#22 of 54. Letter from James Coffin, May 15, 2007

“We value ethical and moral conduct at all times and in all relationships.” —Statement of Ethical Foundations for the General Conference and Its Employees (emphasis mine).

“Clearly, we have no right to control how he [our employee, Lincoln Steed] deals with intra-family concerns.” —Halvard Thomsen, in a letter to James and Leoni (i.e. Leonie) Coffin, May 23, 2007.

[The following letter was sent to each of the six addressees by certified mail. Although dated May 15, it wasn't mailed immediately, so it was still in transit at the time Pastor Thomsen's letter of May 23, 2007, was sent.]


LETTER

May 15, 2007


Halvard B. Thomsen, Chair, Liberty Editorial Board
Eugene Hsu, Consulting Editor, Liberty
Jan Paulsen, Consulting Editor, Liberty
Don Schneider, Consulting Editor, Liberty
John Graz, Consulting Editor, Liberty
Robert Kyte, Office of General Counsel

RE: NAD/GC continued refusal to act re Lincoln’s [sic] Steed’s defamatory letters

Gentlemen:

On October 5, 2006, I wrote to you—in the spirit of the instruction given in Matthew 18—asking that you as church leaders provide moral perspective in the matter of defamatory letters sent out and defamatory conversations engaged in by a church employee under your supervision, to other church employees, against yet another church employee and his family.

Specifically, I said: “I’m merely asking that, in a spirit of Christian brotherhood, you use your influence and relationship to Lincoln to bring a halt to what’s going on. I’m asking that you seek to help him understand the impropriety of what he’s doing and urge him to cease such actions, to not re-engage in them, and to undo, to the degree possible, what has been done already” (italics not in the original). To date—at least to my knowledge—you’ve refused to declare his actions improper or to encourage him “to undo, to the degree possible, what has been done already.”

In a subsequent letter I stated clearly to you: “I’m not asking you to take punitive measures against Lincoln. I’m merely asking you, as a group of church leaders who oversee Lincoln’s work, and as Christian brothers, to use your influence to encourage Lincoln to take the steps that alone could help to undo the impact of his unfortunate actions, which are both illegal and unethical.”

Further, I’ve said: “If there is some other venue in which this matter should be addressed, then tell me what that venue is.” But in his two letters to me, Pastor Thomsen has ignored every argument and every question I’ve put forward, merely resorting to a highly dismissive mantra that it’s a “private” matter. Quite frankly, I don’t—and I won’t—accept Pastor Thomsen’s indefensible assertion that this matter is “private” and “simply must be handled in a private manner.” It ceased to be private when it was taken public.

That fact notwithstanding, my wife and I still repeatedly tried, unsuccessfully, to deal with the matter privately. Only when Lincoln told us (by certified mail) that nothing we wrote would be read, did we, quite reasonably and understandably, turn to you. As I stated in an earlier letter to you: “Clearly, there has to be some arbitrating entity—the Bible calls for such. Matthew 18 recognizes that some issues won’t get settled without third-party involvement.”

I’ve made it clear that I will not sit by while my family is defamed in such a vicious manner to my fellow employees by another employee. Nor should you be willing to do so—either from a spiritual/biblical perspective or from a purely organizational/administrative perspective. Leadership carries certain responsibilities. Church employees have the right to expect administrative assistance when seeking redress for the kind of public defamation/workplace harassment in which Lincoln has engaged.

As I’ve stated in earlier letters, if I were the only one being defamed, I might well ignore it. But Lincoln has publicly attacked my wife and sons as well. He has declared our sons to be guilty of “a systemic inhumanity . . . that defies all norms of Christianity and human decency.” He disseminated his letters making these accusations without having spoken even one word beforehand to our sons about his concerns. Do you actually believe that such behavior is acceptable for anyone, let alone a high-level church employee? Is that the message you wish to convey to the church’s youth?

If your unwillingness to provide even the most elementary moral input concerning this matter is based on things Lincoln has said privately to you against my family and/or me, you’re perverting justice. I’ve asked you to intervene on the basis of the face-value impropriety of Lincoln’s letters themselves. While I’ve expressed a willingness to have you delve into private family matters should you feel it necessary—because I have nothing whatsoever to hide—I’ve said that, should you do so, fairness demands that such an investigation have full input from both Lincoln and me. Since you’ve not requested any additional information or clarification from me, I would hope that you haven’t sought or allowed it from him either.

Matthew 18 says that Step 3 in the process of interpersonal problem resolution—after thorough personal attempts and seeking the help of church leaders—is to take the matter to the church. Obviously, the writer of Matthew is addressing a congregational setting. But the principle behind the specifics is universal. Further, the writer presupposes that the need to take the matter beyond the church leaders would be necessitated by the intransigence of the perpetrator rather than the moral indifference of the leaders. But either way, the church is the court of final appeal. So I will do what the Bible outlines. Therefore, this is the last letter I intend to write to you concerning this matter.

I’ve wrestled with this issue considerably. You see, when I take to the church the matter both of what Lincoln has done and what you as church leaders have refused to do, people will be hurt. They’ll be hurt because they’ll lose faith in the church’s leadership. What I’ve asked of you is so eminently simple, so eminently reasonable and so eminently biblical that they’ll find both Lincoln’s behavior and yours to be as appalling and as hard to understand as I do. They’ll be angered as I am. The only way such a modus operandi survives within the church hierarchy is because, for the most part, the church public never becomes aware of it.

My dilemma is that if I don’t take this matter to the church, people will still be hurt. If I turn a blind eye to Lincoln’s defamation and––even more significantly––your refusal to respond to it, if I act as if it never happened, other church employees and church members will receive similar treatment. There will continue to be no accountability. I know. I’ve seen it happen over and over with sickening regularity. So there comes a time when by my silence I become an accomplice. As has been aptly stated, all that’s needed for evil to prosper is for good people to do nothing. So I’m choosing a course that I hope will, in the long run, minimize hurt. And in the short run, it will at least demonstrate to my wife and sons that I have the moral fortitude to stand for principle on their behalf, even if the leaders of the church are unwilling to do so.

Sincerely,


James Coffin
[Address provided]
Phone: ________________

Copies to:
Mike Cauley, President, Florida Conference
Lincoln E. Steed

Copyright © 2008 James Coffin