On Friday, March 5, 2004 at 9 p.m. PDT on PBS
On Friday, March 5, 2004 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings at
http://www.pbs.org/now/sched.html), NOW with Bill Moyers airs a poignant
and revealing interview with the Reverend William Sloane Coffin,
considered by some to be one of America's great moral and religious
leaders. Coffin, who became famous while chaplain at Yale in the 1960s
for his opposition to the Vietnam War, was jailed as a civil rights
"Freedom Rider." Retired from one of America's most prominent pulpits
at New York's Riverside Church, Coffin has kept his passion for speaking
his mind.
"People in high places make me really angry-the way of corporations now
are behaving, the way the United States government is behaving," he
says. "What makes me angry is that they are so callous, really
callous....When you see uncaring people in high places, everybody should
be mad as hell."
For Coffin, a man who built his life around preaching the word of God, a
stroke four years ago that impaired his ability to communicate may have
been devastating, but he stayed positive. He since has regained his
voice with intensive therapy. "Life is always interesting even when you
can't speak, if you can listen," he says. "Your curiosity and humor and
compassion stay alive."
Today, even though doctors say he has only a short time to live, Coffin
is continuing to listen and speak out on God and religion, on tolerance
and faith, and on world events and politics. Renowned for his role in
the civil rights movement and as a vocal opponent against nuclear
weapons proliferation, it is a belief in faith as a force for resisting
evil that continues to drive his commitment to global peace and social
justice.
"My understanding of Christianity is that it underlies all progressive
moves to implement more justice, get a higher degree of peace in the
world," he tells Bill Moyers. "The impulse to love God and neighbor,
that impulse is at the heart of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. No
question about it-we have much more in common than we have in conflict."
I hope that you can alert your members, colleagues and organizational
partners to the broadcast of the NOW with Bill Moyers interview with
Coffin on Friday, March 5, 2004 at 9 p.m.