Noted Peace Activist, Civil Rights Leader Discusses Iraq, Nuclear Weapons in Lawrence University Convocation

APPLETON, WIS. -- One of America's loudest and longest voices on issues of international peace, social justice and civil rights discusses the escalating tensions between Iraq and the United States and the need for global nuclear disarmament Tuesday, Oct. 8 in a Lawrence University convocation.

Rev. William Sloane Coffin, whose activism has spanned more than four decades, delivers the address "The U.S., Iraq and Nuclear Weapons" at 11:10 a.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. Coffin also will conduct a question-and answer session at 2 p.m. in Riverview Lounge of the Memorial Union. Both events are free and open to the public.

Coffin, 78, whose distinguished career has evolved from army fatigues to a cleric's collar, calls the current state of affairs "a very perilous moment in our history." In his address, he will examine the changes the United States has undergone since last year's terrorist attacks, question the need for military intervention in Iraq and reaffirm his long-held belief in the need for global disarmament of nuclear weapons.

The former chaplain at Yale University who once called himself a "Christian revolutionary," Coffin rose to national prominence during the 1960s and '70s as a leader in the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements. He gained national attention as one of seven "Freedom Riders" arrested and convicted in 1961 in Montgomery, Ala., while protesting local segregation laws. His conviction was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

During the anti-war movement, Coffin co-founded the organization Clergy and Laity Concerned about Vietnam, offering the sanctuary of his chapel at Yale to young men refusing to serve in Vietnam. In 1967, he and the late Dr. Benjamin Spock organized a rally in Boston in which 944 young men turned in their draft cards. Both were later arrested and convicted of conspiracy, but their convictions were overturned two years later on appeal.

Coffin left Yale in 1975 to serve as senior minister of New York's famed Riverside Church, where he founded the acclaimed Disarmament Program and traveled throughout the world promoting international peace and human rights.

In 1979, Coffin was one of four clergymen invited by Iran's ruling Revolutionary Council to celebrate Christmas services with the American hostages held at the U.S. Embassy in Teheran. He spent five hours with the hostages, visiting, praying and singing Christmas carols.

From 1987-90, he served as president of SANE/FREEZE: Campaign for Global Security, the largest peace and justice organization in the U.S. As its president, Coffin advocated a new political thinking that recognized the fundamental connection between peace, the environment and social justice.

After serving as an infantry officer in World War II, Coffin earned a bachelor's degree in government from Yale in 1949. He worked for the CIA training anti-Soviet Russians for operations within the Soviet Union during the Korean War. In 1956, he earned his bachelor of divinity degree from Yale Divinity School.

In addition to his 1977 autobiography, "Once to Every Man," Coffin has written three other books: "The Courage to Love," "Living the Truth in a World of Illusions," and his most recent, "A Passion for the Possible," published in 1993.

Coffin, who has delivered three previous Lawrence convocations -- the most of any speaker in the series' history -- spent the 1995-96 academic year at Lawrence as the Stephen Edward Scarff Memorial Visiting Professor of Religious Studies. Lawrence awarded Coffin an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at its 1996 commencement.