Riverside Church

Riverside Church is a Christian church in Morningside Heights, Upper Manhattan, New York City. It opened its doors on October 5, 1930. It is situated at 120th Street and 490 Riverside Drive, within the Columbia University Morningside Heights Campus, across the street from, and one block south of, President Grant's Tomb. Although interdenominational, it is also associated with the American Baptist Churches USA and the United Church of Christ. It is famous for its large size and elaborate Neo-Gothic architecture as well as its history of social justice. It was described by The New York Times in 2008 as "a stronghold of activism and political debate throughout its 75-year history ... influential on the nation's religious and political landscapes." It has been a focal point of global and national activism since its inception.

The church was conceived by industrialist, financier, and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. (1874–1960), and minister Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969), as a large, interdenominational church in a neighborhood important to the city, open to all who profess faith in Christ. Its congregation includes more than forty ethnic groups. As of 2007, the church had a $14 million annual operating budget and a paid staff of 130. In 2012 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Martin Luther King Jr. voiced his opposition to the Vietnam War at Riverside on April 4, 1967 (the same day he was killed the following year), also known as Riverside Church speech. The Rev. Jesse Jackson gave the eulogy at Jackie Robinson's funeral service in 1972. Bill Clinton spoke at Riverside Church on August 29, 2004.Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan spoke there after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Cesar Chavez, Desmond Tutu, Fidel Castro, Arundhati Roy and Nelson Mandela have all spoken at Riverside Church. Other past speakers include such theological superstars as Paul Tillich, Reinhold Niebuhr and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German who was instrumental in the Christian resistance against the Third Reich, and Channing E. Phillips, a leader in the Civil Rights Movement and the first African American to receive votes as a presidential nominee at a Democratic National Convention. Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy President of Interfaith Alliance of Washington, DC. On January 15, 2012, a commemoration celebration for Martin Luther King Jr. took place at the Riverside Church, which included appearances by Patti Smith and Yoko Ono.

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