Scott Sloan

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This article is about the character in the comic strip Doonesbury. For the radio host, see Scott Sloan (radio).

Reverend Scott Sloan is a character in the comic strip Doonesbury.

He was first introduced in the 1970s, while most of the major characters lived on Walden Commune. He had been described by a magazine article as "The fighting young priest who can talk to the young", and this went straight to his head. He constantly parroted this quote to anyone who would listen. Ironically, this caused him to be seen as out of touch by the other characters, and he seemed completely incapable of inspiring anything other than sarcastic scorn, bemused confusion, or annoyed resignation amongst them.

Over time his character was broadened, and he became a better influence. Sloan has fairly liberal beliefs, and takes his job as a minister seriously. He is often the first to point out and condemn any corruption or hypocrisy he perceives in religious issues, and as such is a positive example of what Garry Trudeau thinks a priest should be; he puts faith and humanity first, and has little patience for dogma or self-righteousness. For example, he supported Joe Lieberman in 2000 because he was a man of God, even though he is Jewish and Sloan is Christian.

When Joanie Caucus was introduced, Scott developed a crush on her, and attempted to woo her. In this he was spectacularly unsuccessful. His idea of a romantic date was to attend Mass. He did however impress her when he got tickets to a Jeb Magruder concert.

Reverend Sloan is the chaplain at Walden College. He once in the early 1970s referred to himself as Episcopalian, but this may or may not be the case. He wears a clerical collar, as Episcopal priests generally do, but several references seem to indicate he is not intended to be affiliated with any particular denomination. In 1987, he gave a sermon explaining why he advocated neither fundamentalism nor New Age spirituality, describing himself as a believer in "mainstream religion".

He performed the wedding ceremonies for Rick and Joanie, Mike and J.J., Mike and Kim, and the online wedding of J.J. and Zeke. He was going to perform Mark's wedding, but was unaware that it was a homosexual marriage, and the religious and legal implications made him too uncomfortable. He also oversaw the funeral for Phil Slackmeyer, Mark's dad, because Phil was so widely disliked that even his rabbi had alienated him.

The Reverend Sloan character was inspired by author Gary Trudeau's undergraduate roommate at Yale, William L. "Scotty" McLennan, Jr., and by former Yale Chaplain William Sloane Coffin.