New York's Riverside Church projects a message simultaneously comforting and controversial. Its Gothic edifice imparts timelessness and is a wonder to behold. Affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the American Baptist Church, the interdenominational congregation takes the social gospel seriously.

Riverside benefited from the largess of John D. Rockefeller Jr., yet its pastors have not hesitated to question not only aspects of the American political and economic systems but also the fundamentals. If their answers have not always proved correct, then their challenges have been essential. Riverside has stood for justice, which is not a bad stand -- it is a place, moreover, that churches have not always occupied. Critiques of activist communions such as Riverside do not always come from sources whose practices have reflected the Beatitudes or whose sentiments have followed the way of Galilee. History recommends atonement. Faith compels it.

Riverside's roster of preachers includes Henry Emerson Fosdick and William Sloane Coffin; each ranked among the most loved and most reviled clergy of his respective day. Coffin gained national attention for his opposition to the Vietnam War. Once upon a time the secular left welcomed religious-based politics. Coffin also conveyed insights that transcended partisanship, such as: "One trouble with guilt is that it often seeks punishment in order to avoid judgment; for while judgment demands a new way of life, punishment, by assuaging a bit the guilt, makes the old bearable anew."

The Times-Dispatch's Robin Farmer reported yesterday that a search committee has called Brad Braxton to be Riverside's new senior minister. The congregation will vote on the nomination next month. Born into a church family in Salem, Braxton graduated from the University of Virginia. His appointment gladdens the commonwealth.

New York is replete with sacred places. Tourists need not limit themselves to temples of entertainment and commerce, to sites historic and infamous. Sanctuaries of all faiths beckon. An incomplete list features St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Fifth Avenue Presbyterian, Temple Emanu-El, Marble Collegiate Church, Trinity Church Wall Street (and St. Paul's Chapel), Abyssinian Baptist Church, Eldridge Street Synagogue, St. Mary the Virgin (a jewel in Times Square -- yes, not far indeed from Jimmy's Corner Bar), and Brooklyn's Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims. Neighborhood congregations abound.

When Braxton ascends to Riverside's pulpit, Virginians visiting Gotham will have an extra incentive to attend services on Morningside Heights -- and to open themselves to the richness of New York City's religious past and present.