controversy (see "Interfaith issues," below). He faced opposition within the church hierarchy, including from four of the Synod's five vice-presidents and a majority of the Board of Directors. Polarization in the LCMS dated back at least to the Seminex controversy in the early 1970s that centered on the faculty of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. But by the 1990s, members of the LCMS' more conservative wing (who often dub themselves "confessional Lutherans") and its more mission-oriented wing had both established internal caucuses, organizations, and news services to promote their viewpoints and to campaign for Synod leadership candidates. Interfaith issues Kieschnick spent much of his first term under fire for his support of Atlantic District president David Benke. On September 23, 2001, Benke took part in an interfaith prayer event at Yankee Stadium sponsored by the City of New York to commemorate the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center. Daniel Preus and others argued that Benke, by participating alongside non-Lutheran clergy and leaders of non-Christian faiths, had engaged in practices that the Synod condemns as "unionism" and "syncretism", respectively. Kieschnick and his supporters replied that the event was not a worship service, as Preus maintained, but a civic event, and that Benke had given Christian witness in a permissible manner. In the Synod's official newspaper, Reporter, which reported on the controversy, Kieschnick said that his support for Benke's participation was based on a document titled "The Lutheran Understanding of Church Fellowship". That document had been prepared by a predecessor LCMS president (Alvin L. Barry) and the Synod's Commission on Theology and Church Relations, chaired by Kieschnick, and then commended for use and guidance by the Synod's 2001 convention. In a section under "civic events", the document states that "offering prayers, speaking, and reading Scripture at events sponsored by governments, schools and volunteer organizations would be a problem if the organization in charge restricted a Christian witness.... Without such a restriction, a Lutheran pastor may for valid and good reason participate in civic affairs such as an inauguration, a graduation, or a right-to-life activity. These occasions may provide opportunity to witness to the Gospel. Pastors may have honest differences of opinion about whether or to what extent it is appropriate or helpful to participate in these or similar civic events. In these cases, charity must prevail." The document continues, “There are also ‘once in a lifetime’ situations.