INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The president and campus pastor at Valparaiso University have "repented" to members of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod for hosting an interfaith service where Muslim and Jewish leaders offered prayers.
The independent Lutheran university in northwestern Indiana hosted the service last year on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Clergy in eight states filed a complaint because prayers were led by persons who do not agree with the Christian teaching that Jesus Christ is God.
A spokesman said the Rev. Alan Harre, university president, and the Rev. Joseph Cunningham, campus pastor, received letters Monday clarifying a resolution of the dispute by a denominational body known as the Praesidium.
The former president of the Indiana district previously cleared the university leaders and three other Lutheran pastors of wrongdoing.
The Praesidium's letter said "the defendants expressed sincere repentance for the wrong that they did in authorizing and conducting the service."
The Missouri Synod has 2.6 million members nationwide.