A lovers quarrel with his country
by Daniel ORourke
04-27-06

Rev. William Sloane Coffin's strong heart stopped beating at his Vermont home on April 12. He was 81 and had been under hospice care. His was a wide-ranging, courageous and powerfully influential life. A Presbyterian minister as chaplain at Yale University and senior minister of The Riverside Church in New York City, he was a prophetic leader in the civil rights, nuclear freeze and anti-war movements. His rich pulpit baritone and creative, concrete writings gave voice to our national conscience. His words still nourish my soul. In the clich￩ beloved of eulogists he will be missed, but more importantly who will take his place?

Like many prophets Dr. Coffin did not come to his life's work easily or directly. He was born to privilege; he could trace his forebears back to the Pilgrims. As a boy he lived in an eastside Manhattan penthouse, and later in California and Paris where he studied music and became fluent in French. He graduated from Andovers prestigious Phillips Academy and entered Yale before joining the army. Later he worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. In 1947 he returned to Yale for a degree in government. Only later at the age of twenty-nine did he study for church ministry.

Little did he, his family or this nation know how these early military and CIA experiences would prepare him for his prophetic vocation. As a former insider he was well aware of the seamy side of government and its intelligence agencies. In the truest sense of the words, however, he loved and served his country -- relentlessly admonishing her in the light of his biblical faith. He once said, There are three kinds of patriots, two bad and one good. The bad ones are the uncritical lovers and the loveless critics. Good patriots, on the other hand, carry on a lovers quarrel with their country.

His loverNￕs quarrel was life-long and his arguments always intelligent, sensitive and eloquent. Listen to him; his words still ring true.

America, love it or leave it! I believe that. The trouble with that slogan, which found its way onto endless bumpers during the Vietnam War, was that it didnt mean what it said. It meant America, OBEY it or leave it, as if national unity were more patriotic than national debate, especially when that unity seems to many to be based on folly. If the American people are worth the salt I think theyre worth, they will never be politically united, for as Barbara Tuchman recently wrote, A nation in consensus is a nation ready for the grave.

Love of country, like love of parents, is never to be equated with blind obedience &. Dont say, My country, right or wrong. Thats like saying, My grandmother, drunk or sober &. Dont just salute the flag, and dont burn it either. Wash it. Make it clean .& I am an American patriot who loves his country enough to address her flaws. In politics, in the media, and in our pulpits our nation still need lovers like William Sloane Coffin.

Even as his health failed Coffin raised his voice in protest against the Iraq War. In May 2003 when Union Theological Seminary awarded him the prestigious Union Medal, he said, When thinking of the war in Iraq and future preemptive attacks, let us remember Thomas Mann: War is a cowards escape from the problems of peace. Certainly peace requires more courage than war, especially when super-patriotism stirs the blood and narrows the mind, constricting the heart.

Who will take Coffins place? Who now will be our conscience? Oh, I know there are national figures who more or less courageously have protested the present folly in Iraq. Congressman John Murtha and the phalanx of retired generals who finally have spoken out come to mind. So does Cindy Sheehan whose son was needlessly killed in this war and who raised the consciousness of the nation when she camped outside President Bushs Texas ranch. They speak from their military experience and from their grief, but where are those speaking from their scriptures and their faith?

Where are the voices from our churches and pulpits? There are some, of course, like Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun and Rev. Jim Wallis, the evangelical preacher, but most religious voices of opposition are timid and hesitant even as the obsessive madness of the Iraq War becomes more obvious.

No doubt, clergy like indecisive politicians and lackey journalists are fearful of missteps, apprehensive about offending the influential and affluent, and worried about enraged criticism. Criticism of prophets, however, is inevitable; it came to Coffin, as it came to Jesus and comes to all who speak out against societys embedded evils. Listen to Coffin again. Truth is always in danger of being sacrificed on the altars of good taste and social stability.

Bill Moyer said of Coffins 2004 book, Credo that it was the voice of a prophet and wisdom for the ages. How many of us love our nation enough to quarrel with her over its ideological arrogance, its disregard for human life and human rights, and its wanton, cold-blooded foreign policy?

Daniel O'Rourke is a former Observer Clergy Columnist. He's a married Catholic priest, retired from the administration at State University College, Fredonia. A mediator for the Center for Resolution and Justice, he lives in Cassadaga. His column appears the second and fourth Thursdays of each month. Comments may be sent to orourke@netsync.net