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Twelve days after the September 11 attacks, David Benke followed Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu clerics to the podium of a Yankee Stadium event to honor the missing and the dead. Benke asked attendees to join hands and pray with him "on this field of dreams turned into God's house of prayer." He prayed "in the precious name of Jesus" and sat down.

That prayer has led to Benke's suspension from the clergy roster of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). It has also exposed deep divisions in the church. Denomination pastors, on condition of anonymity, say the dispute is partly an attempt to unseat synod President Gerald Kieshnick, who approved Benke's participation in the "Prayer for America" event.

Some pastors fault Kieshnick for a more open stance to other churches. Insiders say he was elected last summer at the synod convention in St. Louis after two other candidates split the more conservative vote.

"There are long-simmering tensions in our denomination," Benke told Christianity Today. "To me, it is a shame that they have to bubble to the surface over an issue of prayer at a time of national crisis."

Twenty-one pastors and churches charged Benke, president of the church's Atlantic District, with six sets of ecclesiastical violations, including syncretism (mixing religions), unionism (worshiping with non-LCMS Christian clergy), and violating the Bible's commandment against worship of other gods. Wallace Schulz, synod second vice-president, investigated the charges and suspended Benke, pastor of St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, in July.

Under appeal, the decision now goes before a three-member dispute resolution board. Its ruling could lift the suspension or remove Benke from the LCMS clergy roster.

Church historian Martin Marty says theological objections are present in the debate but secondary to Benke's critics. "I think the case is as much about power in the Missouri Synod as it is about how to punish Benke," says Marty, a former LCMS member who is now a pastor with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The synod's 1847 constitution bans syncretism and unionism. In fact, the founders of the 2.6 million-member Missouri Synod emigrated to the United States in 1839 in reaction to a forced union with Calvinists by the German government.

"Nothing went deeper in their theme than 'we do not want to be pushed into prayer with anyone else,' " says Marty, founding director of the University of Chicago Divinity School's Institute for Advanced Religious Studies, now named in his honor. "I cannot think of a group in all of Christendom as careful about who they pray with as the Missouri Synod."

Charges related to the September 23 event were first brought against Kieschnick last December. However, the LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters ruled that only the synod convention could rule on charges against a president. The next convention is in 2004. Kieschnick is serving a three-year term.

Kieschnick says he based his approval of Benke's participation on a resolution adopted by the synod two months before the World Trade Center attacks. Resolution 3-07A says an LCMS pastor can participate in civic events—such as inaugurations, graduations, and "once-in-a-lifetime" events—when there are no restrictions on praying in Jesus' name.

"These occasions may provide opportunity to witness to the Gospel," the resolution reads. "Pastors may have honest differences of opinion about whether it is appropriate to participate in these civic events. In these cases charity must prevail."

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July (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46