William Sloane Coffin 1924-2006

Dissident Heart · Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 10:46 am Post subject: William Sloane Coffin 1924-2006

One of Progressive Christianity's leading minds and America's finest hearts died yesterday: Reverend William Sloane Coffin. He was 81. Coffin was a tireless advocate for civil rights, an end to militarism and nuclear armaments, the plight of the impoverished, and a challenge to the wealthy and comfortable. He was Chaplain at Yale University in the 1960s and was convicted, along with Dr. Benjamin Spock, for conspiracy in his role assisting students in challenging the provisions of the Selective Service Act in 1968. He was later the Minister of the highly visible Riverside Church where he helped shape and nurture the agenda for Progressive Christianity in America and across the globe. He wrote many books and travelled extensively working to reconnect Christians to a Gospel of radical social and economic justice, ecological sanity, and a commitment to protect human and civil rights. He was a leader and mentor for many and will be deeply missed.

Quote:
Tikkun: What do you think of President Bush's Christianity?

WSC: I think that President Bush's God is too violent, hardly the God to whom Martin Luther King, Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel prayed. I also think that the president's God is too small. It is my fundamental religious conviction that we all belong one to another, every one of us on this planet. Religious people have to open their hearts to all people, from the Pope to the loneliest wino on earth. It is ridiculous for the president to describe Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as "the axis of evil" when all of humanity suffers infinitely more from environmental degradation, pandemic poverty, and a world awash with weapons.

Further, President Bush's "compassionate conservatism" seems reserved primarily for the rich and for the unborn; he appears to be much less interested in poor mothers. Jesus put first those whom society counted least and put last. Our president may have experienced a religious conversion, but he doesn't seem to realize that there is no personal conversion without a change in social attitudes.

Mr. Pessimistic

To me, with the exception of maybe one quote, this shows how Christianity is NOT necessarily the ONLY way to serve the cause of social justice and world peace. I mean, many of these quotes can be shown to also serve an atheists paradigm (only one quote even names Christianity)...except the homosexual thing...we generally do not care about that anyway.

Do you not agree?

Mr. P.

The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.

Once you perceive the irrevocable truth, you can no longer justify the irrational denial. - Mr. P.

The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"

I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

Edited by: misterpessimistic at: 4/17/06 11:35 am

Dissident Heart

Here's a few quotes by Coffin. I think he is one of the best examples of how Christianity can serve the cause of social justice and world peace; as well as transform individuals from isolated and frightened egos into humble disciples geared for revolutionary solidarity.

Quote:
"In our time all it takes for evil to flourish is for a few good men to be a little wrong and have a great deal of power, and for the vast majority of their fellow citizens to remain indifferent." — In the Yale Alumni magazine in 1967

"The U.S. government should have vowed "...to see justice done, but by the force of law only, never by the law of force." — After September 11, 2001

"We yearned for a revolution of imagination and compassion that would oppose the very aggressiveness and antagonism that characterized the actions of both Nixon and the Weathermen. We were convinced nonviolence was more revolutionary than violence" — referring to the organizers of the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam

Without love violence will change the world; it will change it into a more violent one." — June 1968

"It's too bad that one has to conceive of sports as being the only arena where risks are, [for] all of life is risk exercise. That's the only way to live more freely, and more interestingly."

"The world is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love."

"What we and other nuclear powers are practicing is really nuclear apartheid. A handful of nations have arrogated to themselves the right to build, deploy, and threaten to use nuclear weapons while policing the rest of the world against their production. . . . Nuclear apartheid is utopian and arrogant. It is a recipe for proliferation, a policy of disaster."

"Every nation makes decisions based on self-interest and defends them on the basis of morality." — to the Yale Class of 1968 35th reunion, May 2003

"Even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat."

"For Christians, the problem is not how to reconcile homosexuality with scriptural passages that condemn it, but how to reconcile the rejection and punishment of homosexuals with the love of Christ." - An Open Letter from Rev. William Sloane Coffin to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops 2000

"Many of us are eager to respond to injustice, as long as we can do so without having to confront the causes of it. There's the great pitfall of charity. Handouts to needy individuals are genuine, necessary responses to injustice, but they do not necessarily face the reason for injustice. And that is why so many business and governmental leaders today are promoting charity; it is desperately needed in an economy whose prosperity is based on growing inequality. First these leaders proclaim themselves experts on matters economic, and prove it by taking the most out of the economy! Then they promote charity as if it were the work of the church, finally telling us troubled clergy to shut up and bless the economy as once we blessed the battleships." - as quoted by Rev. Scotty McLennan

Dissident Heart

Mr. P: this shows how Christianity is NOT necessarily the ONLY way to serve the cause of social justice and world peace.

