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Live From New York
"Fundamentalism" Invades Manhattan
Apparently Christian "fundamentalism" briefly seized the pulpit of America's most famously liberal church, but, as the New York Times reported, the invasion has been repulsed.
Built in 1930 with Rockefeller money as a cathedral to progressive Protestantism, Riverside Church was pastored by Social Gospel proponent Henry Emerson Fosdick and protest-era radical William Sloane Coffin. Across the decades, Martin Luther King, Olof Palme, Daniel Ortega, Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro have disclaimed from its pulpit. Rev. Brad Braxton presumably was expected to follow his predecessors' politically prophetic example when he ascended to the church's pastorate late last year. But he was forced into resignation this summer after only nine months, amid allegations that he had preached "fundamentalism," compounded by concerns over his allegedly $600,000 salary package, as chronicled by the Times.
Even at the Depression's advent, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. spared no expense on Riverside, which was modeled after Chartres Cathedral. Its statues and stained glass honor Charles Darwin, Mohammed, Buddha, Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, and Booker T. Washington, along with more traditionally honored saints and apostles. Rockefeller constructed it primarily as a stage for the golden tongued, fellow liberal Baptist Fosdick, who had been removed from a Presbyterian pulpit after a celebrated heresy trial, during which later Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was his defense counsel. Fosdick rejected the Virgin Birth and bodily Resurrection in favor of a social justice gospel emphasizing an earthly rather than a heavenly kingdom. A pacifist, Fosdick carefully avoided any support for World War II, preferring idealism to realism. No fool, he was also a shrewd politician who kept his liberal, and mostly wealthy, Manhattan congregants happy, or at least mesmerized by his oratory. Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr once laughingly pronounced that Fosdick, though a friend, was a chameleon who would explode if he walked across plaid.
As an interesting aside, Fosdick's daughter was the distinguished Democratic Party Cold War strategist Dorothy Fosdick who, apparently rejecting her father's pacifism and preferring Niebuhr's realism, worked for hawkish, anti-Soviet Democratic Senator Henry Jackson for 20 years. According to one biographer, she was also a paramour to an earlier Democratic patron, Adlai Stevenson.
Rev. Fosdick's critic and friend, Niebuhr, taught across the street from Riverside Church at equally liberal and famous Union Seminary, also amply endowed by Rockefeller dollars. Eventually, next door, Rockefeller largesse would also construct the imposing Interchurch Center, as a headquarters for the National Council of Churches and a host of Mainline Protestant agencies. President Eisenhower attended its dedication. These several blocks along the Hudson River, near Grant's Tomb and Columbia University, formed a sort of Vatican for liberal Mainline Protestantism when Mainline Protestants still sat in the driver's seat of American culture at mid-20th century.
Mainline is now sideline, Union Seminary is now a ghost of its former self, most of the Interchurch Center's major denominational tenants have either departed or downsized, the Rockefellers' commitment to liberal church causes has receded, and Riverside Church has become embroiled in controversy over its true mission, which had once seemed so clear.
Guided by his philanthropy advisor, Henry Fosdick's equally liberal brother Raymond, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. envisioned Riverside Church as an enlightened monument to inclusive Christianity, progressive politics, and aggressive humanitarianism. Powerful pulpiteers from Fosdick through Coffin largely upheld this vision. Coffin was the former radical chaplain of Yale University who helped burn draft cards, and he regaled his Riverside listeners during the 1980s with stinging denunciations of the Reagan Administration. Coffin's successor, James Forbes, was the church's first black pastor. Although conventionally liberal in politics and theology, he came from a southern Pentecostal background, and he preached with an evangelical cadence, even as he remained politically correct, and avoided substantive controversy. His pastorate helped Riverside evolve from mostly white to majority black. Some liberal whites, accustomed to Coffin's endless political jeremiads, were disappointed by Forbes's lack of polemical fire.
Rev. Braxton, who is also black and southern, seemed to follow Forbes's example, though he was much younger, only 39 when he was appointed. But hardly a few months had passed since his arrival at Riverside when the Times reported a lawsuit by some congregants to prevent his installation. Citing lack of transparency about his large salary, they also "complained that Dr. Braxton was moving Riverside away from its tradition of interracial progressivism and toward a conservative style of religious practice." One litigant alleged the new pastor subscribed to a "more fundamentalist brand of religion." Other critics accused him of being "Afrocentrist" and having "no connection to the prophetic witness that has been our cornerstone."
"What he says consistently in sermons is talking about the only way to God is through a particular fundamentalist path, which is to accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior, and that's a huge change in our theology," complained one anti-Braxton congregant to PBS's Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly. "It's a huge change in our openness and our inclusiveness."
Braxton called the charge of fundamentalism "laughable" and pointed to his support for same-sex marriage and alliance with "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer persons." He also called for Christians "to repent of their Christian imperialism that belief that Jesus Christ is the only way." But he admitted he thinks that Jesus and Scripture are "non-negotiables" for Christian congregations. Defenders of Braxton alleged that his white critics were "afraid…that the church will turn black" and were accustomed to WASPish, patrician and independently wealthy pastors like Coffin.
