VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS)-American Baptists are among many marking the life and ministries of the late Rev. William Sloane Coffin, former senior minister of American Baptist-related Riverside Church in New York City and a leading voice for peace and justice for more than 40 years.
"The spirit of William Sloane Coffin has touched every spot in the sacred space in life and in death," the Rev. James Forbes, current senior minister at Riverside, noted last Thursday at a memorial service.
Coffin, who died earlier this month at age 81, gained national prominence in the 1960s for his opposition to racial injustice and to the Vietnam War. Ordained as a minister in the United Church of Christ in 1956, Coffin became chaplain at Yale University in 1958. He joined the Freedom Riders and was arrested several times as they demonstrated against segregation in the South. In the mid-1960s he helped lead Clergy and Laity Concerned About Vietnam and was actively involved in civil disobedience and nonviolent demonstrations aimed at ending U.S. military involvement in Southeast Asia.
After leaving Yale in 1976, Coffin became senior minister at Riverside, where he continued to be a prominent and persuasive voice for a wide range of peace and justice issues, including nuclear disarmament, poverty, homelessness and the environment. He retired from Riverside in 1987.
"What this country needs, what I think God wants us to do, is not practice piecemeal charity but engage in wholesale justice," Coffin maintained in a 2004 television interview. "Justice is at the heart of religious faith. When we see Christ empowering the poor, scorning the powerful, healing the world's hurts, we are seeing transparently the power of God at work."
Coffin also was a noted speaker and the author of Living the Truth in a World of Illusions (Harper and Row, 1985) and other works.
"Often the focus of national media, Bill Coffin brought a distinctly Christian perspective to the volatile issues that challenged U.S. society," noted the Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley, general secretary of American Baptist Churches USA. "He lived out the call of Christ to bring good news to the poor, to help the oppressed achieve freedom and to pursue peace and reconciliation. We are grateful for the ways he moved us, prodded us and engaged us, often making us uncomfortable."
Andrew C. Jayne American Baptist Churches, USA Mission Resource Development http://www.abc-usa.org/