The point of this thread, or the limited quotes I provided, is not to show Christianity as the ONLY way to serve peace and jusitce. But it shows how Christianity can serve those ends; and if we went deeper into Coffin's body of work, I think it shows how Christianity (if it is true to its name) MUST serve peace and justice.

Mr. P: many of these quotes can be shown to also serve an atheists paradigm

Would they serve every Atheist paradigm? Do all Atheists pursue social justice and peace between nations and individuals? Would all Atheists oppose nuclear weapons? Would all Atheists reject an economic system that highlighted individual greed and corporate profit above ecological sustainability and communal need? Are there militarist corporate capitalist Atheists who embrace our Nuclear arsenal and are willing to use it as well?

Mr. Pessimistic

I think PEOPLE can work together, once we realize that the differences we love to dwell on are not really the important thing. So yes, many Christians are good people and can work for the betterment of mankind.

Quote:
Would they serve every Atheist paradigm? Do all Atheists pursue social justice and peace between nations and individuals? Would all Atheists oppose nuclear weapons? Would all Atheists reject an economic system that highlighted individual greed and corporate profit above ecological sustainability and communal need? Are there militarist corporate capitalist Atheists who embrace our Nuclear arsenal and are willing to use it as well?

Possibly not...but can we say that ALL Christians would? People are people...underneath all the differences that most like to focus on.

Mr. P.

The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.

Once you perceive the irrevocable truth, you can no longer justify the irrational denial. - Mr. P.

The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"

I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

Dissident Heart

Mr. P: I think PEOPLE can work together, once we realize that the differences we love to dwell on are not really the important thing.

I think this is crucial for any hope in democratic, pluralistic and progressive social existence. We need to recognize where we share common ground and goals; and where we disagree. The challenge is in sharing power and space with those who disagree in areas we hold precious and dear. The greater challenge is learning the difference between disagreement and confusion: knowing what is genuine difference; or, disagreement based upon faulty and incomplete information. I think most disagreements in Religion are a result of the latter, not the former.

Mr. P: can we say that ALL Christians would (pursue social justice, ecological sustainability, nuclear disarmament, etc.)?

Obviously not. One need only explore the history of Christian anti-semitism, imperialism, misogyny, crusades, inquisitions, witch burnings, anti-intellectualism, and support of violent national militarism, racism, and all kinds of xenophobic self-righteous ugliness known to humanity. This thread points to one specific Christian, William Sloane Coffin, and the larger Progressive Christianity of which he serves as an imperfect and flawed, but hopeful example. Using Coffin's brand of Christian discipleship, I think you can say that Christians should and must pursue those things that bring justice, make peace, love mercy and show what it means to walk humbly with their God.

Mr. Pessimistic

Quote:
We need to recognize where we share common ground and goals; and where we disagree.

Yes. I do not mean to downplay the differences we share...that is where we can learn so much than we could otherwise. It is how we approach the differences that matters. I usually prefer to approach such with an inquisitive, rather than accusatory POV...but sometimes emotions can get the better of us all.

Quote:
I think most disagreements in Religion are a result of the latter, not the former.

Possibly. But my angst with the religious is usually with the extremists. It gets me going and puts me on the defenisive when I am met with either hostility, condescension or blatant dismissal just because I genuinely do not believe in a god. If instead I was met with acceptance and understanding that it really does not matter in regard to WHO I am as a person, my disagreements would be less and less. I guess I am on the defensive. I will point out that even though you and I disagree about many things regarding religion, we have never gone to battle with each other, and for that I am appreciative.

As for Sloane, I do not know much about him...but from just the quotes you posted, he seems like someone with a good head on his shoulders. He seems to speak to genuine, pro-active action rather than some empty, mystical hope. Perhaps he DID walk humbly with his god...and I would hope he would respect that we can all walk humbly together...even if some of us do not believe a god walks with us.

Mr. P.

The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.

Once you perceive the irrevocable truth, you can no longer justify the irrational denial. - Mr. P.

