Over the past few years, there has been an increase of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) blocking users on various social media platforms. I've personally reached out to the International Center of the LCMS to inquire as to why one of my congregants was blocked by the LCMS on Twitter. In their response, they cited that it was due to the fact that my congregant followed Twitter users that they deemed to be "trolls." They stated that these "troll" users claimed to represent Confessional Lutheranism and that blocking them and blocking users that interact with them was a public confession that these individuals do not speak for Confessional Lutheranism.

I and many other members of LCMS congregations are concerned that this practice of mass blocking many individuals, including several of the Synod’s own Pastors, has gotten out of hand. There have even been pastors and laypeople who have not directly interacted with social media pages of the LCMS that have been blocked by the LCMS. Social media platforms are the virtual town square of our country. It is the place where people can be in dialogue concerning all sorts of issues, including religious ones. Blocking users because you deem their speech or their list of who they follow on social media as problematic, leads to a breakdown of just the sort of dialogue that should be taking place amongst Christians zealous for the truth of God's Word. It is additionally concerning that this practice needlessly limits the Synod’s reach in the event there is a statement that needs to be made.

I ask that the LCMS International Center adopt a policy whereby they will no longer have block lists on any social media platform. Instead, if something posted by a user on social media violates that platform's guidelines, then the LCMS should report it. Of course, as a part of this policy the LCMS International Center might include a policy of deleting interactions that are obscene, but this must be as objective as possible (profanity, explicit sexual content, etc.). The managers of LCMS social media are blocking individuals for content that isn't sinful but happens to offend the sensibilities of those hired to manage Synod's social media. Truth claims and criticisms ought to be able to be aired in public and evaluated by Christians on their own merits. Our social media managers at the LCMS International Center should not be the arbiters of what constitutes true Confessional Lutheranism on social media. If the content of the users blocked by the LCMS is not leading to their being removed from the social media platform by the unbelieving haters of Christianity that run the companies, why is the LCMS silencing them? This leads to more controversy and division, not less. 

We ask that the LCMS stop blocking church workers of the LCMS, Christians who are members of LCMS congregations, and other individuals on the whim of whoever happens to manage the Synod’s social media. If current social media community guidelines on the LCMS website empower the Synod's social media managers to block users at will simply for following other users that the manager personally finds problematic, then those guidelines are too subjective.  Clear policies ought to be in place governing what is reported and what is removed, allowing Christians to freely converse with one another and voice concerns without fear of being banned by their own church body.