Educators Need Education on Religious Freedom
"The consequences of the unexpected death of Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod president A.L Barry, and other stories from around the world."
Ted Olsen | posted 3/01/2001 12:00AM
Death of A.L. Barry may exacerbate Lutheran tensions
A. L. Barry, president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod since 1992, died Friday night while vacationing in Orlando. He had entered the hospital February 25 for treatment of pneumonia, but during his stay the 69-year-old minister developed a staph infection and kidney dysfunction, and eventually kidney and liver failure. Obituaries and news articles ran in several major newspapers, and most noted that Barry had raised both the profile of the denomination and his post. "During his years as president, he had enjoyed a higher public profile than many of his predecessors," noted The Washington Post. "He often released his views on society and religion to the secular press." Similarly, the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Barry took an active role in pressing the synod's conservative views in various matters."
But with his death, and vice-president Robert Kuhn's announcement that he will soon retire, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod stands at something of a crossroads. At least it does in the view of Uwe Siemon-Netto, UPI's religion correspondent and a conservative Lutheran theologian. In an article separate from the UPI's obituary, he reports that the LCMS "has its fair share of internal tensions exacerbating the divisions within American and world Lutheranism on the whole. The sudden death of … Barry last Friday is bound to bring these tensions to the fore, church insiders say. They wonder which of the disparate LCMS wings will prevail in the election of his successor in August."
Siemon-Netto notes several tensions in the church, writing, "The main dividing line in the LCMS runs between the 'confessionalists' and the 'church growth movement,' which has little in common with the elegant way of doing theology that for nearly 500 has been one of Lutheranism's distinguishing marks." Another tension, he says, is between "inclusive" and "exclusive" wings: "The former, who are moderately conservative, wish to reach out to other Lutherans and beyond. The latter, one of whose exponents was President Barry, hesitate to engage in fellowship with other Christians whose doctrinal purity might be questionable." And there are other battles, too. "There is a reason why Martin Luther's spiritual heirs have limited impact worldwide, even though they are the third-largest group of traditional Christian denominations, after the Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox: Lutherans have a reputation for being consummate nitpickers." Why don't you tell us what you really think, Uwe?
Why the battle for religion in the public schools continues
There are plenty of church-state fights being waged in the U.S. right now, but the vast majority of the battlegrounds are in the public school system. But why? In what should have been one of the greatest successes of the Clinton administration, the Department of Education mailed to every school in the country a packet of materials outlining the proper role of religion in the schools. The guidelines were the result of an unprecedented consensus reached by tremendously diverse religious and educational groups (including the National Association of Evangelicals, the Anti-Defamation League, People for the American Way, and the National Education Association).
The guidelines are pretty straightforward. For example: "Subject to applicable State laws, schools have the discretion to dismiss students to off-premises religious instruction, provided that schools do not encourage or discourage participation or penalize those who do not attend." Still, the ACLU is suing a school in Hawaii for exactly this kind of "released time" program.
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