David's letter to Rev. David B. Zellmer, Bishop, South Dakota ELCA

Earlier I posted an article about the ELCA Lutheran Church's vote on the Church and sexuality and marriage. I received a letter from a good friend and Equality South Dakota Board member David in Aberdeen. His letter is to Bishop David B. Zellmer of the South Dakota ELCA. He was responding to an article in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader that Quoted Bishop Zellmer.

I was very emotional after reading David's letter because although he was talking about his experiences, I saw myself and my own struggle to overcome the hatred that was placed into my soul by the Catholic Church. Thank you David for expressing so eloquently what so many of us "old timers" have experienced at the hands of so-called Christian Churches.

My prayer is like yours that we may eventually be able to be rid of the spiritual degradation and violence that is being inflicted on our young LGBT people's souls in the name of religion.

I have posted David's letter in it's entirety below. (O.M.)


Rev. David B. Zellmer, Bishop
South Dakota ELCA
March 16, 2008

Dear Rev. Zellmer,

I am writing to share a bit of personal testimony about the recent marriage statement issued by the "task force" of the ELCA. As a former Baptist, then ELCA Lutheran member and church organist/musician who no longer attends services under the roof of any church, I thought I would share a few words that come to mind whenever gays, marriage and the church are mixed together in one bowl.
To those of us who are responsible gay adults, the vast majority of the LGBT population, we are unable to begin to understand the continued denigratory focus on two committed, same gender, loving persons that want to spend the rest of their lives together in an arrangement no different than the so-called "traditional" couple. I can't help but wonder that if the focus were taken away from the sexual issue and placed on the heart-felt bond between people, a lifting up in enlightenment would allow a fresh breeze to begin to dissipate the foul air of stale old arguments.
This is a time in history that marks a beginning to the end of discrimination and unfair treatment to people such as myself. For 57 years I have longed for the feelings of an unclean spirit to be swept away from my soul but I fear I will never be able to fully wash the stains of misguided spiritual doctrine away. Those stains were forced upon me and imbedded beneath my skin by mortals misrepresenting the gospels. My heart aches that young boys and girls in pews across South Dakota still hear the words that can infect with the disease of self-hatred, consume and drive a nation to division and affect political outcomes. I weep at the sadness of this reality.
I cannot offer you more wisdom than you already possess. There is a truth to this issue that lies within each of us, often deep within some of us that needs to be recognized not as a virulent bacteria but as a hidden cure for the cancer of hatred and fear. My hope is that it be found, tested, rated fit for human consumption and fed to the masses.
I pray earnestly for your Watertown meeting and this years Synod Assembly to be a time where forward vision can find new direction and your congregants can embrace the words of a long remembered Sunday School song; Open up your heart and let the sun shine in.

Sincerely,
David D. Fischer
prior member Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Aberdeen, SD