In forcing the resignation of Rev. Bruce Shipman from his position as the priest-in-charge of the Episcopal Church at Yale (ECY), clearly, the church caved in to the enormous pressure from a variety of sources both inside and outside the university, no doubt a reaction to Rev. Shipman's letter of concern about anti-Semitism and its causes published in the New York Times.

Nothing in that letter was beyond today's mainstream discourse in Israeli newspapers, and certainly anti-Semitism should be condemned wherever it appears. It also needs to be said that when Israel claims to be a "Jewish State," people of conscience everywhere need to offer a reminder that the confiscation of land for more settlements, the violation of human rights, the practice of collective punishment, the uprooting of olive trees, the detention and torture of children, the theft of water resources, and the killing of 500 innocent children in the latest attack on Gaza are violations of the deepest principles of Judaism.

"To save one life is the same as saving the whole human race." This is the essence of Judaism and not what is being practiced by the State of Israel. I'm grateful for those Jewish voices of conscience who have joined together with those of other traditions to say, "not in my name!"

Further, the head chaplain at Yale, Sharon Kugler, has made it clear in her public responses to this situation that chaplains are to engage only in "pastoral concerns" and that there should be no public commentary on the issue of Israel and Palestine without her approval - so much for "freedom of the pulpit," so much for freedom of speech, so much for justice, so much for an educational institution founded on the Puritan principles of the sovereignty of God and the sanctity of individual conscience.

Further, I write to express my outrage that a Gaza Benefit Concert scheduled for Monday night, Sept. 1 was canceled by the same Executive Council of the Episcopal Church at Yale as a way of trying to "manage" the criticism the chaplaincy had received concerning Rev. Shipman's New York Times letter. This cancellation was made less than two days before the concert, leaving the organizers to find an alternate venue in a short period of time. This decision is all the more unfathomable considering the proceeds of this humanitarian concert were to go the hospital in Gaza supported by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. These decisions are an embarrassment to the Episcopal Church and the chaplaincy at Yale. Shame on the members of that Executive Council. Shame on the Episcopal Church at Yale. Shame on those inside and outside of Yale who used slander and intimidation to silence public discourse.

I had the privilege of a sabbatical with the Anglican Bishop John A.T. Robinson at Trinity College, Cambridge, and from him I learned from his efforts to lead the church to be courageous on social justice issues, however controversial they might be.

As a student at Yale on many Sundays, I would trek down Prospect to Battell Chapel to hear the sermons of William Sloane Coffin. This was at a time when the insanity of the war in Vietnam was still raging, when the streets of many of our cities were smoldering with racial tension; Martin Luther King had already been assassinated, the Black Panthers were on the New Haven Green, but rather than retreating into the rarefied air of "pastoral ministry," Coffin showed that true "pastoral ministry" requires prophetic engagement on the critical and controversial issues of the day, that the "Courage to Love" sometimes does take enormous courage, and that our pulpits ought to be front and center in the difficult conversations of the public square. Like the pulpit in Moby Dick, they should be out in the front of the boat, pointing the way through the angry storms.

When the Black Panthers came to New Haven and racial tension was palpable, Coffin led the members and friends of Battell to offer a potluck supper and to pass out flowers to all those on the New Haven green. Those flowers were "altar flowers," and that potluck supper was one of the most beautiful Holy Communions I could imagine.

That's the kind of chaplaincy that Bruce Shipman exemplified, and that's the kind of chaplaincy that I hope all of us in all our religious identities can support.

Rev. David W. Good is the chairman for The Tree of Life Educational Fund and minister emeritus for The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme.