Violence against one is violence against all.
Bishop Elizabeth Eaton of the Evangelical Lutheran church in America (ELCA) says racial violence is a call to sight and to action.
ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton responds to shootings in Baton Rouge, La. and St. Paul, Minn. She urges followers of Jesus to “show up” and “be present” in communities that are in pain.
Some of Bishop Eaton’s remarks from Friday’s statement include:
“Connect to law enforcement – they are not doing this by themselves.”
“It’s time to go out there, dear church, and make the invisible visible.”
In addition, black Lutheran leader, the Rev. Lamont A. Wells, writes, “Young black males (are) at a far greater risk of being shot dead by police than their white counterparts – 21 times greater, according to a ProPublica analysis of federally collected data on fatal police shootings… Jesus insists on the intrinsic value of all human beings, and he models for us how God loves justly.”
After the shooting of five police officers in Dallas on July 7, Bishop Erik Gronberg of the North Texas-North Louisiana Synod writes: “Our hearts are broken in North Texas for the families of law enforcement officers whose lives were taken… (But it is a lie) that we cannot care about our law enforcement officers and their families while at the same time challenging the privilege and assumptions that impact how law and justice are carried out. This lie the Church must reject, engaging in compassionate work together.”
Click here to see Bishop Eaton’s statement.
Prayer for victims of racial violence
Leaders of the African Descent Lutheran Association call on faithful people to “be intentional” about erasing systemic bias.
Lutheran bishops of the St. Paul Area Synod, Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod and the Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod respond to racially motivated shootings in our country.