The Lutheran church is splintered into many different synods. The Missouri Lutheran is, by far, the most conservative, archaic synod. There was a time in the not too distant past when they did not allow women to vote on church matters, nor could women speak in church. Women still cannot be ministers. This group has never represented the majority of Lutherans; the ELCA is the group that is the largest and is definitely the most tolerant.

I am a member of the ELCA and this story saddens me. Jesus worshiped and comforted all. We should do the same. I heard this minister's portion of the service and it was a beautiful message. I hope he leaves his church. The ELCA would welcome him.

This truly makes me sad. I feel bad for the Lutheran pastor who was attempting to minister. This service was about serving the community and mourning with them. It had nothing to do with doctrine, dogma, beliefs. I am a practicing Catholic and I watched the whole service--I was brought to tears, I prayed with all the traditions represented. The God I know and pray to was quite pleased with this prayerful and meaningful vigil. Please don't color all religions, denominations, and members with the same brush--we all have extremists just as any organization does whether in politics, scouts, schools, churches, businesses, sports teams, etc. I continue to pray for and with the people of Sandy Hook.

Mind boggling stupid edicts like these affirms my choice to avoid organized religion at all costs. I consider myself a Christian and have a deeply personal relationship with my God and Jesus Christ and don't need some some ancient points of view to tell me how to conduct myself, how to express my love for God Jesus, and my fellow man. Frankly I tend to consider Jesus as the first hippie, as far as a culture of love. I think the Ten Commandments are a pretty good general template for a path through life. How about Jehovah Witnesses letting thier children bleed to death in an ER because they believe God doesn't allow transfusions. WTF?????

Very sad. I'm glad I read this discussion because prior to reading it I too didn't realized that there were sects within the Lutherans. I was ready to lose respect for all but now I'll limit it to the hateful (hopefully) minority. Please tell me that the Canine Comfort dogs are from the progressive branch.

Rev 22:21

Pastor, it seems clear to me that you now have a choice. Are you a Christian, or a member of that church? Clearly you can't be both. Think carefully before you decide. What you have apologized for would mean that you wouldn't pray with Jesus, since he was Jewish, because your church wouldn't allow it. Or worse yet, you would betray Jesus and apologize for praying with him. Do you REALLY want to make that decision? Jesus willingly prayed with anyone. In fact, he sought out ANYONE who had views different than his. He actively went looking for those of different faiths and sat down and broke bread with them and prayed with them. Is Jesus's own behavior so unnacceptable to your Church that you feel you are required to apologize for following Jesus Christ's example? Really?? That doesn't seem very Christ Like to me and certainly not a church I would ever want to be a part of.

That is just stupid. Shouldn't we all put our religious differences aside when a tragedy like this happens? I'm not saying everyone has to worship together or try to combine their religions or anything like that, I'm endorsing something like this-an interfaith service intended to show the victims and surviviors that we're all thinking of and praying for them.

PANIC MOON: You're guilty of branding all atheists as of being of a single mode. Not all atheists are angry at God. Most of the ones I know don't give God a second thought. They just don't believe he's real. The angry ones are often those who were fanatical believers early in their lives...OR they may just be flaming adolescents who can say what they want on the internet, because, after all they are anonymous.

Okay...I actually understand where this Pastor from MO is coming from. I think he is very wrong in his opinion and action, but I do understand it. Pastor Harrison (MO) does not want it to appear that the Lutheran church is endorsing Islam and other non-Christian faiths, but you have to look at the context of the meeting. This was not a worship service nor was it an outreach to accept the other religions' doctrine. This was a joint service to bring healing to a hurting people. If Christ were in Newton in physical form, He would have been there to help heal the mourning as well. Sometimes we are so focused following the rules we miss an opportunity to do what was right. See the parable of the Good Samaritan!

I was raised in a Lutheran church and school. Never was I told not to love another. My heart breaks for the Pastor that felt it necessary to apologize.

It's one's faith and spiritualism, NOT RELIGION, that will get them to the right place on the "Other Side". This is just a classic example of a good reason not to get involved with organized religion. It is written by man, not God, and man is FAR, FAR from perfection.

Sorry, you people are all wrong!!! You know nothing about the Lutheran Church MO Synod!!! It is wrong to pray with people who do not recognize the Triune God as the only GOD. They do not pray in the name of Jesus. We can not be in fellowship with any other religion who doesn't give all glory and honor to Christ, for us to do so would be blasphemy. We feel just as much sorrow as everyone else however, to pray with those who do not believe as we do is against our beliefs. By the way, what about the 55 million babies murdered in the last 40 years? I don't hear any of you weeping, wailing, or gnashing your teeth about the great American Holocaust!!!

Raised as a MO Synod Lutheran - and this is why I left that church in 1969...

I am not sure which is worse, that Morris was told to apologize or that he went ahead and apologized. Missouri should just get it straight and tell its folks that they are not to participate in public gatherings and be d one with it. No sense pretending to care about other people, is there? It is truly a sad commentary when people cannot lay aside their trivial differences in times of tragedy and stand together. Fortunately, for the faith seeker, there are many other viable alternatives to sects like the LCMS.

Anyone who is sick and tired of the preaching of hate, exclusion and right-wing talking points, I invite you to check out the United Church of Christ. "Whoever you are, wherever you are on life's journey, you are welcome here."

