In this Release:

1. Transcript of Atlantic District President David Benke's interview on PBS TV special about 911 and religion on Tuesday, September 3, 2002

2. Commentary from Reclaim News

1. Transcript of Atlantic District President David Benke's interview on PBS TV special about 911 and religion on Tuesday, September 3, 2002

Rev. David Benke
Lutheran minister

"The Yankee Stadium day was a pivotal day in my entire life. It was a day when everything that I had stood for as a human being, as well as a person of faith, was going to be on the line. ...

When I shared the podium with representatives of all the major faiths and prayed, that prayer became the center of a major controversy.  The very next day, I began to get messages filled with hate.  They were messages not from
people outside of my tradition, but from within my tradition. And they were messages that nailed me to the floor, frankly, emotionally.

They just said, 'You were wrong to be there. You never should have gone to Yankee Stadium. You are a heretic. You have dishonored your faith.' One man said genuine terrorism was me.  He said, planes crash and people die,
nothing big about that.  Genuine terrorism was me giving that prayer.  I just want to say that I have not gotten over that and I can't get through that, because I lived through the real terrorists driving the planes into the real buildings.  And I've talked to people whose loved ones were murdered.  And for me to be put in that same category is just not tolerable to me. I can't take it. I can't bear up under it. It doesn't make any sense to me.

Within two months, a number of those people put together a petition and filed charges of heresy, saying that I am not part of the Christian Church because of what I did on that day and should not be part of my denomination
anymore, should not be allowed to preach, should have my collar removed.

People who brought the charges against me are clergymen from my denomination. And their belief is that the doctrine of the church does not allow a Christian to stand at the same podium with someone of another faith or everybody is going to get the same idea that all religions are equal, and we have made absolute claims, exclusive claims about our faith.

If religion leads people to make these kinds of accusations at exactly the worse moment in American history, then what's underneath religion?  Is religion really part of a lust for power and control in people's lives?  Is it a desire for absolute security so strong that people cannot see the need to reach out and help?  If that's true, then I've got a lot of wrestling to do with my own religion."

2. Commentary from Reclaim News

The only reason Benke was given airtime on PBS is because he attacks and defames the Missouri Synod.

After reading the above comments from Dr. David Benke, we see that Benke believes that many members of the LCMS are not much better than the terrorists.  Why?  Because many members of the LCMS object to their clergy
praying in public with clergy from the Moslems, Jews, Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus etc.

All of these will enter into eternal damnation.  Christ says: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John14:6).

Benke and his defender, LCMS President Gerald Kieschnick, have forgotten Luther's admonition:  ". . . the statement of Ezekiel is true: 'If I say to the wicked: 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak
to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.'" (3:18). LW3:280

Benke, an LCMS District President, was one of many clergy who offered public prayers along with pagan clergy at Yankee Stadium.  At no time in the Bible did Christ or any of the Apostles include their prayers with prayers offered by pagans.  Many in the COP, as well as the Synodical President, now seek to pray in public with pagan clergy.  This desire comes from their heart.

Which Prophet from the Old Testament or which Apostle from the New Testament chose to the pray with those who worshipped The Golden Calf, Moloch, Baal, Dagon, Ashtaroth, Caesar, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Artemis or Zeus?

Three times during his interview on PBS, Benke referred to non-Christian religions as "faiths" when they have no faith and God does not hear their prayers.  We also note 27 uses of the words, "I" "my" and "me" in the
interview, or approximately 5% of the 420 words.  Benke did not use the word, "Jesus" or "God."

We read in Hebrews 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

If Benke has such great love for the people in Yankee Stadium, why didn't he warn them and the viewers of PBS that without faith in Christ they will all go to hell or at least quote the following verse?

 Jesus said: "I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. John 8:24"

Obviously Benke believes Lutherans shouldn't quote such passages in public.