ST. LOUIS — Wallace Schulz will not return to his duties as “Lutheran Hour” radio speaker because he would not agree to “stipulations deemed necessary for his return to service,” according to Lutheran Hour Ministries, the program’s parent agency.
Schulz had been relieved of his radio duties with pay in mid-July as political infighting within the 2.6 million-member Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod worsened in the wake of his decision to suspend the president of the church’s Atlantic District for participating in a Sept. 11-related ecumenical event. Schulz found David Benke’s participation in the interfaith event “A Prayer for America” held at Yankee Stadium following the 9/11 terrorist attacks amounted to a violation of synod rules against syncretism.
Schulz, the denomination’s second vice president, was called on to judge Benke after several churches and pastors filed charges against him. The president and first vice president had recused themselves from the case. Fearing negative reaction from its listeners and polarization within the ministries, “Lutheran Hour” officials had also asked Schulz to recuse himself from the matter.
He did not and in June concluded that Benke was guilty of mixing Christian and non-Christian beliefs by participating in the event that included Roman Catholics, Muslims, Jews and others.
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