- published: 12 Jul 2011
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William Sloane Coffin, Jr. (June 1, 1924 – April 12, 2006) was an American Christian clergyman and long-time peace activist. He was ordained in the Presbyterian church and later received ministerial standing in the United Church of Christ. In his younger days he was an athlete, a talented pianist, a CIA agent, and later chaplain of Yale University, where the influence of Reinhold Niebuhr's social philosophy led him to become a leader in the civil rights and peace movements of the 1960s and 1970s. He also was a member of the secret society Skull and Bones. He went on to serve as Senior Minister at the Riverside Church in New York City and President of SANE/Freeze (now Peace Action), the nation's largest peace and justice group, and prominently opposed United States military interventions in conflicts such as the Vietnam War to the Iraq War. He was also an ardent supporter of gay rights.
William Sloane Coffin, Jr. was born into the wealthy elite of New York City. His paternal great-grandfather William Sloane was a Scottish immigrant and co-owner of the very successful W. & J. Sloane Company. His uncle was Henry Sloane Coffin, president of Union Theological Seminary and one of the most famous ministers in the U.S. His father, William Sloane Coffin, Sr. was president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and an executive in the family business.
A gambler teaches William Sloane Coffin the meaning of grace.
Rev. William Sloane Coffin gave his last sermon at Chautauqua Institution on July 20, 2003. Here are some highlights.
William Sloane Coffin suggests that God's belief in us is as important as our belief in God.
William Sloane Coffin looks at prayer from three different perspectives.
William Sloane Coffin speaks at Lakeland College's Baccalaureate on May 24, 1997. Coffin, an American liberal Christian clergyman and long-time peace activist, was ordained in the Presbyterian church and later received ministerial standing in the United Church of Christ. Lakeland College is a liberal arts college related to the United Church of Christ. For part two go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFMnCUOcRzg.
William Sloane Coffin, Jr. Event Speaker(s): William Sloane Coffin, Jr. Recorded: Thursday, April 28, 2005 - 8:00pm
This is a clip of a Sermon from 1979 preached from the Riverside Church in NYC by my father, Rev. William Sloane Coffin Jr. on Martin Luther King's 50th. Here is the link to the Kickstarter campaign to digitize over 330 sermons. It closes Feb. 13th. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1733108390/the-william-sloane-coffin-sermon-archive-project The sermons can be found here: http://www.williamsloanecoffin.org Thanks, David Coffin
For half a century, Rev. Dr. William Sloane Coffin has stood as a force for progressive religion in America and in the world. Now, when power and fear tempt the U.S. to pursue a foreign policy based on world domination, he speaks with the voice of the prophet in calling us to confront the true "axis of evil"—environmental degradation, pandemic poverty, and a world awash with weapons. Excerpt of 26-min. film.