Difference between revisions of "Evangelical Lutheran Church in America"

Latest revision as of 23:24, 5 October 2018

Official Denominational Website: http://www.elca.org

Beginning of Life

Abortion

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "Late-Term Abortions" (Social Policy Resolution CA01.06.43, 2001)

"Resolved To decline to propose amendments to the "Social Statement on Abortion" of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America inasmuch as the existing document addresses the concerns raised in the memorial.

To affirm the action of the 1999 Churchwide Assembly of the ELCA to encourage continuing moral deliberation throughout this church on abortion" ("Late-Term Abortions")^[1]

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "Abortion" (Social Policy Resolution CA99.06.33, 1999) See also "Abortion" (Social Policy Resolution CA97.06.30, 1997)^[2]

"Resolved To express this church's continuing concern about the number of abortions in this country;

To commend the Social Statement on Abortion, which was adopted by the 1991 Churchwide Assembly, as a resource to our pastors and members dealing with this issue;

To encourage continuing moral deliberation throughout this church on abortion." ("Abortion")^[3]

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "Abortion" (Social Policy Resolution CC95.11.79, 1995)

"Resolved To receive with concurrence the recommendation of the work group, acknowledging especially that abortion ought to be an option only of last resort because of the basic moral presumption of preserving and protecting life, and underscoring the complex difficulties involved in moral decision-making." ("Abortion")^[4]

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "A Social Statement on Abortion" (1991)

“The language used in discussing abortion should ignore neither the value of unborn life nor the value of the woman and her other relationships. It should neither obscure the moral seriousness of the decision faced by the woman nor hide the moral value of the newly conceived life. Nor is it helpful to use the language of "rights" in absolute ways that imply that no other significant moral claims intrude. A developing life in the womb does not have an absolute right to be born, nor does a pregnant woman have an absolute right to terminate a pregnancy. The concern for both the life of the woman and the developing life in her womb expresses a common commitment to life. This requires that we move beyond the usual "pro-life" versus "pro-choice" language in discussing abortion.

Because we believe that God is the creator of life, the number of induced abortions is a source of deep concern to this church. We mourn the loss of life that God has created. The strong Christian presumption is to preserve and protect life. Abortion ought to be an option only of last resort. Therefore, as a church we seek to reduce the need to turn to abortion as the answer to unintended pregnancies.

Because of the Christian presumption to preserve and protect life, this church, in most circumstances, encourages women with unintended pregnancies to continue the pregnancy.

This church encourages and seeks to support adoption as a positive option to abortion.

This church recognizes that there can be sound reasons for ending a pregnancy through induced abortion. The following provides guidance for those considering such a decision. We recognize that conscientious decisions need to be made in relation to difficult circumstances that vary greatly. What is determined to be a morally responsible decision in one situation may not be in another. In reflecting ethically on what should be done in the case of an unintended pregnancy, consideration should be given to the status and condition of the life in the womb. We also need to consider the conditions under which the pregnancy occurred and the implications of the pregnancy for the woman’s life.

An abortion is morally responsible in those cases in which continuation of a pregnancy presents a clear threat to the physical life of the woman.

A woman should not be morally obligated to carry the resulting pregnancy to term if the pregnancy occurs when both parties do not participate willingly in sexual intercourse. This is especially true in cases of rape and incest. This can also be the case in some situations in which women are so dominated and oppressed that they have no choice regarding sexual intercourse and little access to contraceptives. Some conceptions occur under dehumanizing conditions that are contrary to God's purposes.

There are circumstances of extreme fetal abnormality, which will result in severe suffering and very early death of an infant. In such cases, after competent medical consultations, the parent(s) may responsibly choose to terminate the pregnancy. Whether they choose to continue or to end such pregnancies, this church supports the parent(s) with compassion, recognizing the struggle involved in the decision.

Although abortion raises significant moral issues at any stage of fetal development, the closer the life in the womb comes to full term the more serious such issues become. When a child can survive outside a womb, it becomes possible for other people, and not only the mother, to nourish and care for the child. This church opposes ending intrauterine life when a fetus is developed enough to live outside a uterus with the aid of reasonable and necessary technology. If a pregnancy needs to be interrupted after this point, every reasonable and necessary effort should be made to support this life, unless there are lethal fetal abnormalities indicating that the prospective newborn will die very soon.

