wfn.org | Lutherans Oppose Land Mines

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE - NEWSBRIEF

June 2, 1997

LUTHERANS OPPOSE LAND MINES

U.S. Lutherans called on President Bill Clinton to make good on a
one-year-old promise to ban the manufacture, sale and use of
antipersonnel land mines.  The Rev. Theodore F. Schneider, bishop of
the Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA), delivered petitions with the signatures of
56,000 Lutherans to U.S. Senator Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) on
May 15 calling for an immediate ban.  Leahy supports the ban and
agreed to transmit a total of almost 111,000 signatures to Secretary
of State Madeleine Albright.  "This sudden surge within just one
denomination here in America demonstrates that sane people look at
this craziness and have little trouble reaching a conclusion," said
Schneider.  The bishop called on President Clinton to make good on his
promise and to do more than simply add his approval to an
international agreement.  The petition campaign in the ELCA and
the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod was led by Lutheran World Relief,
which works overseas in relief and development on behalf of the two
churches.  The petitions were assembled again May 16 in Lafayette Park
opposite the White House where Kathryn F. Wolford, LWR executive
director, told more than 200 people gathered from around the world
that the petition drive was only the start of a campaign to eliminate
land mines.  "Let us take this word back to our communities and join
our voices with our brothers and sisters around the world who are not
asking for much except for the respect of their human dignity and the
right for their children to live without fear," she said.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html