I so wish journalists would take your advice and clarify the specifics of denominations. As a confessional Missouri Synod Lutheran, I get tired of getting lumped in with ELCA, or, as I call it, “Every Leftwing Cause in America,” because we both use the name “Lutheran.”
My guess is that most journos aren’t particularly religious themselves, and thus have little curiosity about Christian differences.
Remember! Always separate the work of religion-beat pros, with training and experience, from the work of people who veer into religion on other beats! Denominational leaders really need to find ways to reach out DIRECTLY to key editors at the local and national levels, as well.
Well, there you have it. Walz self-describes as a "Minnesota Lutheran" meaning an offspring of Lutheran parents who's only catechism is the platform of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party.
Perhaps people will start saying the “bad” Lutherans in LCMS and WELS are not “real” Lutherans. Like they say the Westboro Baptists are not “real” Baptists, because they do not belong to some entity which includes the American Baptist Convention, the Southern Baptist Convention, bot National Baptists Conventions, General Baptists, Conservative Baptists, Freewill Baptists, Primitive Baptists... “Yes, we got all kinds of Baptists here. Including buzzard Baptists.”
There's an asymmetry here regarding the nature of Lutheran identity. confessional Lutherans, as the name implies, highly value Lutheran identity and define it by strong agreement on doctrine and practice. So we decry others in the LCMS and pretty much the whole of the ELCA as "bad Lutherans", meaning people who identify as Lutheran but believe and practice things at variance with historic confessional Lutheranism.
Meanwhile those on the LCMS left and the ELCA condemn confessional Lutherans as rigid, tradition-bound, reactionary and desiring to impose their narrow preferences on everyone else. They may decry us as bad Christians, but probably not bad Lutherans. They take a much broader view of Lutheran and confessional identity.
I so wish journalists would take your advice and clarify the specifics of denominations. As a confessional Missouri Synod Lutheran, I get tired of getting lumped in with ELCA, or, as I call it, “Every Leftwing Cause in America,” because we both use the name “Lutheran.”
My guess is that most journos aren’t particularly religious themselves, and thus have little curiosity about Christian differences.
Remember! Always separate the work of religion-beat pros, with training and experience, from the work of people who veer into religion on other beats! Denominational leaders really need to find ways to reach out DIRECTLY to key editors at the local and national levels, as well.
Well, there you have it. Walz self-describes as a "Minnesota Lutheran" meaning an offspring of Lutheran parents who's only catechism is the platform of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party.
Perhaps people will start saying the “bad” Lutherans in LCMS and WELS are not “real” Lutherans. Like they say the Westboro Baptists are not “real” Baptists, because they do not belong to some entity which includes the American Baptist Convention, the Southern Baptist Convention, bot National Baptists Conventions, General Baptists, Conservative Baptists, Freewill Baptists, Primitive Baptists... “Yes, we got all kinds of Baptists here. Including buzzard Baptists.”
There's an asymmetry here regarding the nature of Lutheran identity. confessional Lutherans, as the name implies, highly value Lutheran identity and define it by strong agreement on doctrine and practice. So we decry others in the LCMS and pretty much the whole of the ELCA as "bad Lutherans", meaning people who identify as Lutheran but believe and practice things at variance with historic confessional Lutheranism.
Meanwhile those on the LCMS left and the ELCA condemn confessional Lutherans as rigid, tradition-bound, reactionary and desiring to impose their narrow preferences on everyone else. They may decry us as bad Christians, but probably not bad Lutherans. They take a much broader view of Lutheran and confessional identity.