The position of this church is that government has a legitimate role in regulating abortion. A major challenge is to formulate policy regarding abortion that will have sufficient consensus to be enforceable. Furthermore, any proposed regulation should contribute toward the intended goals without generating problems worse than those it seeks to address.

In the case of abortion, public policy has a double challenge. One is to be effective in protecting prenatal life. The other is to protect the dignity of women and their freedom to make responsible decisions in difficult situations. Pursuing those ends is particularly formidable because our society is so divided on this issue, and because women, people of color, and those of low income are so under-represented in legislative and judicial processes. In its advocacy regarding these issues, this church should exert every effort to see that the needs of those most directly affected, particularly the pregnant woman and the life in her womb, are seriously considered in the political process.

Laws should be enacted and enforced justly for the preservation and enhancement of life, and should avoid unduly encumbering or endangering the lives of women.

Because of our conviction that both the life of the woman and the life in her womb must be respected by law, this church opposes:

• the total lack of regulation of abortion;
• legislation that would outlaw abortion in all circumstances;
• laws that prevent access to information about all options available to women faced with unintended pregnancies;
• laws that deny access to safe and affordable services for morally justifiable abortions;
• mandatory or coerced abortion or sterilization;
• laws that prevent couples from practicing contraception;
• laws that are primarily intended to harass those contemplating or deciding for an abortion.

The position of this church is that, in cases where the life of the mother is threatened, where pregnancy results from rape or incest, or where the embryo or fetus has lethal abnormalities incompatible with life, abortion prior to viability should not be prohibited by law or by lack of public funding of abortions for low income women. On the other hand, this church supports legislation that prohibits abortions that are performed after the fetus is determined to be viable, except when the mother’s life is threatened or when lethal abnormalities indicate the prospective newborn will die very soon.

Beyond these situations, this church neither supports nor opposes laws prohibiting abortion.

It is the position of this church that further deliberation is needed on such questions as whether consultation with the spouse or partner should be required, whether and how parental consent should be required for a minor seeking an abortion, and whether public funds should be used to pay for abortions.” ("A Social Statement on Abortion")^[5]

Contraception

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "A Social Statement on Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust" (2009)

“This church supports the development and use of medical products, birth control, and initiatives that support fulfilling and responsible sexuality. This church also recognizes the important role that the availability of birth control has played in allowing women and men to make responsible decisions about the bearing and rearing of children.” ("A Social Statement on Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust")^[6]

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "A Message on Sexuality: Some Common Convictions" (1996)

"When a woman and man join their bodies sexually, both should be prepared to provide for a child, should conception occur. When that is not their intention, the responsible use of safe, effective contraceptives is expected of the male and the female. Respect and sensitivity should also be shown toward couples who do not feel called to conceive and/or rear children, or who are unable to do so." ("A Social Statement on Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust")^[7]

Healthcare & Medicine

Access to Healthcare

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "Health Care Reform" (Social Policy Resolution CA09.04.18, 2009)

"[T]he Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, in Assembly, commit this church in all of its expressions to the premise that 'each person should have ready access to basic health care services that include preventive, acute, and chronic physical and mental health care at an affordable cost.'" ("Health Care Reform")^[8]

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "A Social Statement on Health, Healing, and Health Care Caring for Health: Our Shared Endeavor" (2003)

“Health care as a shared endeavor entails a comprehensive and coherent set of services of good quality care throughout one’s life span. At a minimum, each person should have ready access to basic health care services that include preventive, acute, and chronic physical and mental health care at an affordable cost.

