Vice President Maier Puts Lawsuit in Perspective

Dr. Paul L. Maier, Second Vice-President of the LCMS,  consented to this interview with Jesus First.

JF:  What is your view of the lawsuit against the LCMS President and Vice-President?

“Because of the lawsuit itself, all of the opinions that follow are solely my own, and not necessarily those of others. -- My view of the lawsuit? Adjectives like “unjustified, ill-conceived, inept, unnecessary,” and, above all, “sad” come to mind. The suit will not achieve its stated goals:  to remove Drs. Kieschnick and Diekelman from their offices, order a new election and overturn all 2004 Convention action that limits the authority of the Board of Directors. What the suit will achieve instead is a further besmirching in the public media of the LCMS as a fractious fraternity; more useless, wasteful expenditure of funds for legal purposes; a further deepening of the rift in Synod; and more distraction of our church body from its central responsibilities.”

JF:  How did we get into this situation?

“Extremism, pure and simple. Extremism is a curse in the public sector, the private sector, and especially also in the church. Two extremist poles, with many gradations in-between, seem to influence the way people think and act. The pole on the extreme left is a radical open-mindedness that opposes strictures of all kinds, scoffs at tradition, is antinomian if not libertine, and worships change for the sake of change. The pole on the extreme right is a radical closed-mindedness that detests change, lives by the Law and is severely judgmental and suspicious of all not so minded. Although the vast majority of believers in both the ELCA and LCMS are biblical centrists who avoid both extremes, the ELCA has an unusually vocal left extremist faction, while the LCMS is the mirror opposite: We are beset by an unusually vocal right extremist faction. 

“Through careful politicization, our right-wing extremists have managed to control the LCMS for the last thirty years, or until the July 2001 Convention.  Since then, the vast conservative centrist majority in Synod has finally let its voice be heard, as witness the election results at the 2004 Convention, except for the Board of Directors, where a slim archconservative majority prevails. The sad, wasteful decisions made by that bare majority are commentary enough on the dangers of extremism, while the lawsuit – favored, incredibly, by at least three of the BOD majority, indeed, suggested by one of them – seems to be something of a “sour grapes” attack on those who prevailed.”

JF: You referred several times to the “vast majority” of conservative centrists in Synod. How do you know this to be the case?

“No officers of our church body are closer to their people than our District Presidents, who best reflect the faith and life of their constituents. The plain fact is that at least 29 or 30 of our 35 District Presidents fully support the conservative, centrist, positive polices of the President and Praesidium of Synod. (This is not to suggest that the other five or six District Presidents are right-wing extremists. They are not, and not one of them supports the present, odious lawsuit.)” 

JF:  How, then, do we get out of this situation?

“First of all, by not taking the lawsuit too seriously. It must be answered competently, of course, but the plaintiffs cannot prevail in the courts, which are loath to take on any intramural religious cases. If, on the other hand, the Synod and its officers were to be distracted by the lawsuit, then our efforts in behalf of Ablaze! and many other positive programs could be impacted. But I have every reason to believe this will not be the case.”

JF: Why are you so sure the lawsuit will fail?

“Among other reasons is the fact that President Kieschnick did absolutely nothing wrong in granting the electoral exceptions for the last Convention. He operated in accordance with the Bylaws of the Synod, which authorize the synodical President, upon request of District Boards of Directors, to grant exceptions to the minimum numbers of congregations and communicants stipulated by the Bylaws. This is merely a continuation of the practice of previous presidents.

“Again, the reason for granting exceptions is to enable electoral circuits with not quite enough communicant members or congregations to have representation at the Convention.  This democratic gesture assures fairness for those in areas of less-concentrated Lutheran population. In fact, however, one of the greatest “exceptions” of all was employed by right-wing extremists in Synod, who selected as a member of the Board of Directors someone from a state in which we have only three Lutheran churches!  Another of their gross exceptions (in terms of time) was to elect as a member of the BOD someone who had been a Lutheran for only two or three years!   

“As for the lawsuit’s attempt to overturn the 2004 Convention’s strong decision in favor of the Synodical constitution – to which Missouri Law is not opposed – I find it cruelly ironic that our right-wing extremists are the very people who now want to invite government intrusion into our church affairs, when our Saxon forefathers fled

Germany to escape all such governmental intrusion! Who, then, are the true conservatives in Synod, the ultra-rightists or the conservative centrists?”

JF: What will it take to make Synod healthy again?

“I can only hope that those who inaugurated this unjustified lawsuit, called “needless and divisive” by the eight foremost synodical leaders (President, First Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer of the Synod, Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Council of Presidents), will withdraw it. But this, I regret to say, may be wishful thinking, since the instigators of the lawsuit have been severely critical of Synod for many years, no matter what administration was in charge! I would hope, instead, that the other signatories in this suit might reconsider their participation. I now ask each of them, candidly:  ‘How would St. Paul regard your conduct?  Isn’t yours a clear violation of his advice in 1 Corinthians 6? If not, why not?’”   

“Another question to ponder: Have conservative centrists ever brought suit against Synod or any of its officers? The answer is no, since they take Scripture and 1 Corinthians 6 very seriously. Have the ultra-right-wing extremists ever done so? Yes, in fact, several times recently, this being the latest instance. “By their fruits, you shall know them.”

JF:  How can we best support President Kieschnick?

“Our President has maintained incredible patience and composure despite the repeated provocations he has had to face from the extremist right. Pray that our Lord sustains his obvious courage and resolution to continue leading Synod in a positive, God-pleasing direction. Beyond all debate, Synod will move toward further unity as we do the work of the church rather than waste time and resources in endless disputes. Will the ultra-right-wing extremists abandon their misguided efforts and join us in reconciliation? I truly, fervently hope so. If not – and one of their leaders has indeed threatened a split – then they will be truly shocked, I think, at how few will join them on the road to schism.”                    

DSL