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to Protest Catholic Bias |
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Compiled By GayToday
The National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) will be meeting in Washington D.C. at this time. Non-violent protests are being organized by Soulforce, an interfaith network of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender individuals and their families, friends, and allies, committed to applying the principles of nonviolent resistance as taught by Gandhi and King to the liberation of sexual and gender minorities.
On Tuesday morning, November 14, at approximately 11am, Rev. Coffin will be personally presenting his letter to the Church during a non-violent civil disobedience protest at the National Shrine (10th and Michigan N.E.) in Washington DC. It is anticipated the Rev. Coffin will be arrested. Photo opportunities and press availability is scheduled from 10 - 11am. The Open Letter will also be read during a Civil Rights Rally on Monday, November 13, at 8pm at National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Circle, Washington, DC. Also taking part in the rally and anticipated arrests will be Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, Civil Rights heroes Rev. Jim Lawson and Rodney Powell, both friends of Martin Luther King and leaders during the struggle for equality in the sixties, as well as many others. Rev. Coffin's Open Letter admonishes the Church for being hypocritical when it repudiates violent forms of homophobia while continuing to proclaim the ideas that undergird this violence. "For Christians, the problem is not how to reconcile homosexuality with the scriptural passages that condemn it, but how to reconcile the rejection and punishment of homosexuals with the love of Christ," the letter goes on to say. Rev. Dr. William Sloane Coffin is no stranger to controversy. Rev. Coffin became famous while chaplain at Yale in the 1960s for his active support of the civil rights movement and his opposition to the Vietnam War. Jailed as a civil rights "Freedom Rider," indicted by the government in the Benjamin Spock conspiracy trial, he attained popular immortality as Reverend Sloan in the Doonesbury comic strip. Now in his 70s, and retired as a senior minister of New York's Riverside Church, Rev. Coffin is president emeritus of SANE/FREEZE: Campaign for Global Security. His books include Once to Every Man: An Autobiography, The Courage to Love, Living the Truth in a World of Illusions, and A Passion for the Possible. This action is also being cosponsored by Dignity/USA, the oldest and largest independent national lay movement of GLBT Catholics, families, and friends; and Equal Partners in Faith, a multi-racial national network of religious leaders and people of faith committed to equality and diversity. Complete text of the letter: www.soulforce.org/dccoffin.html |
The Rev. Dr. William Sloane Coffin 