[Dialogue] Helen Thomas hits the nail on the head

[KroegerD@aol.com]

Published on Thursday, May 4, 2006 by the _San Francisco Chronicle _ 
(http://www.sfgate.com/) 
Where Are All the Leaders of  Faith? 
by Helen Thomas 
Where are the activist priests and ministers who took strong stands  during 
the Vietnam War and hit the streets with their protests?  
Three years into the war against Iraq, the silence of the clergy is  
deafening, despite U.S. abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and a reported  American 
policy of shipping detainees to secret prisons abroad where,  presumably, they can 
be tortured.  
There are U.S. chaplains of many faiths serving in Iraq and  Afghanistan, 
ministering to the men and women in uniform and reaching out  to local religious 
leaders in both countries.  
But here at home, the clergy seems to be in the same boat as the news  media 
and most members of Congress: they are victims of the post-Sept. 11  syndrome 
that equates any criticism of U.S. policy with lack of  patriotism.  
The clergy are not alone. There is a disquieting public acceptance of  the 
status quo. Although the Iraq war has a role in President Bush's  declining 
standing in public opinion polls, rising gas prices may be  having a bigger impact 
on his popularity.  
During the Vietnam War, the clergy were vocal leaders of the peace  movement 
and they picked up and marched.  
I was reminded of that bygone era -- a time when everyone got involved  -- 
with the passing last month of Rev. William Sloane Coffin, a  Presbyterian 
minister who served as chaplain at Yale University and pastor  at Riverside Church 
in New York.  
He was a follower of civil rights leader, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.,  and a 
liberal, to put it mildly.  
Coffin went on the dangerous Freedom rides in the South in the 1960s  and 
worked for human rights of African Americans. He became famous for his  protests 
against the Vietnam War and later espoused the causes of gay  rights and 
anti-nuclear proliferation. He hailed from a wealthy family,  attended Ivy League 
schools, and served in World War II. Before attending  a theological seminary, 
he worked for the CIA.  
But he will be most remembered for his moral courage.  
The Nation magazine -- which counted Coffin as a contributor --  quoted 
Coffin as saying he had the "sense of fulfillment from being in the  right fight."  
Writer and artist Robert Shetterly, Coffin's good friend, wrote on  
CommonDreams.org _a eulogy of  Coffin_ 
(http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0413-32.htm)  based on his long association with the minister, dating back to  an 
anti-Vietnam War rally at Yale in 1968.  
He recalled that Coffin had written in his latest book "Credo," a 2004  
collection of his writings, that "the war against Iraq is as disastrous as  it is 
unnecessary; perhaps in terms of its wisdom, purpose and motives,  the worst 
war in American history. Our military men and women were not  called to defend 
America, but rather to attack Iraq. They were not called  to die for America, 
but rather to kill for their country. What more  unpatriotic thing could we 
have asked of our sons and daughters?"  
Shetterly's perception of Coffin was that he was not self-righteous and  that 
he had doubts about his own convictions at times. He also wrote that  Coffin 
made mistakes but learned from them.  
Shetterly said Coffin "spent his life trying to atone for having  followed 
military orders in 1945, putting 3,000 white Russians who fought  against the 
Stalin communist regime, on a train from Germany to Moscow  "and sure 
execution."  
Some of Coffin's quotes are memorable.  
After Sept. 11, he said the U.S. government should have vowed "to see  
justice done, but by force of law only, not by the law of force." He also  said that 
"the world is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small  for 
anything but love."  
Lest I have selected Coffin's only intellectual qualities, Shetterly  also 
describes his human side and said that he liked "a good drink. A good  joke. A 
good song. A moral act. A worthy laugh."  
Helen Thomas is a columnist for Hearst Newspapers and a member of  the White 
House press corps.  
© 2006 San Francisco Chronicle  
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