“As members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and as a corporate body, we support: 1) a comprehensive approach to health care as a shared endeavor among individuals, churches, government, and the wider society; 2) a vision of health care and healing that includes individual, church, and social responsibilities; 3) a vision of a health care system that is based on understanding health, illness, healing, and health care within a coherent set of services; 4) equitable access for all people to basic health care services and to the benefits of public health efforts; 5) faithful moral discernment guiding individual participation and public policymaking in health care services.” ("Caring for Health: Our Shared Endeavor")^[9]

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "Health Care" (Social Policy Resolution CA89.02.4, 1989)

"Resolved To reaffirm the position of the predecessor church bodies supporting access to quality health care for everyone, regardless of income;

To urge members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the U.S. Congress to work toward passage of legislation that will help achieve that goal." ("Health Care")^[10]

Organ Donation & Transplantation

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "Reaffirm Organ Donation and Observe Donor Sabbath" (Social Policy Resolution CA16.02.03e, 2016)

"Resolved: To reaffirm this church’s recognition of the donation of organs, tissue and whole blood as an act of stewardship and as an appropriate means for contributing to the health and well-being of other persons." ("Reaffirm Organ Donation and Observe Donor Sabbath")^[11]

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "Donation of Organs, Tissue, and Whole Blood" (2004) See also "Donation of Organs, Tissue, and Whole Blood" (Social Policy Resolution CC04.04.14, 2004)^[12]

“In light of the situation and the longstanding commitments of this church and its predecessors, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America affirms that it:

• regards the donation of organs, tissue, and whole blood as an act of stewardship and as an appropriate means for contributing to the health and well being of other persons;
• recognizes that the donation of live organs (e.g., a kidney) can be an expression of sacrificial love for a neighbor in need;
• recognizes that the donation of whole blood and renewable tissue (e.g. bone marrow) by those who are able can be an expression of care for a neighbor in need;
• urgently encourages its members to consider donating organs, tissue, and whole blood;
• encourages those willing to donate organs or tissue to communicate their wishes to family members and appropriate professionals such as a pastor or other rostered church leader, physician, or other health care provider;
• urges those individuals, as well, to make the necessary legal arrangements, including the use of a signed donor card and other legal instruments such as living wills and durable powers of attorney for health care;
• affirms that the human dignity of all donors and recipients should be respected and that all coercion and manipulation be absent from the donation process;
• calls upon its pastors and other rostered leaders to become familiar with the moral and legal issues as well as with clinical procedures involved in organ and tissue donations so that they may be prepared to counsel persons and families considering donation;
• urges its pastors and other rostered leaders, congregations, synods, agencies, and institutions to initiate and sponsor programs of education and moral deliberation on organ, tissue, and whole blood donation;
• calls upon government to: a) maintain or to develop public policies that will encourage voluntary donations; b) discourage coercive donations; c) forbid the buying and selling of human organs, tissue, and whole blood; d) hold accountable those involved in such illegal activities; e) and ensure the efficient, equitable access to organs, tissue, and whole blood for medical procedure;
• recognizes the existence of various efforts (presumed consent, xenotransplantation, cloning organs, and so forth) to increase the supply of organs and tissue that do not involve buying and selling them. It further recognizes that some of these may represent notable shifts in the economic, moral, social, and theological assumptions of current practice. This church calls for continuing deliberation and careful moral assessment of such proposals. ("Donation of Organs, Tissue, and Whole Blood")^[13]

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "Organ Donation" (Social Policy Resolution CA89.07.72, 1989)

"Resolved To affirm the commitment of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to include as part of its healing and stewardship education ministries active discussion and education on organ donations, within the context of respect for the sanctity of life;

To call upon congregations to lift up this need and encourage members to consider organ donation as part of their stewardship of life’s resources." ("Organ Donation")^[14]

Science & Technology

Biotechnology

Human Cloning

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "A Social Statement on Genetics, Faith, and Responsibility" (2011)

“As a matter of respect, however, the ELCA affirms the widely held rejection of research into human reproductive cloning because of the unacceptable risk of harm to experimental subjects. This church will continue to reject human reproductive cloning as a matter of respect even if it becomes safe and economically feasible. A person should not be treated as a means to another person’s end. Cloning for the sake of repeating another individual’s genotype violates this standard. Aims other than the replication of identity may be possible, but they are not compelling today.” ("A Social Statement on Genetics, Faith, and Responsibility")^[15]

Genetic Ethics

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "A Social Statement on Genetics, Faith, and Responsibility" (2011)

