Am I Really A Lutheran?

I was chastised today by one of the four people (yes thats' accurate) that actually reads my posts that I haven't posted anything in quite a while, so here goes.

I'm thinking of changing my religious affiliation from Lutheran to something else.
When I consider why I'm a Lutheran, the real answer is, because that's where my folks took me as a child. Admittedly not a deeply held theological viewpoint.

I enjoy the Lutheran service, not as rigid as the Catholics or as freewheeling as the Baptists which suits me well, and I enjoy the direction connection to Christ through the Catholic Church and St. Peter, but some of the views of the national leadership aren't mine. Far from it in fact.
It first began several years ago w/an article in the Weekly Standard titled, Fences and a "Just Peace" The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America makes a stand against Israel's security fence and in favor of a "just peace." (Never mind Palestinian terrorism.)

Here's an excerpt.

The Churchwide Assembly's adoption of the anti-fence resolution came as no surprise; on the contrary, it was a foregone conclusion. The Assembly, which is attended inter alia by lay representatives of the ELCA's congregations, merely rubber-stamped an initiative that was already in place, adopted over the past two years by the ELCA's monolithically liberal staff. The Lutheran Office of Governmental Affairs went on record opposing the fence by July 2003, and other church agencies had fallen into line before the denomination's members had an opportunity to be heard. The fact that the resolution passed by a vote of 668 to 269 suggests that many rank and file church members were rebelling against the national organization's fait accompli.

A crucial omission marred the [May 2005] article as a whole. There was not one reference to Palestinian terrorism originating from terrorist strongholds in West Bank cities, the causal factor in Israel's erecting a protective barrier. The omission is indicative of the striking disregard for Israeli suffering and loss of life that underpins the piece.

There have been several other items since, that I won't bore you by listing all, but what brought it to a head for me was my local congregation becoming a Lutheran One congregation. An official Lutheran group whose stated goal is to "Direct an additional one percent of the U.S. budget to address extreme poverty."

While reducing poverty is absolutely a goal for the Church, I don't see involving themselves in the budgeting process of the US Government is. Also, if I robbed a Belle Meade mansion and turned the stolen goods over to my local congregation for distribution to the poor, I'd obviously been in violation of the 8th Commandment. However, if I put together a coalition that convinced the local township to sieze the owners property, I'd be folowing the lead of the Lutheran One organization.

I've visited the Website on the Lutheran Flyer in the church bulletin www.elca.org/advocacy which is mostly devoted to Global Warming and is run by the DC office of advocacy. On a side note, I've met two members of that office when I worked in DC at an e-advocacy training, and of the three of us in the room, there was only one Lutheran present. I've nothing against other denominations, but should non-Lutherans really be setting, or at a minimum guiding. Lutheran policy? I can't imagine the Am Jewish Committee would be too big on employing a goyim like me, despite my work for them as a vendor on grassroots issues in the past.
I've written my Pastor and it looks like we'll have him over for dinner in the near future to discuss.