William Sloan Coffin 1924-2006

April 12, 2006 11:12 PM

"William Sloan Coffin, who died yesterday at 81, was among the foremost pacifists of his generation, and set the mold for the liberal activist preacher."

Coffin, the model for Doonesbury's Reverend Sloan, was a Freedom Rider, Yale chaplain, champion for social justice and one of the most respected leaders of the anti-Vietnam war movement.
posted by jessamyn (30 comments total)

Before adding the obligatory "." I have to wonder, who will replace Rev. Sloan? Will anyone step up to offer a sense of conscience, of morality, to the national scene?
posted by John of Michigan at 11:29 PM on April 12, 2006

Interesting that his tenure as a CIA agent led to his social activism. Pat Robertson, by contrast, might not be as unrelentingly vicious had he even half of Coffin's real-world experience.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 11:38 PM on April 12, 2006

Christian leaders like this are more accurately spoken of as "in spite of" Christianity rather than adopting the Christian moniker as if his teachings were par for the course.

He would have been a great leader no matter what faith he chose.
posted by sourwookie at 11:42 PM on April 12, 2006

The fighting young priest who can talk to the young is dead?

., dammit.
posted by Swandive at 11:48 PM on April 12, 2006

The relationship between William Sloan Coffin and Kingman Brewster, Yale's president in the '60s-'70's, was a fascinating love/hate Doppelganger inexorably-entwined complexity. Here's an article from the Yale alum mag.
posted by mono blanco at 12:02 AM on April 13, 2006

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posted by Samizdata at 12:06 AM on April 13, 2006

My collection of 70's Doonesbury was a very important part of my historical awareness of that period. Really, I had no idea that Rev. Sloan was based on an actual figure. Thanks for the heads up.

This is like Zonker dying. Fuck.
posted by brundlefly at 1:00 AM on April 13, 2006

I'll just sit here for a bit, feeling . . . small.
posted by donovan at 1:01 AM on April 13, 2006

jessamyn, your 'died yesterday' link is subscription only... it looks like the NY Sun website is pay-only. Bugmenot no-worka, either.

I had never heard of this fellow... should be interesting reading. It's a shame I so frequently hear about these wonderful people only via obituary. :(
posted by Malor at 3:46 AM on April 13, 2006

I spent several Sundays as an atheist student of comparative religion at Columbia U in the pews of Riverside Church (mainly due to my peacenik girlfriend's insistence). A great man has passed.

I have my trivial issues with his politics, but I cannot doubt his concern for his fellow man, his humor, and his willingness to listen, because I was one of the many that pestered him after services with questions that in retrospect seem stupid and sophomoric.

I'm genuinely crying right now, and hoping to the depths of my atheist heart that his memory lives on by our actions.

.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 3:47 AM on April 13, 2006

Damn, I'm sorry to hear that. He was one of the few public figures I respected pretty much without reservation.
posted by languagehat at 5:31 AM on April 13, 2006

I heard an interesting anecdote about Rev. Coffin this morning. He was Chaplain at Yale while George W. Bush was a student there, and upon hearing that George H.W. Bush had just lost his Texas Senate race to Ralph Yarborough, told W. "I know your father, and the better man won". Apparently Rev. Coffin denies that he said that, but Bush states that he did. Not exactly 'speaking truth to power', but I will take 'speaking truth to a punk college kid that will later go on to murder 30,000+ people' any day. I don't mean to derail a discussion of a great man's death by turning it into an "I hate Bush" thread, I just thought it was funny.
posted by ND¢ at 5:49 AM on April 13, 2006

This is one of those times that I didn't know about a really cool person until he was gone.
posted by Jatayu das at 5:55 AM on April 13, 2006

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posted by amberglow at 6:04 AM on April 13, 2006

Will anyone step up to offer a sense of conscience, of morality, to the national scene?

Maybe Mr. Coffin's legacy is the many local clergy standing up for gay rights, peace and justice and the like. All politics is local, as Tip O'Neill said. :)

RIP, Mr. Coffin. Well done.
posted by bim at 6:27 AM on April 13, 2006

WWJD?

Coffin knew.

.
posted by nofundy at 6:36 AM on April 13, 2006

Took the words outta my mouth, bim.

.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 6:44 AM on April 13, 2006

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posted by If I Had An Anus at 6:54 AM on April 13, 2006

bummer.............
posted by bjgeiger at 7:06 AM on April 13, 2006

Apparently the NY Sun is one of those papers that you can only read free if you come straight from Google News. I changed the link to the local paper obit which doesn't show up in a Google News search.

