On Lutheran statements in response to the racist Unite the Right rally (Charlottesville, August 12, 2017)

Abstract

In this article, I introduce and discuss the statements published by ELCA and LC-MS - two important Lutheran denominations in the USA - on their respective websites in reaction to the neo-Nazi protest termed “Unite the right”, which took place at Charlottesville on August 12, 2017. Next, I offer a short exposition on racism to explain the necessity of Christian reactions against it. I expose racism as something not natural, but rather constructed to foment and maintain established privileges and inequalities. Finally, I reflect, in dialogue with Lutheran theologians, especially Dietrich Bonhoeffer, about what should be the expected and pertinent reaction of a Christian community in the Lutheran tradition to the event witnessed in Charlottesville.