Contributing Reporter
Former Yale University Chaplain the Reverend William Sloane Coffin Jr. preached about the relationship between the church and academia to a full Battell Chapel Sunday morning.
A nationwide leader in both the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement, Coffin was arrested multiple times during his chaplaincy from 1957-1975, most notably as one of the "Freedom Riders" protesting segregation and with Dr. Benjamin Spock for helping draft resisters.
Coffin returned to Battell to give a sermon about the need to incorporate spirituality and activism into education.
"The academic world is basically a tolerant one, but it is also passive. Tolerance and passivity is a lethal combination," he said.
In order to revive academia and prevent despiritualization, Coffin encouraged the congregation to develop a combination of wonder, anger and love, and then to turn that passion into moral action.
During the 1960s, "Yale students had less problems being critical because they weren't worried about getting a job," Coffin said during a formal discussion with about 30 people after the service. "Now they're so intimidated [by the future] that their spirits have shriveled up."
Coffin called for adding first-hand experience to traditional academic education. He described a program on homelessness at Lehigh University where students work directly with homeless people while studying different academic reports on poverty.
"That to me is the kind of education we need in America," he said.
He criticized the current intellectual world for placing academics over a moral obligation to help others.
"The true enemy is not ignorance. It is self-serving ignorance and self-serving knowledge," he said.
Coffin's sermon impressed listeners.
"I thought it was beautiful," David Goldstein '94, said. "It interpreted morality as a just way of treating other human beings instead of a doctrine to follow."
Members of the congregation praised Coffin's speaking ability.
"I thought it was riveting. It was inspiring. He is a gifted speaker. I've been listening to him speak for 25 years," said Barbara Goddard, who attended the service and the discussion afterwards. Coffin was preaching the first time Goddard attended a service in Battell, and she credited him for her continued involvement with the church.
Coffin said he enjoys speaking at Yale.
"It's a real tug at the heartstrings. But it's not unproductive nostalgia," he said after the discussion.
He added he thinks that the current chaplaincy is successful.
"I think [Yale Chaplain] Jerry Streets is doing a fine job," he said.
Coffin, who now teaches at Lawrence University, has written several books including his memoir, "Once to Every Man," and recently "A Passion for the Possible."
His visit marks the first in a series of three reflections on Yale's chaplaincy.