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Bob Evans Receives the William Sloane Coffin Award for Peace and Justice 
October 2004

The William Sloane Coffin Award for Peace and Justice was awarded to Bob Evans and Plowshares Institute on October 12^th at a banquet hosted by the Yale Divinity School Alumni Council.  In his address to the alumni and friends of Plowshares who had come from as far away as California and Oklahoma,  Bob expressed his confidence that it was the staff, international partners, and supporters of Plowshares Institute and their global ministry that were really honored by this award.

Bob also expressed special appreciation for Bill Coffin both for who he is and what he has been for thousands of students.  Bob worked with Coffin as a Yale undergraduate and later as a colleague on the Yale University Chaplain staff when he was a student at Yale Divinity School.  Coffin, who is retired, is internationally known for his role in the civil rights movement and the Vietnam peace movement during his 20 year role as Yale University Chaplain, as a prophetic pastor at Riverside Church in New York City, and later as president of SANE/FREEZE, the largest peace and justice organization in the United States in the 1980’s.

The following excerpts from Bob’s address highlight the contemporary relevance of Coffin’s ministry and message:

“Coffin reminds us in his book Credo of what Christians should know intuitively to be what he calls the “real axis of evil.” Coffin asserts that “environmental degradation, pandemic poverty, and a world awash with weapons” are the greatest threats to the realization of a more just, sustainable, peaceful world (Credo p.111).  As a faith-based non-profit organization, Plowshares does not lobby for specific political candidates or parties.  However, we urge voters to consider in any election throughout the world which candidates are most likely to constructively address the three elements in Coffin’s axis of evil: the environment, poverty, and weapons. I trust that God’s grace-filled providence will guide all of us in careful and prayerful responses. 

Another friend and chair of Plowshares International Advisory Council is Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of South Africa and Nobel Peace Laureate. In a recent strategy conversation about peace-building opportunities around the world, Desmond reminded me of the signs of hope in a world of terror that extend from initiatives by “Parents for Peace,” Israelis and Palestinians who have lost children to suicide bombers and West Bank invasions to signs of hope in the midst of struggle in Iraq, Ireland and Indonesia. Tutu promotes and continues to live what Nelson Mandela and Bill Coffin both see as a “politics of reconciliation and hope.” 

Desmond Tutu declared, “If the church can’t offer hope-- we should just close our doors.” This is a daunting challenge in a year of continued global terror and presidential elections in the three largest democracies in the world: India, Indonesia, and the US.  The majority of Hindu and Muslim nations have chosen in recent months decisively to change their administration in favor of greater focus on peace-oriented candidates. Christian nation’s commitment to global peace still hangs in the balance. 

I urge you to continue to offer peace, do justice, and walk humbly with your God.  As Bill Coffin - who relishes the recklessness of faith especially in times that seem impossible and hopeless - suggests, “First you leap and then you grow wings.”   (Credo p.7)  “