Churches, and people of goodwill everywhere in lamenting this turn of events. The NCC also joins the Islamic Society of North America, one of our Muslim-Christian dialogue partners, in condemning the action as a threat to global Muslim-Christian relations that both communities have nurtured over the last decades in the US and around the world.

The Hagia Sophia, built in the 6th century AD, and the center of world Christianity for nearly 1,000 years, remained a symbol of Christianity after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (1453) for the next 500 years, and this even though it was used as a mosque during that period. A Byzantine wonder in terms of architecture and art, in 1934, the Turkish government, by now secular, converted the building to a museum to reflect its shared civilizational legacy. We therefore urge President Erdogan to reverse his decision.

While we lament this decision, it is not lost on the NCC that this action coincides on the same weekend, July 11-13, with the world’s commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Genocide committed against Muslims in Bosnia. What occurred in Srebrenica in 1995, when some of our own faithful were likewise compromised by political leaders through nationalistic fervor to commit one of the most horrific atrocities of the 20th century, is forever imprinted on the Christian conscience.

Taken together, these two events recall historic tensions between peoples, tensions that are overcome only through dialogue. It is our prayer that the healing of memory take place, and that such tensions are no longer inflamed through political, nationalistic – and senseless – actions.

Related Links:
WCC – https://www.oikoumene.org/en/press-centre/news/wcc-letter-to-president-erdogan-to-keep-hagia-sophia-as-the-shared-heritage-of-humanity

MECC – https://www.mecc.org/mecc/2020/7/11/the-middle-east-council-of-churches-the-turkish-governments-decision-to-convert-the-hagia-sofia-church-into-a-mosque-is-violation-of-religious-freedom-and-coexistence

Vatican – https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-07/angelus-pope-remembers-seafarers.html

Orthodox Churches – https://www.ecupatria.org/2020/06/30/ecumenical-patriarch-bartholomew-about-hagia-sophia/

By Kathryn Mary Lohre

The government of Israel has declared its intention to annex West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley, as soon as July 1. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu depends on the backing of the US presidential administration to legitimize what would be considered illegal under international law.

The Palestinian people, who have lived under Israeli military occupation for nearly 53 years, are crying out once again. They are calling us to recognize yet another looming pandemic: the dissolution of prospects for peace with justice for Israelis and Palestinians – Jews, Christians and Muslims.

In recent weeks, these pleas from our Palestinian Christian family have included:

•  “Statement on Unilateral Israeli Annexation Plans” by the Patriarchs and Heads of Local Churches of Jerusalem (May 7)
• “Liberation not Annexation,” A Statement and Pentecost Message from Bishop Sani Ibrahim Azar of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (June 2)
• The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope, a book by Pastor Munther Issac (June 16)
• “This is the Holy Land (Exodus 3:5). It Needs Justice and Only Justice,” a statement by three former Heads of Churches in Jerusalem on the Israeli annexation plans (June 18)

To our Palestinian family, and especially our Palestinian Lutheran family: the ELCA hears your cries. This cannot be overstated – to you, and to anyone else who is listening. Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton has spoken out clearly on behalf of the ELCA, and also with ecumenical partners. This is critical.

At the same time it falls to all of us to work to amplify your call for “liberation not annexation,” and to accompany you in being a “disturbing presence” for peace through prayer, action, and advocacy with our elected leaders (For Peace in God’s World, 1995). Consistent with our social teaching, we denounce beliefs and actions that “ordain the inherent right of one people, race, or civilization to rule over another” and that “despair of any possibility of peace.” Therefore, as an act of Christian witness, we denounce the government of Israel’s plans for annexation and the political and theological beliefs that falsely justify it as a viable solution for peace.

When we are a disturbing presence for peace, our focus is on justice. Thus, we make a clear distinction between our critique of unjust Israeli government policies and our commitments to anti-Semitism and right relationship with the Jewish community. Our Churchwide Strategy for Engagement and Israel and Palestine can and does coexist with A Declaration of the ELCA to the Jewish Community. As Lutherans we live faithfully in the tension of this “both/and,” as justice is at the heart of both sets of commitments.

When we are a disturbing presence, we work to uncover the deep, systemic connection between the oppression of one people and the oppression of another, and between the liberation of the oppressed and the liberation of all. The racism that has kneeled on the necks of Black Americans for 400 years is part of the same global pandemic as the racism that has been kneeling on the necks of Palestinians for 53 years of military occupation, and that has been even more suffocating under Israel’s nation state law, adopted in 2018. The Palestinian cry for justice cannot be heard apart from the Black cry for justice. For those of us who are not crushed under the weight of anti-Black racism or military occupation, we must redouble our efforts to learn, listen, and be transformed for the sake of the liberation of our whole human family.

When we are a disturbing presence, we put people front and center. This means we look to our Palestinian partners, and especially our Lutheran family, to guide our work and witness for just peace. We also engage with our ecumenical and inter-religious partners to amplify these voices, and to enhance the impact of our collective advocacy. Importantly, it also means that we build strong relations with our Jewish partners so that when our church’s decisions, policies, and public witness cause misunderstanding, tension, or conflict, we can interpret as we seek to accompany both the Palestinian people and the Jewish community in seeking justice for all.

500 years ago, Martin Luther wrote the treatise “The Freedom of a Christian.” In it, Luther summarizes the Christian life, also reflected in Galatians 5:1: “For freedom Christ has set us free.” Our freedom in Christ is not a freedom for ourselves, but for the sake of our neighbors, lived out in love. As an expression of the liberating love we share in Jesus Christ, we join our Palestinian family, and our partner Bishop Azar, in calling for “liberation not annexation.”

Please join in ELCA advocacy through Peace Not Walls: June action alert

Kathryn Mary Lohre serves as Assistant to the Presiding Bishop and Executive for Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations & Theological Discernment for the ELCA