Letters


Youth Gathering showed dedication Readers chime in on climate, quietism, evangelism, credit union, justice


Lutheran SEPTEMBER 2015 www.thelutheran.org $2.50 together


Youth, Detroit come


Story Page 16


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12 Hands of hope


28 Let’s raise disciples 36 Preventing exploitation


l38 A better cow ®


I read the story about the Youth Gathering, “Rising up together” (September, page 16). This was my 10th gathering, and I was honored to attend. I cannot recall one making its way to a cover story or 10 full pages of coverage. It really showed the life that this gathering brought to Detroit—a week that will last for years to come. Many people here in Michigan and around the country have written off Detroit, but not the ELCA. Thank you for informing the church at large about the dedication of its youth. Mark McPherson Gaylord, Mich.


Facts on climate change In response to “Nothing but the facts” (September, page 49), Earth’s climate has changed in the past, so why is there concern about the current changes? There is concern because the average world tempera-


48 www.thelutheran.org


ture is already at the highest level in recorded history, and it is rising at a rate much faster than ever known. The evidence that global warming is caused by human activity comes from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which includes 1,300 independent scien- tific groups working under the aus- pices of the U.N. They found that not only is the level of heat-trapping atmospheric carbon dioxide 40 per- cent more than the highest natural levels over the past 800,000 years, but this additional carbon dioxide contains a unique fingerprint that shows it comes from the burning of coal and oil. The IPCC concluded there is more than a 90 percent prob- ability that human-produced green- house gases such as carbon dioxide have warmed our planet. Unless the vast majority of climate scientists are either incompetent or liars, the church and all of us have the scien- tific basis and moral responsibility to work to reduce greenhouse gases. David K. Voigts Jesup, Iowa


‘Lutheran quietism’ I found the story of Dan Huff ’s (Sep- tember, page 43) lifework inspira- tional, but I do not agree with his comment that Jesus’ focus was indi- viduals and not work for structural change through Roman legislation. This fosters “Lutheran quietism,” which is a disempowering “hands- off” attitude toward political or soci- etal problems. The Roman Empire wasn’t a representative democracy, so Jesus didn’t have a constitutional right to redress grievances through peaceful assembly or petitions to


the government. We do have those rights and should use them. Jesus was, however, a Jew, and he used his knowledge of and standing in that community and among his followers to take his grievances to the very cen- ter of the Jewish power structure, the temple in Jerusalem. Judy Jensvold Ithaca, N.Y.


Straight to the point I came to the Lutheran church after stints in several other denomina- tions and finally, at about the age of 33, settled on an ELCA congregation. I don’t usually read editorials in The Lutheran, but this time I did. And I’m happy that I did. Your editorial, “Something new for the Gathering” (September, page 4), said some- thing that I have said to my Lutheran friends for years but no one wanted to listen. Maybe they will listen to you. Your message that the ELCA is reticent about evangelism is straight to the point. Please repeat your mes- sage over and over again. All ELCA members must change their attitude toward evangelism, starting at the top. Loyd Coonrod Alexandria, Va.


Serving our own Our presiding bishop writes (Sep- tember, page 50), and rightly so: “The church is not a vehicle for our conve- nience, status, success or even com- fort.” That said, I find no other expla- nation for why the ELCA is going into the credit union business. Were we helping our nation’s working poor to get small, short-term loans at rea- sonable rates and save them from the


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