Religion: Out of Place

• Share

The Reverend John Safran (rhymes with saffron) looked down upon the 500 pupils and parents of Michigan's Marysville High School assembled for his baccalaureate sermon—and pitched in:

"The internal conditions of our country are chaotic. Our annual liquor bill runs between seven and eight billion dollars. Our crime bill amounts to 15 billions a year. . . . We refuse to face race problems. There are 13 million American Negroes who are only enjoying a second-rate citizenship. . . . And we don't have to look to the deep South to find people who believe in the supremacy of the white race.

"Let's look at Marysville. Less than five miles from here there are 1,500 Negroes living in homes most of which are unfit for human habitation. . . . They live that way because they are forced to. We refuse to give them jobs in Marysville. Our city has eight major industries all of which refuse to employ Negroes. If we are really serious about this business of building a world of peace and establishing the Kingdom of God on earth, we had better begin right here in Marysville by making it possible for these people to secure jobs. . . ."

Next day Pastor Safran had callers.

Floyd Stevens and Jim Galloway of the Pastoral Relations Committee of Marysville's Methodist Church came to break the news: the church's trustees had voted to ask the Methodist Conference for a new pastor. Said Pastor Safran of that interview: "I asked why, and Stevens answered: 'It was because of your address at the high school. It is out of place. . . .' I said, 'Is there anything else?' And Jim answered: 'Well, you haven't made enough calls. But do you remember the first Sunday School board meeting when I told you to lay off racial issues?' I said that I did, and he said, 'Well, you got burned.' "

John Safran had come a long way to the job he had just lost. For twelve years a Detroit attorney (ten years in U.A.W. Lawyer Maurice Sugar's office), he abandoned the law in 1943 to study for the ministry. Only last June, at the age of 37, he was ordained and appointed to Marysville's single Protestant church.

Last week Pastor Safran was assigned to a new post—in a rural community.