Standing with our Youth

The youth in our St. Paul Area Synod have been denied assembly synodical authorization to engage the critical questions surrounding military service.  The synods did not stand with our youth with the authority of the office.

Recently, the Joint Peace with Justice Committee of the St. Paul Synod and the Minneapolis Area Synod proposed a resolution with the resolves: "...to provide congregations with resources for addressing the issues of faith and conscience inherent in military service....[urging] congregations to share such resources with parents, pastors, church youth leaders, Sunday school teachers and confirmation instructors in order to encourage the teaching of what Jesus taught and lived, and to inform young people of the often destructive consequences of combat and training to kill."

It was the decision of the St. Paul Area Synod resolution committee to NOT allow for a vote, but instead to allow two speakers, one pro-resolution and the other a military chaplain, table conversation, but no public comment.  To be fair, the speakers were excellent and the table conversation vigorous.  I had planned to speak in favor of the resolution.  What follows was to be my speech.

I speak in support of the resolves.  Our nation has fought more wars and proxy wars than any other nation in the world in the 20th Century.  Now, in the 21st Century, we are again leading the world in being the major player in wars.  Our national defense budget is larger than all the defense budgets of all other nations in the world combined.  We are a fighting nation, and if the past is our teacher, we will fight again in defense of our nation and to protect the vulnerable.

The truth is that our youth are going to be asked to fight these wars.  Our youth are going to be faced with the most traumatic decision of their lives: taking another life on the field of battle. For most, this action is life changing.  Some are physically impaired for life.  Suicides, unemployment, and homelessness rates for vets are significantly higher for the discharged soldier.  War has life beyond the battlefield.

Our Church owes it to our youth to provide them with the opportunity to engage the central questions of war, peace, and military service from Biblical, confessional, and historical positions.  We support our youth when we provide opportunities for faithful, moral conversation on these crucial issues of life.  We

support our youth when we provide time for conversation on the just war theory, pacifism, conscientious objection, selective conscientious objection, and the nonviolent ethic of Jesus Christ.

The Church is the most gifted place for our youth to engage these questions.  Indeed, it may be the only place where our youth can engage these profound questions in a faithful, thoughtful, suppportive, compassionate environment.  Let us journey with our youth.  I urge the asssembly to support the resolves within this resolution.  Thank you.

Some would argue that synodical resolutions are words in the wind, signifying little, assuaging only bothered consciences, creating only illusions of moral action.  For some voters this would be true.  But where would we be if those who signed the Augsburg Confession would not have signed?  Where would our nation be if our Constitution was unsigned and not voted into law?  Where would the ELCA social statements be if there were no votes?  Where would the Civil Rights Act of 1965 be if there was no vote?  Democracy would be a sham without the right to vote.  What is the Arab Spring all about?

Votes matter.  Votes give authority for action.  Votes put conscience on the line.  Votes mean we are standing up for what we deem of faithful value.  Our synod failed our youth.  Personally, I will spend the next year moving another resolution forward for vote.

We must stand with our youth.

Peace!
Ron