In 1968 the Lutheran Church in America took a stand officially approving selective conscientious objection. However, since then Lutherans have also spoken in support of fighting in Vietnam. For example, in the 1970 spring issue of the Lutheran publication the Springfielder, professor-chaplain Martin Scharlemann writes:

“We hear it said that we must love our neighbor as ourselves. Of course, that’s right. Who could quarrel with it since it is a word of the Lord? But, there is another step to this. . . . My relationship to a North Vietnamese soldier is not a one-to-one affair. In between are two sets of loyalties: Mine to my country and his to his. I have a responsibility toward my country which outranks my concern for his; and that’s true on his side, too. Now, when he is wounded and when he is in need of my help, then once more he becomes my neighbor in the ethical sense of the New Testament. The one-to-one relationship returns.”⁹

So this minister argues that loyalty to country nullifies Christ’s command to love one’s neighbor. It certainly must be confusing to persons when their church approves conscientious objection, and yet a minister encourages fighting in the war!

One might conclude that the views of this Lutheran minister are the exception today, and that religion now directs persons away from fighting in Vietnam. But was that true five or six years ago?

Clergymen also showed their support of the war by honoring those killed in action. Martin Haerther, a Des Moines, Iowa, Lutheran pastor, said at one funeral: “When a soldier dies in line of duty in a just war [Vietnam], not only is it a glorious death in the service of country but it is a blessed end for him . . . I am sure the angels were on hand to carry his soul into heaven and he is now enjoying peace.”¹⁹