“The ELCA does not reject the use of genetic technology such as genetically modified organisms, prenatal diagnosis, or pharmacogenetics.” ("A Social Statement on Genetics, Faith, and Responsibility")^[16]

Gene Therapy/Genetic Engineering

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "A Social Statement on Genetics, Faith, and Responsibility" (2011)

“The priority of respect over that of promotion means that not every possible enhancement or innovation should be pursued. Promotion must not violate the fundamental directive of respect. Efforts toward enhancement or innovation must be evaluated also through the norms of justice and wisdom. This church rejects striving after some imagined perfection or idealized state of human life. Qualified by these limits, the ELCA encourages human imagination and innovation in the use of genetic knowledge to address physical and mental conditions, relieve human suffering and improve the human situation. It supports efforts to benefit general well-being within the rest of nature and the use of creative means to restore the environment that human have destroyed or damaged. It supports investment in such goals.” ("A Social Statement on Genetics, Faith, and Responsibility")^[17]

Genetic Screening

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "A Social Statement on Genetics, Faith, and Responsibility" (2011)

“The ELCA does not reject the use of genetic technology such as genetically modified organisms, prenatal diagnosis, or pharmacogenetics.” (A Social Statement on Genetics, 2011 page 4)^[18]

“There are circumstances of extreme fetal abnormality, which will result in severe suffering and very early death of an infant. In such cases, after competent medical consultations, the parent(s) may responsibly choose to terminate the pregnancy.” ("A Social Statement on Genetics, Faith, and Responsibility")^[19]

End of Life

Extraordinary Measures

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "A Message on End-of-Life Decisions" (1992)

“The patient, family, and health-care providers need to make thoughtful decisions that serve the patient’s goals and well-being and that take seriously the limits of health care resources. This might mean, for example, that persons near the end of life choose to forego expensive treatments, the effectiveness of which might be very limited.

“Because competent patients are the prime decision-makers, they may refuse treatment recommended by health care professionals when they do not believe the benefits outweigh the risks and burdens. This is also the case for patients who are incompetent, but who have identified their wishes through advance directives, living wills, and/or conversation with family or designated surrogates.” ("A Message on End-of-Life Decisions")^[20]

Artificial Hydration & Nutrition

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "A Message on End-of-Life Decisions" (1992)

“Food and water are part of our basic human care. Artificially-administered nutrition and hydration move beyond basic care to become medical treatment. Health care professionals are not required to use all available medical treatment in all circumstances. Medical treatment may be limited in some instances, and death allowed to occur. Patients have a right to refuse unduly burdensome treatments which are disproportionate to the expected benefits.

When medical judgment determines that artificially-administered nutrition and hydration will not contribute to an improvement in the patient’s underlying condition or prevent death from that condition, patients or their legal spokespersons may consider them unduly burdensome treatment. In these circumstances it may be morally responsible to withhold or withdraw them and allow death to occur. This decision does not mean that family and friends are abandoning their loved one.

When artificially-administered nutrition and hydration are withheld or withdrawn, family, friends, health care professionals, and pastor should continue to care for the person. They are to provide relief from suffering, physical comfort, and assurance of God’s enduring love.” ("A Message on End-of-Life Decisions")^[21]

Physician-Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "A Message on End-of-Life Decisions" (1992)

“The integrity of the physician-patient relationship is rooted in trust that physicians will act to preserve the life and health of the patient. Physicians and other health care professionals also have responsibility to relieve suffering. This responsibility includes the aggressive management of pain, even when it may result in an earlier death. However, the deliberate action of a physician to take the life of a patient, even when this is the patient’s wish, is a different matter. As a church we affirm that deliberately destroying life creating in the image of God is contrary to our Christian conscience...We oppose the legalization of physician-assisted death, which would allow the private killing of one person by another. Public control and regulation of such actions would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. The potential for abuse, especially of people who are most vulnerable, would be substantially increased.” ("A Message on End-of-Life Decisions")^[22]

Withholding & Withdrawing Treatment

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "A Message on End-of-Life Decisions" (1992)

“Food and water are part of our basic human care. Artificially-administered nutrition and hydration move beyond basic care to become medical treatment. Health care professionals are not required to use all available medical treatment in all circumstances. Medical treatment may be limited in some instances, and death allowed to occur. Patients have a right to refuse unduly burdensome treatments which are disproportionate to the expected benefits.