The Times described the church as divided between older whites with "emotional roots in the civil rights era," and younger middle-class blacks with a "less politicized set of religious beliefs." Although a powerful orator, Braxton was unable to quell the controversy and abruptly resigned in June, hoping the church could "address its internal tensions" after his departure. Seemingly to rebut charges of "fundamentalism," Braxton's farewell letter emphasized that he is a "progressive Christian" who seeks social justice through "deeds" and "creeds." Noting that the over 2000-member congregation had "struggled publicly for decades" about its identity, he complained that the recent "antagonism" and "consistent discord" had made his ministry impossible.
That the old guard at Riverside Church could not even adapt to a "progressive" evangelical from a black Baptist tradition bodes ill for aging, liberal Protestantism, which derides any dissent as "fundamentalism." But the inertia well matches the overall state of Mainline religion, aptly represented by the still glorious but fading Rockefeller-built monuments along the Hudson River, where the spiritual tone increasingly resembles the nearby marble silence of Grant's Tomb.
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Richard Baker| 8.31.09 @ 8:19AM
It will be interesting to eventually hear God's views directly on the apostate American churches. Christianity without Christ. A most amazing transformation.
Etiquette Man| 8.31.09 @ 9:03AM
I grew up almost literally in the considerable shadow of Riverside Church. In fact, around sunset, I'm pretty sure that when I was playing outside on 121st Street, I was literally in its shadow.
My grandmother was a deacon and the church librarian for countless years. As a teenager, I helped my father pass out pamphlets outside Riverside Church on Sunday mornings. The pamphlets protested then-Senior Minister William Sloane Coffin's use of the pulpit to preach about the evils of America, the need for a nuclear freeze, how Reagan was going to blow up the world, yadda, yadda, yadda.
That said, I'm not at all surprised that the "old guard" at Riverside (who would have been the "Yuppie Guard" when I was a teen) is rising up. In addition to my familial rabble-rousing, I also attended Riverside as a youth. I didn't think much of it at the time, but in retrospect it is obvious that there was never any preaching in the preaching, and veeeeeeery few people of color in the pews.
So, now the church is majority black and a young black man is actually preaching the teeniest little bit of the Bible from the pulpit. The white, I mean "old" guard is surely displeased, and perhaps on more than just the second count.
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Ryan| 8.31.09 @ 9:44AM
I find it COMPLETELY baffling as to the point of the church. It's a social charity organization, not a church.
This is what happens when you promote the actions of Christ and ignore the words of Christ. They MUST be inseperable.
KyMouse| 8.31.09 @ 10:52AM
Yes, there are plenty of pesky New Testament verses that get in the way of liberal "many paths to God" theology. Although John 3:16 is probably the most famous verse in the N.T., I've encountered few liberal pastors willing to preach about the verses that directly precede and follow it.
Jesus claims in verses 14 and 15 that He is the divine fulfillment of the bronze serpent that Moses raised in the wilderness (Numbers 21:9): The Israelites, having been bitten by fiery serpents because of their sins, would be saved only if they looked in faith toward the bronze serpent that Moses raised on a pole. Those who did not look toward it in faith would die.
"Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life," Jesus says. Believe in Jesus as God, Savior and Lord of your life, and you'll be saved. Don't, and you won't.
Jesus adds this blunt statement in verse 18: "He who believes in Him [God's Son] is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
That's "red-letter" text, from the mouth of Jesus. Complex enough for theologians to write about for millennia, yet simple enough for a child to grasp. Amazing stuff.
cary loos| 8.31.09 @ 11:04AM
The best unkept secret in PCUSA polity is that the salary and benefit package of the outgoing senior pastor becomes a floor for the next call. It will be fun watching the dissenters justify the $625 thousand package for the next "right" call.
Otis, my man!| 8.31.09 @ 1:20PM
Hey, I'm willing to preach at this church and tell them whatever they want to hear. And I'll do it for only $500,000 a year.
avidyananda| 8.31.09 @ 1:20PM
Isn't there something in the Bible about, and I paraphrase, "If you deny me, I will deny you," spoken by Jesus Himself?
dh| 8.31.09 @ 1:24PM
The word 'disclaimed' in the second paragraph should be changed to 'declaimed'. Or, perhaps, it should read 'disclaimed the faith'.
Richard Lisztman| 8.31.09 @ 1:41PM
Missing great minds and hearts like those of William Sloan Coffin one can't help notice how the relgion of Cain is so alive and well today - both here in the Spectator as well as in recent town meetings: "I am not my brother's keeper."
The belief systems of fundamentalists and scriptural literalists, as Coffin suggested, "should go out the stained glass windows, for they have no proper place in church." Too many folks make "faith" their aim and "are more concerned with freezing the doctrine than warming the heart. If faith can be exclusive, love can only be inclusive."
Fortunately the "invasion" of fundamentaloism has been stopped at the gates of the city.
Ryan| 8.31.09 @ 2:09PM
Richard - as (usually comparatively) a "fundamentalist," I take great offense at such an interpretation.
Christ never came to "warm the heart." His ideas were often divisive among the religious elite and exactly opposite those things taught in "mainstream" churches who promote His love completely over His judgment.
