ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton has released a pastoral message addressing actions taken at the ELCA 2019 Churchwide Assembly to address racism and white supremacy. “We are all deeply in need of grace, and God gives this gift to all. Standing equally under the judgement and promise of the gospel, we, as a church, can recognize the overt and covert ways that a culture of white supremacy denies full humanity to all people, and we can work to dismantle it,” the message read, in part.
The message outlines some of the actions taken at the Churchwide Assembly, including offering a public apology titled “Declaration of the ELCA to People of African Descent”; adopting a resolution condemning white supremacy; and adopting a resolution to establish June 17 as “Emanuel 9 Day of Repentance,” commemorating those who were killed on June 17, 2015, at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.
