Professor of English and Creative Writing Doran Larson was asked by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to attend its 2013 conference in Chicago, Jan. 2-4, in order to comment on its draft social statement on criminal justice. 

ELCA social statements (on abortion, the death penalty, genetics, health and healthcare, etc.) are posted on the ELCA website and serve as the bases for church parish teaching, lobbying/activism/advocacy, and teaching in Lutheran theology.