June 29, 2009

CHICAGO – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is studying genetics in preparation for a social statement. The church has developed nine social statements in its 21-year history.

Genetics is a broad and new topic that can be very intimidating, according to Dr. Per Anderson, professor of religion, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn. He said the task force wants to develop a social statement that is committed to and in service of moral deliberation.

"We're moving towards a statement that may not make lots of prescriptive statements, but a statement that will help the church understand the significance of issues raised by genetics and engage in these issues as a community," he said.

Anderson is co-chair of the ELCA Genetics Task Force, an 18-member group charged with developing the social statement. In November 2008 the task force released "Genetics and Faith: Power, Choice and Responsibility," a study document to guide Lutherans in their examination of genetics from a social, theological and ethical framework, engaging in particular scientific and biotechnological topics. Responses from congregations and others about the study are due to the task force by November 2009.

Anderson said it is critical that the 4.7 million members of the ELCA respond to the study to help guide the task force's work in developing a social statement on genetics.

"The reality is that the church's deliberation about sexuality is dominating people's attention," Anderson said. "We still need to hear from congregations. The main unknown among task force members is what's on the minds of our congregations" regarding genetics, he said.

Social statements are teaching documents that assist Lutherans in forming judgments on social issues. The proposed social statement on genetics is expected to be presented to the 2011 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Held every other year, assemblies are the church's highest legislative authority.

According to Janet L. Williams, co-chair of the task force, it is "challenging to capture the depth and breadth of how genetics impacts the world and the power that we humans have to alter or manipulate genetics." Williams is a genetic counselor at Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City.

Williams said people's approach to technology can change. "If your mother develops Alzheimer's at age 49, and you realize that stem cell research can benefit the situation, your ideas about stem cell research are likely to change. Once the situation becomes personal and you learn more about a particular technology, it's not as easy to have pat responses."

Williams said a struggle among task force members is trying to anticipate questions that will become issues in the future. "Science and technology change so quickly that certain statements about genetics become obsolete," she said.

"A good part of our work is to get appropriate expert input," Anderson said. "That work will conclude by the end of this year. At our meeting this fall we're going to hear from people on genetically modified organisms. This past April we had a great session about pastoral issues and congregational life."

"Genetics is a topic where there are no moral experts, given its novelty and complexity," Anderson said. "People of good will should engage other perspectives and experiences to arrive at adequate understandings and judgments. We hope the social statement will create dialogue among people who need to communicate with one another."

Information about the ELCA Task Force on Genetics is at http://www.ELCA.org/socialstatements/genetics/, on the ELCA Web site.

ELCA News Service