Dr. Braxton's earnings from Riverside Church

The New York Daily News and New York Times have reported that Riverside is paying Dr. Braxton more than $600,000 per year, more than ten times what Rev. William Sloane Coffin was paid during his lengthy tenure as Riverside’s senior minister. In response, former church council head, Dr. Billy Jones, claimed that Braxton’s package was merely $465,000, a figure Dr. Jones claims is acceptable because it is on par with other ministerial salaries. Note that these numbers do not represent Braxton’s entire household income because they do not include his wife’s earnings in the finance industry, or his income from book sales and speaking engagements. Riverside is currently paying him for study-leave to prepare for one of these outside engagements.

It may help to put these numbers in context. The median annual household earning in the U.S. for 2007 was $53,514, and in Manhattan was $62,027. In that same year, 17.6% of Manhattan’s residents lived in poverty.

In 2009, U.S. taxpayers are paying President Obama approximately $469,000 per year. Even without considering his other income sources, Riverside’s payment of $465,000 per year places Braxton in the top 1% of U.S. taxpayers. According to bankrate.com’s list of the top 20 highest-paying jobs, without including his wife’s income or his other income sources, Braxton is near the top of the list:

1. Chief executive officer: $1.18 million
2. Chief operating officer: $690,219
3. Top-subsidiary executive: $624,831
4. Top-sector executive: $525,657
5. Top-division executive: $510,292

[Dr. Braxton’s Riverside earnings: $465,000]

6. Intermediate corporate financial associate: $459,784
7. Heart transplant surgeon: $446,666
8. Cardiothoracic surgeon: $446,255
9. Top international executive: $425,839
10. Chief financial officer: $418,772
11. Top administrative executive: $410,335
12. Top legal executive: $404,235
13. Top mergers and acquisitions executive: $399,581
14. Top mortgage executive: $399,485
15. Top power trading executive: $391,911
16. Neurosurgeon: $386,906
17. Top investment executive: $386,148
18. Chief of surgery: $380,756
19. Senior corporate financial associate: $376,761
20. Top retail banking executive: $373,383

Dr. Braxton pays $216,000 per year for the rental of a luxury Manhattan penthouse, or $18,000 per month. The median rental cost for a 4-bedroom Manhattan apartment is $4,995 per month. Braxton has claimed he needs luxury housing to entertain Riverside guests. He is in error. Christ did not entertain his disciples in luxury housing. Neither did Mother Theresa. Ghandi entertained international dignitaries in a mud hut.

Some, particularly members of traditions that pay their ministers luxury salaries, argue that these numbers are appropriate because ministers are doing God’s most important work. Christ’s example shows this view is in error. Christ did not live in luxury. He did not demand that his disciplines empty their pockets to fill his. When he created bread and wine, he did not fill his personal pantry and wine-cellar. He used his efforts to nourish the hungry.

Serving the public is a privilege. Many people who are highly educated and earn substantial salaries choose to forgo their income to serve the public. Corporate executives routinely leave huge salaries to serve their country in government jobs or as educators. Media executives work for public radio and television for considerably lower salaries. Physicians and attorneys can earn six-figure salaries, but those who choose to serve the public routinely agree to earn salaries near the U.S. median income level. Two other examples of men who have chosen lives of service instead of profit are Dr. Paul Farmer, who founded Partners in Health & provides quality health care to Haitians, Peruvians, and incarcerated Russians; and Greg Morgenson, who founded the Central Asia institute, which builds schools for girls in the most rural parts of Afghanistan.

Dr. Braxton has claimed that he needed this income package to “make him whole” for leaving his teaching position. The term “to make whole” is a legal term for reparations or restitution for fiscal harm. If someone steals your television, justice is served if you are “made whole” with the dollar value of your stolen television. Choosing to change jobs is not a harm; it is not a choice that creates a need to be “made whole.” Serving as Senior Minister of an internationally renowned congregation is hardly a harm needing economic reparations. Braxton’s rhetoric is consistent with his world-view centering on the black liberation theology demand for white reparations for slavery. But, unlike his forbears, Dr. Braxton has not been enslaved. He is instead a member of the educational and financial elite. Riverside Church is now using her ministry resources to make him one of the wealthiest humans on the planet.