Sad. How will we shine for Christ if we just keep pulling ourselves from these touchy and difficult situations. Jesus did the unacceptable by the religious all the time, consider the Woman at the Well. Jews and Samaritans did not get along and to make matters worse, she was a woman. I just don't understand. We are not to hide the Light...

This is a perfect example of why I began to refuse to go to church with my neighbor (and dear friend). I was new to the area and searching for a new church "home" and so, having been brought up in a Protestant church back east and having attended many Lutheran church services with friends, I went to church with her and her husband and daughter. Call me naive, but this was the first time I had heard of the "Missouri Synod" and learning that they had different, MAN MADE rules. My first time EVER In a Christian church (except Catholic - more man-made rules, I wont go there) where I can't have communion unless I am a member of the Synod. Show me where in the Bible it says that Jesus said (paraphrasing) ... Here, eat this, it is my body - but you can't have it if you don't join the special man-made organization. Nope, I can't find that in MY bible.

All I can think is its a shame that this Pastor apologized to the synod. The Pastor was right to participate in that service. The synod is simply an embarrassment to the rest of the Lutheran faith (and Christians). Their "rules" don't seem to be much in the Spirit of Christ at all.

The Lutheran Church is prone to participating in events like this because they are pickers of men's bones and meddlers in the sorrows of others. When you meet one of them however old or young you'll notice they have the charm and coolness of a snake waiting to strike and with safety you can not take the creatures with you on a journey or leave them behind to watch property or do business for you. If you have the misfortune of marrying into a family of Lutherans you will soon be subjected to their brainwashing and they'll even insist you vote as they do. We are talking about people so cheap and pathetic they can't even provide a fair tip for services rendered.

This story made me think of a passage in one of Rev. Bill Edelen's columns ("Functional Illiterates"):

What does it mean to be religiously educated?

If the bible is such an easy-to-understand book, why is it that we have over 700 different, fragmented Protestant denominations all reading the bible differently? Add to this the Roman Catholics, Jews and Eastern Orthodox with different interpretations. Add to this the fact that even within one single body, such as the Lutherans, there are continual internal fights as to how to “read” the bible, to such an extent that almost the entire staff of one Lutheran seminary was fired for not reading the bible “correctly.”

My wife and I were married by an Episcopal bishop and a Buddhist. They got along wonderfully. No one ever thought that anything was amiss....because there wasn't. People should quit using things like the story in this article to slam all people of faith. As an atheist working mostly with Christians, I can vouch for their goodness, compassion and sincerity. The first comment above wanted to ban religion. The angry, judgmental tone of his post seems to put him in the same ethical position as Fred Phelps. Too bad for both of them.

August 19th, 2009, the ELCA voted against Jesus and Scripture, families and their future by approving the 'marriage' of practicing homosexual pastors and the steeple of the ELCA Central Lutheran church was bent upside down by a storm used to be my proudest day as a member of the LCMS. But today takes the cake. Why? Because I hate children, grandmas, and apple pie? Come on! It's because I belong to a church body that dares to be different in the face of religious bullies pressuring us, blackmailing us into giving up the very beliefs for which our forefathers willingly died. We don't bend. We are constant, stable, unflappable and unchanging because our God does not change like the shifting shadows of culture and philosophy. It is such a joy to have that firm security amid tragedy and massacre. And its a calm, cool, caring joy that we share with a hurting world. Remember that group that brought dozens of dogs to comfort the children, families, survivors, and emergency personnel that attended to the victims? Yeah, they are LCMS and they care... about their doctrine and their practice of loving their neighbors as themselves.

When man-made religion's "rules" trumps God's love and the right and moral thing to do, that religion is nothing more than a self-serving cult. How disappointed and disgusted God must be that these people are trying to represent Him!

Dear Rev. Morris,

Please retract your apology.

You did nothing wrong.

I might be the first ACTUAL LCMS member on here. We aren't a sect. We aren't crazy. We are in fact probably the most theologically sound denomination of Lutheranism, with a huge emphasis on higher education and historical and archeological study. We are 2.3 million people, and just because there is a rule about not having an inter-faith service does not mean that we do not grieve with the people of Sandy Hook, or prayer for their pain, or were less affected from the horrendous act. Secondly, while I may, as a congregation member, disagree with President Harrison's position on this, I want to remind everyone commenting that Harrison, the current LCMS president quoted above, was president of Lutheran World Relief for 9 years - and aided (many times from the ground, no less!) the distribution of 14 million dollars to those in Asia affected by the tsunami, Hurricane Katrina victims and in the earthquake ruined areas of Haiti. This man has seen much more suffering than most people, and has personally helped, prayed for and provided for more people than most people could in a lifetime. He is not a heartless man who is immune to grief. He has seen enough for many lifetimes. It's something to remember before slinging insults.

This was a pastor who fully understood the doctrine rules before he did this. While I think in this circumstance that we should just let it go, because of the trauma involved and the strain it takes to care for hundreds dealing with immense grief, that it does not make the LCMS a horrible organization for just stating a rule that was made previous to the shooting.

I would like to state that not all Lutherans are as intollerant or hardnosed as The Mo synod. That is all.