ELCA Denounces Deadly Synagogue Attacks in Manchester, England

ELCA Statement on Deadly Attacks in the UK

October 3, 2025 (read @ ELCA.org)

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America denounces the deadly attacks perpetrated yesterday against people at a synagogue in Manchester, England, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism. We extend our condolences to the victims and their families and our profound concern to all Jewish people living in fear in communities around the world. As the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

The ELCA also condemns anti-Semitism wherever it occurs. In “A Declaration of the ELCA to the Jewish Community,” this church recognizes anti-Semitism as “a contradiction and an affront to the Gospel, a violation of our hope and calling,” and pledges to “oppose the deadly working of such bigotry, both within our own circles and in the society around us.”

O Holy One, we ask for your blessing upon all people living amid fear and deadly violence. Help us to be ambassadors of justice and peace in our communities and around the world. Amen.