Coffin was a huge inspiration to me and also something of a neighbor, living just a few towns over. He spoke fairly often at local libraries and meetinghouses for someone of his age and declining health. Even with his voice impaired by a recent stroke it was awe-inspiring to see him captivate the people assembled in the Strafford Meetinghouse. I can only imagine his hold over the congregation of Riverside Church. His eulogy for his son Alex who died in a car accident as a young man is a very powerful expression of the grace which can come through grief.

I know that when Alex beat me to the grave, the finish line was not Boston Harbor in the middle of the night. If a week ago last Monday, a lamp went out, it was because, for him at least, the Dawn had come.

So I shall — so let us all — seek consolation in that love which never dies, and find peace in the dazzling grace that always is.
posted by jessamyn at 7:15 AM on April 13, 2006

In his own words: an interview in Tikkun magazine (found via an Alternet obituary note, itself in turn found via a Google News search).

I'd never known of him (despite being a longtime Doonesbury fan. Thanks for posting this.
posted by hangashore at 7:34 AM on April 13, 2006

I see that the Skull & Bones/Bush/CIA connection is in the Wikipedia article. Bush frequently told the anecdote about meeting Coffin as a signal to him of Yale's elitism [for what it's worth, it's no secret -- my father had his own experience there], though Coffin did not remember saying it and believed if he had, it was in jest.

It's also astonishing that he could have been a world-class concert pianist.

I was privileged to live near Riverside Church in New York and attended once or twice. My parents brought our UCC confirmation group out to NYC and we all attended the day that, unbeknownst to anyone, apparently, Coffin announced from the pulpit his resignation to become a full-time anti-nuclear-weapons activist (SANE-FREEZE, if you remember those days).
posted by dhartung at 8:25 AM on April 13, 2006

.
posted by russilwvong at 9:30 AM on April 13, 2006

He brought forth the true message of Jesus . . . peace & love yes, but contingent on justice. He'll be missed more than any of us know.
posted by ahimsakid at 9:41 AM on April 13, 2006

I got this email on Coffin this morning from my Mom:

----- Message from Nancy Eddy <> on Thu, 13 Apr 2006 08:54:17 -0700 (PDT) -----
To: Mary Carlton Lull <>
Subject: William Sloane Coffin Dies

Dear Mary Carlton,
I know you will be communicating with others from our Yale days about Coffin's death. I spoke of him just last week at an anti war event here when a young person asked what was our response long ago to the Vietnam war. I told about how Coffin would come back from D.C. late at night and gather us by a ring of the chapel bells to report on how the protests were going. How we need such a leader now, though there are many who are speaking out. He always managed to instill hope (and we need that for sure!).

I was very moved by the image of the bell ringing. I hope we'll all double up on our own efforts to stop the wars and other injustices of our time.
posted by Gankmore at 11:22 AM on April 13, 2006

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posted by ottereroticist at 12:31 PM on April 13, 2006

I'm actually weepy. May he find peace in the dazzling grace that always is. (If I could borrow his words, because mine are inadequate.)
posted by dejah420 at 1:18 PM on April 13, 2006

...It's clear to me, two things: that almost every square inch of the Earth's surface is soaked with the tears and blood of the innocent, and it's not God's doing. It's our doing. That's human malpractice. Don't chalk it up to God. Every time people say, when they see the innocent suffering, every time they lift their eyes to heaven and say, "God, how could you let this happen?" it's well to remember that exactly at that moment God is asking exactly the same question of us: "How could you let this happen?" So you have to take responsibility.

If you back off from every little controversy in your life you're not alive, and what's more, you're boring.
...
posted by amberglow at 6:02 PM on April 13, 2006

For God, for Country: Remembering the radical chaplain William Sloane Coffin Jr. by Mark Oppenheimer
posted by ND¢ at 7:43 AM on April 14, 2006

Thanks for posting this, jessamyn (since I only get my news from MeFi). Sorry to hear the grand old man is gone.

I've been writing short biographies for the Americans Who Tell the Truth series you linked to, and did one for Coffin — but due to a mix-up (the only one so far) the other main writer already had posted her version on the site. Anyway, the man led quite a life, and it was something to try and sum up.

Robert Shetterly, the artist who created the Americans/Truth series, did this blog entry the other day about how Coffin, more or less, was the spiritual force behind his whole idea.
posted by LeLiLo at 4:51 AM on April 18, 2006