When medical judgment determines that artificially-administered nutrition and hydration will not contribute to an improvement in the patient’s underlying condition or prevent death from that condition, patients or their legal spokespersons may consider them unduly burdensome treatment. In these circumstances it may be morally responsible to withhold or withdraw them and allow death to occur. This decision does not mean that family and friends are abandoning their loved one.

When artificially-administered nutrition and hydration are withheld or withdrawn, family, friends, health care professionals, and pastor should continue to care for the person. They are to provide relief from suffering, physical comfort, and assurance of God’s enduring love.” ("A Message on End-of-Life Decisions")^[23]

Issues of Human Dignity & Discrimination

Disability Ethics

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "A Social Message on The Body of Christ and Mental Illness" (2011)

"This message is a call for ELCA members to acknowledge the needs of those living with mental illness and for this church to claim the responsibility it has as a body of Christ. The body of Christ is incomplete if people experiencing mental illness are not integrated as a visible part of the whole. The call challenges the ELCA to be a community seeking understanding that encourages individuals to pursue treatment, comforts them in their suffering, and supports them in their treatment and recovery. Such a community also will sustain caregivers and mental health professionals. It will raise its public voice in support of those living with the consequences of mental illness.

At the same time, this message represents an opportunity for this church to reflect on how people living with mental illness and their families have been treated. The frequent mistreatment by society of those who suffer mental illness must be acknowledged. The church also has been responsible too often for reprehensible acts, for turning away and shaming people suffering from mental illness and for isolating them and their families.

The church has the power to address many of the ravages inflicted by mental illness, whether through compassion to those affected, advocating for and improving access to treatment, supporting caregivers and practitioners, or making mental illness visible. Individually and collectively, ELCA members have the power to proclaim God’s love, fight for justice, give care, and change the way people with mental illness are treated.

The church can be a powerful and welcoming place for people who are in recovery and experiencing healing, as they return to tell their stories of hope. The church can be a locus for proclaiming the good news of healing of body and relationships, not just to people living with mental illness, but from people living with mental illness.

For the ELCA, examining the challenges of mental illness begins with confession. The way in which churches historically have excluded individuals who experience mental illness, and their families and caregivers, is distressing. This church confesses that its own pastors who suffer from mental illness are often afraid to seek help for fear of reprisal. Unfortunately, exclusion, fear and blame are often linked to misguided religious beliefs.

One of the most important correctives this church teaches is that the presence of mental illness does not indicate particular sinfulness in the person who is affected. Humans are free to ask why mental illness occurred, and seeking the cause is useful in terms of care and prevention. Yet the presence of mental illness is not a sign that one person is more sinful than another, or closed off to the possibility of grace, is weak, or lacks faith.

While recognizing that human knowledge and power is always limited, ELCA social teaching encourages treatment for mental illness from trained practitioners. Lutherans understand creation to be open to human interaction. Exploration by medical sciences and pharmacology of healing for people suffering from mental illness is encouraged. Those suffering from mental illness and their caregivers should seek the help of medical sciences as a gift from God to heal and relieve suffering. Seeking help should be encouraged, and not seen as a sign of weakness.

When people living with mental illness are at their most vulnerable, their relationships with loved ones are often severely compromised, their faith is shuttered, and they are unable to feel hope or companionship. . . . Such alienation is in contradiction to the fundamental exercise of the human dignity imbued in us by God.

The most important thing the church can do is to live out its call as the body of Christ. Christians who have suffered from mental illness have related the power of knowing they are being prayed for. Praying on behalf of the person who cannot pray, praying for healing, praying for the health of the family, praying for the presence of God, are all ways of participating in the healing and restoring of relationships that God promises.

Friendship and communal support to the families of those who are living with mental illness can lighten the enormous burden of care giving. Congregations also can create a community by sponsoring support groups for people living with mental illness and for caregivers. Guidelines and instructions for facilitation are widely available.

