The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has new guidelines for participating in public events following a bitter disagreement over a minister's role in an interfaith service after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Delegates to the denomination's national convention voted 757-446 last week in support of the guidelines developed by a Lutheran commission on theology and church relations.
The denomination's president, Rev. Gerald Kieschnick, angered some Lutherans when he allowed a New York area minister to participate in a Yankee Stadium memorial service days after the 2001 suicide hijackings.
Some pastors said the service, which featured clergy of many religions, along with celebrities and politicians, improperly mixed different religious beliefs.
The pastors filed a complaint against the minister who participated. He was eventually cleared, but bad feelings about the event remained, and they figured in Kieschnick's re-election bid. He survived and won a second term.