By the way, those churches are SHRINKING.
Both ideas go hand-in-hand. Yes, too often those on the right push God's wrath over and beyond what it needs, but those on the left COMPLETELY ignore it, promoting a "feel-good" Christianity which is even more opposite anything found in scripture.
Of course, if scripture has no value, how can Christianity? If Christ's words were meaningless, then what was the point of His actions?
Spurgeon, Shocked| 8.31.09 @ 3:28PM
Christ's calls and demands for action stem not only from a sense of what is right and decent, but from His own personal authority to demand them of us. For we must all appear before His judgment seat to answer for what we have done in the days of our "earthly pilgrimage."
Andy Rupert| 8.31.09 @ 6:01PM
Having taught a course about American fundamentalism, I found the history of Riverside Church’s building and leadership to be very interesting. Of particular interest was the fact that stained glass windows in the church honor Mohammed, Buddha, and Darwin. While these facts don’t surprise me, it is very revealing of the inclusive doctrine accepted by the founders of the church. The windows teach what the leadership believes, “There are many roads to God.”
Many people have bought into this inclusivism, but what good is it? Does it warm the heart as Richard suggests. Or does it instead numb the soul to man’s most serious need? The Scriptures argue for the latter. Consider what Jesus himself said, “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” The point is that liberalism ignores the most serious needs of men because they hold to erroneous doctrine. Fundamentalism, in contrast, points man to his sinfulness and his need for the Savior.
Salvation through Jesus is the greatest need that man has, but there are other needs as well that should not be ignored. And those who would be like Jesus should follow his example. He spent his life not only teaching the exclusive good news, but also showed kindness by helping many sick people. This is why Paul wrote about doing good to “all men, especially those of the household of faith.” Paul practiced what he preached by helping people and spreading the truth at the same time. True believers should as well.
Greg| 8.31.09 @ 6:08PM
Just another apostate church in America. How sickening.
Alan Brooks| 8.31.09 @ 7:34PM
fundamentalism is no longer a threat-- nothing to lose.
If only situational ethics survive, then how can ANYONE's morality be threatened?
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This is why Paul wrote about doing good to “all men, especially those of the household of faith.”
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Wilfred| 8.31.09 @ 11:38PM
Observing churches like Riverside and my own Episcopal denomination, for years I wondered whether there was something inherent in Protestantism that leads it, over time, eventually to degenerate into a weak, whiny, trendy pseudo-religion, incapable of producing anybody who could live a genuinely saintly life, or who would willingly die a martyr. Protestantism, certainly in its liberal form - and I wonder in its conservative form too - seems a house built upon sand.
Thank God I discovered Holy Orthodoxy, the original Church which has always proclaimed Jesus Christ to be God Incarnate.
Evanston2| 9.2.09 @ 12:53AM
Actually Wilfred, it's the Protestant churches that are loyal to the Bible that are large and growing. What you find "inherent in Protestantism" is only inherent to the minute, ever-shrinking slice you occupied. When you refer to the "original church" I assume you mean the Roman church (just say so) although you may find the Eastern churches dispute you on your claim. The bottom line is that you never knew the Bible in your old denomination (Episcopal) and gravitated to a greater sacerdotalism...plus a superficial unity that papers over the numerous doctrinal contradictions within Romanism. Worship the Jesus of the Bible (yes, who is God Incarnate) but in addition to dropping Mohammed and Einstein from your spiritual stained glass, drop the Perpetual Virgin/Queen of Heaven and the Vicar of Christ and all such myths and fables. Sand indeed.
Appleby| 9.2.09 @ 10:33AM
Timothy Eaton Memorial Church is the wealthiest church in Toronto. It is what they call a "United Church" and you only have to believe 85% of the Creed to get a membership. Oh, and be worth more than $1 million US.
I went to that church for about a month, and in a city where indifference pervades all save the selling of the Hockey Night in Canada theme song to another network, that one stands head and shoulders above the rest. It is nothing but a social club and they welcome no one but their own.
Riverside sounds similar.
They will all be left behind. May their bank balances comfort them in the line for the last judgment.
Wilfred| 9.2.09 @ 7:57PM
Evanston2, I didn't say "Roman" because I didn't mean Roman. By "Orthodoxy", I mean what you call the Eastern Orthodox Church, the least-changed since Apostolic times. This is the Church that decided which books would, and which would not, be in the Bible. If they got that right, you should consider maybe they are right about the other stuff too?
And while the Orthodox do venerate Mary as Mother of our Lord & God Jesus Christ, their teaching about her is not identical to the Roman doctrines you mention.
And I agree with you that a healthy church should be growing, I would not equate growth with evidence of the Truth. Scientology and Islam not the Truth, but they are growing, alas.
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Brian Richard Allen| 9.3.09 @ 3:19AM
Sounds to me pretty much as if, to "Christianity," Riverside is what Sayed B Hussayn bin B Hussayn bin Hussayn Ubambi is to ... um .... "Christianity."
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promid acodud| 9.4.09 @ 4:02AM
Protestantism, certainly in its liberal form - and I wonder in its conservative form too - seems a house built upon sand.
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