[utahagen]

I sincerely think it's too late for the ECLA as a denomination ever to be "taken back". I agree with the Lutheran pastor who left when ECLA started paying for its employees' abortions: "Real churches don't kill babies."

I know there are orthodox Christians in the ECLA and I sympathize with them. But if real Lutheranism is important to them, they should join the Missouri Synod. I think Mainline Protestant denominations are packed with ultraliberal clergy who use orthodox Christians within their ranks and then betray them at every turn when these churches make decisions about, for example, abortion. The idea that Martin Luther EVER would have sanctioned abortion is ludicrous, and the fact that the ECLA sanctions it means it has abandoned real Lutheranism, not to mention real Christianity.

(By the way, I'm not a Lutheran of any stripe. I just really admire the Missouri Synod.)

[freemax]

I was brought up in the ELCA but switched over to the Missouri Synod several years ago. I am glad I did. The church I belong to adheres strictly to Martin Luther's teachings without wavering. The ELCA around the corner, on the other hand, has begun drifting away to Liberalism. Yep, ELCA= Extreme Left church of Atheism.