Donya, there are many, many Lutherans in the United States. Chiefly because many of the immigrants to the United States came from Nordic countries. Lutheran is the first of what we call today the Protestant (non-Catholic) religions. I belong to a branch that is considered liberal.
Gisela, "ostentatious" means "showy" and "loud," deliberately making a very public display of itself. (Come to think of it, "ostentatious" is a showy word, innit?)
Lutherans do not believe in aggressive conversion, nor in politicizing their faith. (There are Lutheran sects that are more conservative and old-fashioned, but they tend to keep to themselves.) They believe that politics is a matter of individual conscience.
In our society, "Christian" has come to be a loaded political term, almost synonymous with aggressive and intolerant fundamentalism. Some denominations are more deserving of this reputation than others, which is why I identitfy myself as Lutheran, when it seems necessary.
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What if the hokey pokey is really what it's all about?
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