In 2010, Mennonite World Conference President Danisa Ndl- ovu (right) presented Lutheran World Fed- eration President Bishop Mark S. Hanson with a foot-washing tub repre- senting love and service.
Most Christians today still know relatively little about Islam. Many people stereotype Muslims as vio- lent. For five years, the ELCA has been part of a national organization committed to increasing understand- ing between Christians and Muslims in the belief that getting to know each other better will strengthen our ability to live together and work together for justice and peace.
In 2002 the ELCA began a series of formal dialogues with the Menno- nite Church, one of
the heirs to the Anabaptist movement. These dialogues resulted in the conclu- sion that some of the past condemna- tions simply don’t apply to the life and teaching of the Mennonite Church today.
chosen not to cover up Lutheran complicity in the Holocaust. In 1994 the ELCA adopted a public “Declaration to the Jewish Commu- nity,” acknowledging the violence of Luther’s anti-Jewish writings and expressing “deep and abiding sorrow” for their terrible conse- quences. The declaration rejects anti-Semitism and commits the ELCA to living together respect- fully with the Jewish community. Lutherans in the U.S. and
throughout the world have also taken steps to move beyond the intoler- ance shown toward Anabaptists in the past.
In 2002 the ELCA began a series of formal dialogues with the Men- nonite Church, one of the heirs to the Anabaptist movement. These dialogues resulted in the conclusion
24 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
that some of the past condemnations simply don’t apply to the life and teaching of the Mennonite Church today. In areas where we still dis- agree, such as the issue of infant baptism or believers’ baptism, the churches have committed them- selves to more conversation rather than rejection. On the global level, in 2010 the Lutheran World Federation asked for—and received—forgiveness from the Mennonite World Confer- ence for Lutherans’ role in the his- tory of Anabaptist persecution. Lutheran-Muslim relations are also an area of progress. Christians knew relatively little about Islam in the 16th century. Luther took for granted that both Muslims and Roman Catholics were enemies of Christ. The original text of his hymn “Lord, Keep Us Stead- fast in Your Word” asked God to “restrain the murderous Pope and Turk.” As the word “Turk” suggests, people were more concerned about the political and military threat the Ottoman Empire posed to Chris- tian Europe than about the Muslim beliefs held by the Turks. Luther refused to endorse war
against the Turks as a holy war. Political leaders should fight to protect their citizens, but the gospel should be defended only with the word and with prayer.
Learning from our successes After Luther’s death, war broke out between Emperor Charles V and the German princes who had adopted Lutheranism in their territories. When the war ended, the imperial Diet of Augsburg in 1555 approved a policy allowing rulers to choose whether the established religion in the area they governed would be Roman Catholic or Lutheran. This “Peace of Augsburg” gave perma- nent legal status to Lutheranism for the first time, although only in the territories whose rulers supported Lutheran reform. Augsburg itself was a free impe-
rial city, not ruled by a regional prince but accountable only to the emperor. In Augsburg and other free cities, both Roman Catholic Christianity and Lutheran Christi- anity could be practiced openly. In Augsburg, this was more than coex- istence; it was active cooperation. For more than 150 years all pub-
lic offices in Augsburg were filled by equal numbers of Lutherans and Roman Catholics. A Lutheran tax commissioner and a Catholic tax commissioner worked side by side. A Lutheran judge and a Catholic judge worked side by side. Doubtless there were conflicts over the years. But over time, according to the current mayor of Augsburg, a side-by-side rela-
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