South Dakota Church Leaves ELCA Over More Than Gays And Genetically Modified Food

We already know not all Luthernas can’t handle The Gays. But I’m especially proud of the Anselm Trinity Lutheran Church — in North Dakota farm country — for leaving the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America not just over those homosexual clergy, but for the group’s position on genetically modified food.

ELCA’s draft statement — which stands at 63 pages, but will be repeatedly edited before the entire synod votes on it in August — on the use of genetics says farmers planting scientist-developed franken-food seeds are “pretty much sinners,” says church council president Jill Bunn. And it matters to Anselm Trinity’s members in the rural towns outside Fargo, given many families ties to agriculture and the widespread use there of genetically modified seeds that are weed-resistant. So they’re ditching ELCA.

Except the statement says nothing of the sort, insists Roger Willer, an ELCA staffer who’s working on the statement. “If anyone reads the statement for themselves they’ll see that it does not condemn genetically engineered seeds and it doesn’t make any recommendation on farm management practices.” Fine. Now find it in the Bible.