The church can be a supportive community for providers of mental health care. Providers are expected to bear the burdens of people suffering from mental illness on behalf of all. In return, the church community can recognize and honor the importance of what they do, reinforce that their profession is a valued personal calling, and find ways to support some of the burden of their profession.

The ELCA teaches that the vulnerable state of people experiencing mental illness means they deserve particular care from our social systems. Yet, at this time, state and federal budgets for mental health care are being continually decimated. Systemic flaws present in the government and civil institutions permeate current laws, and cripple attempts to function with justice and mercy.

As states cut their budgets in a time of economic crisis, as soldiers return from war in precarious states of mental health just as budgets are being slashed, as the public struggles with how to provide health care for the citizens of the United States, Christians as citizens must step up to be sure this society does not forget the struggles of people made vulnerable by mental illness." ("A Social Message on The Body of Christ and Mental Illness")^[24]

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "A Message on People Living with Disabilities" (2011)

“All people with disabilities are created in God’s image and share the gift of freedom for relationship and its dignity, regardless of their particular disabilities or range of personal capacities to respond to God and others.” ("A Message on People Living with Disabilities")^[25]

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "Ministry with Persons with Disability" (Social Policy Resolution CA91.07.101, 1991)

"Resolved To encourage all synods to assist individuals, congregations and leadership in the church to develop awareness of the abilities and needs of persons with disabilities,

their families, and/or caregivers;

To encourage congregations to seek out and include people with disabilities in the full life and ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, to use the resources and advice of synodical disability resources teams, where available, and to participate in such activities as a disability awareness Sunday." ("Ministry with Persons with Disability")^[26]

The language regarding the termination of pregnancy is ambiguous and could include termination of embryos who have disabilities:

Official Statement: from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "A Social Statement on Abortion" (1991)

“There are circumstances of extreme fetal abnormality, which will result in severe suffering and very early death of an infant. In such cases, after competent medical consultations, the parent(s) may responsibly choose to terminate the pregnancy.” ("A Social Statement on Abortion")^[27]

Notes

1. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Late_Term_AbortionsSPR01.pdf?_ga=2.253796751.642055573.1537388076-748924593.1535664449
2. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/AbortionSPR97.pdf?_ga=2.216965393.642055573.1537388076-748924593.1535664449
3. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/AbortionSPR99.pdf?_ga=2.216965393.642055573.1537388076-748924593.1535664449
4. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/AbortionSPR95.pdf?_ga=2.216965393.642055573.1537388076-748924593.1535664449
5. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/AbortionSS.pdf
6. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/SexualitySS.pdf
7. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/SexualitySM.pdf?_ga=2.208586773.642055573.1537388076-748924593.1535664449
8. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Health_Care_ReformSPR09.pdf?_ga=2.48155808.642055573.1537388076-748924593.1535664449
9. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/HealthSS.pdf
10. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Health_CareSPR89.pdf?_ga=2.48155808.642055573.1537388076-748924593.1535664449
11. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Donor_Sabbath_SPR16.pdf?_ga=2.43896226.642055573.1537388076-748924593.1535664449
12. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Donation_Organs_BloodSPR04.pdf?_ga=2.43896226.642055573.1537388076-748924593.1535664449
13. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Donation_Organs_BloodSPR04.pdf
14. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Organ_DonationSPR89.pdf?_ga=2.253796751.642055573.1537388076-748924593.1535664449
15. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/GeneticsSS.pdf
16. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/GeneticsSS.pdf
17. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/GeneticsSS.pdf
18. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/GeneticsSS.pdf
19. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/GeneticsSS.pdf
20. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/End_Life_DecisionsSM.pdf
21. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/End_Life_DecisionsSM.pdf
22. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/End_Life_DecisionsSM.pdf
23. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/End_Life_DecisionsSM.pdf
24. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Mental_IllnessSM.pdf?_ga=2.208586773.642055573.1537388076-748924593.1535664449
25. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/People_with_DisabilitiesSM.pdf
26. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Ministry_Disabled_PersonsSPR91.pdf?_ga=2.253796751.642055573.1537388076-748924593.1535664449
27. ↑ http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/AbortionSS.pdf