October 17, 2008

CHICAGO – The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), expressed a "high expectation for our public discourse" in the closing weeks of the U.S. presidential campaign.

In an Oct. 16 pastoral letter issued to the ELCA, Hanson wrote, "Instead of personal attacks, I appeal to the McCain and Obama campaigns and related message groups to bear in mind and recall for all of us the situations of our sisters and brothers who will suffer the most from our current economic turmoil."

The letter addressed the need for the church to "promote sound, critical, and creative citizenship and public service" as stated in the ELCA social statement, "The Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective." The social statement "encourages us to join in public deliberations," Hanson wrote.

In the letter Hanson referred to the current global financial crisis and the effects the crisis will have on the most vulnerable. "With the current financial crisis sweeping the United States and the world, it is too easy to forget those who are most vulnerable, people who live in poverty here at home and abroad," Hanson wrote. "They deserve our attention too, as we prepare to determine this nation's direction for the next four years."

Hanson asked for all people eligible to vote to exercise their "faithful civic engagement." "Lutherans acknowledge the instrumental role of government in society, and participation in the electoral process is an example of our affirmation of baptism to ‘serve all people, following the example of our Lord Jesus' and ‘to strive for justice and peace in all the earth,'" he concluded.

The text of Presiding Bishop Hanson's statement is at http://www.ELCA.org/bishopstatement/, on the ELCA Web site.

The text of "The Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective" is at http://www.ELCA.org/What-We-Believe/Social-Issues/Social-Statements/Church-in-Society.aspx, on the ELCA Web site.

ELCA News Service