Source: Religion News Service
USA, August 29, 2002: As diverse communities across America prepare to solemnly remember the day last year when thousands died and millions cried out to God, yearnings abound to see believers of all types mark the occasion by praying together. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, for instance, in July called on “all faith communities to participate in the national observance by opening houses of worship on September 11, 2002, for interfaith visits, prayers … to foster national unity and religious tolerance.” Yet while some faith communities adapt easily to interfaith worship, the more theologically conservative ones are feeling torn by an intense dilemma. As Americans, they aspire to demonstrate their country’s tolerance of differences. But as believers, they feel compelled to be clear that all paths do not in fact lead to the same God. When that subtle, dual message feels obscured by a public event that mixes prayer and politics, interfaith worship can cause a crisis of integrity. Nowhere has that strain played out more painfully in the past year than for the 2.6 million-member Missouri Synod. After taking part in a highly acclaimed interfaith service at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 23 last year, the Rev. David Benke was suspended indefinitely from his job as president of the church’s 45,000-member Atlantic District. A church investigation had found him guilty of “syncretism” and “unionism” because “The signal (sent by his presence there) was: While there may be differences as to how people worship or pray, in the end, all religions pray to the same God.” “Joining in prayer with pagan clerics in Yankee Stadium was an offense both to God and to all Christians,” said the June 25 report by the Rev. Wallace Schulz. “What’s the purpose of an interfaith service?” asked one Baptist minister. “It’s to show everybody that we can all get along. But not until everything and everyone is brought together under Jesus Christ, until everyone bows the knee to Christ, will there be a peaceful world. (In the meantime), to use worship as a means of promoting something else is wrong.”