The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"

I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

Dissident Heart

Mr. P: If instead I was met with acceptance and understanding that it really does not matter (belief/disbelief in God) in regard to WHO I am as a person, my disagreements would be less and less.

For Coffin, and other Christians of his spirit, faith in God has a profound impact on your personal identity, relationships, agendas and vision for the future- as well as political stances and ethical responsibilities towards human and civil rights and ecological sustainability. When you push further and ask "What does he mean by God" he refers you to Jesus and his life amongst the oppressed, occupied, impoverished, marginalized, etc., as well as his attitude towards power, who claimed authority or demanded submission. He would make clear the risks and costs involved in following the way of Jesus, and highlight the devastating end at the Cross: the life that led to it and the powers that implemented it. But he would not leave you on Gologotha, but would celebrate the good news of Resurrection. This God is not a cerebral notion, but an act of solidarity with those oppressed and crucified. And this God is the power of life over death, justice over oppression, and peace over war. As Jesus so often described it: a collossal banquet and celebration where the outsiders and rejects get first seat, and the powerful and mighty serve the meal- and share in it as well.

For Coffin, this is not simply an interesting idea, but a powerful spirit of rejuvenation and courageous hope. He would point you to the many movements in American history, and across the world, where seemingly powerless men and women take up their Cross and follow the Way of seeking peace, acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with their God....and along the way transforming themselves and the worlds they lived in.

He would point out the difference between Christians who follow a Crucified peasant Jew; and Christians who submit to an Imperial Church. He would expose the terrible history of collusion between the Church and Emperors, Princes, Kings, Nobles, Presidents, CEOs, Generals, Facists...and hold himself and other Christians accountable for not speaking out, standing up, and demanding the Crucified Christ be center- not the Cosmic Pantocrat who sanctifies every militarist endeavor.

Having been Chaplain at Yale University for many years, he would be more than equipped to debate the finer points of philosophical inquiry, the history of skepticism, and the role of key thinkers like Spinoza, Feuerbach, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud in challenging Christianity to face its inconsistencies and irrationalities.

Having held a leadership role in one of America's most prominent Progressive Churches (Riverside in New York) he would be able to discuss all of the key social, military, economic, ecological and political issues of the day. And he would be able to place these in context of personal conversations and action he shared with leading figures in the world Religions and from Universities around the globe.

But, since he had been a Chaplain for so many years, my guess is he would spend most of his time listening to you. Finding out the issues, events and and themes that are most important in your life. He would probably offer more questions than answers; and those questions would most likely leave you with an inescabable concern: to whom do I belong, and who do I serve?

Cheers

Dissident Heart

The following quote is by Jim Wallis of Sojourners. Wallis and Sojourners represent an Evangelical Christianity where social and economic justice are integral to the Gospel. Jim Wallis says goodbye to William Slone Coffin in this essay that says a lot about what it means to be a Christian in the US of A.

Quote:
Bill Coffin has died. Rev. William Sloane Coffin was likely the most influential liberal Protestant clergyman and leader of his generation. One of the first white men to go South and be arrested in the civil rights movement, one of the first church leaders to dissent from the Vietnam War, one of the first moral voices against the nuclear arms race, Bill was a prophetic voice of Christian conscience to both church and state for many decades.

Dissident Heart

One obstacle in the quest to bridge secular and religious progressives is the lack of knowledge many on the atheist left have regarding progressive religion- the kind imperfectly exemplified in William Sloane Coffin.

One of the reasons Americans continue to vote for policies that are ruinous to their self-interest is that they do not see a religious space for them in democratic left...they find a leftist progressive movement that shares economic values that will improve their lives, but also rejects any and all religious values. For many Americans, it is not simply "the economy stupid"...it is also the soul, and spirit and the place of religious values in politics and society.

If leftist secular progressives deride and negate religious values, they will simply alienate more and more Americans who will turn Right- against their own best economic interests, as well as ecological.

William Sloane Coffin represents a progressive religious value system that does not sacrifice family and environment to corporate industry or national idolatry. Americans are terrified and their fear is a powerful manipulator by the religious and political right: the answer, as they see it, is more power, more wealth, more punishment, more building, more expansion, more stuff.

Progressive spirituality offers a radical alternative to both the political and the religious right, and must be taken seriously by the secular left.


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