John C. Raines

John Curtis Raines (October 27, 1933 – November 12, 2017) was an American Methodist minister, religion professor, anti-war activist, and whistleblower. He was a member of the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI, which conspired to steal documents from an FBI office in 1971 and exposed illegal activity and abuses of power, including COINTELPRO.

Early life Raines was born in Minneapolis, the son of an affluent Methodist minister, and was raised by a governess in a house with five fireplaces and seven bathrooms. He had one brother. He graduated from Carleton College in 1955 with a major in English, and went on to study Christian social ethics at Union Theological Seminary.

Career His first job after graduating was as a Methodist minister in Setauket, Long Island. He became a professor of religion at Temple University, where he taught for over 40 years. It was on this trip, where white mobs met the riders and he was briefly sent to jail, his eyes were opened to injustice and its intersection with his own Christian faith. Raines and his wife, Bonnie, continued to be involved in political causes and protests in the coming years, even breaking into draft board offices to disrupt records related to the draft for the Vietnam War. They targeted a small FBI office outside of city limits in Media, Pennsylvania which had far less security than the more prominent Philadelphia building. The group carefully researched and made extensive preparations--Bonnie went undercover as a Swarthmore student studying FBI hiring practices of women, and was allowed access to the interior of the building, where she took note of security systems and layout.

Personal life During a summer break, he met and married Bonnie Raines (née Muir), a waitress from Michigan State University who had also joined a political group dedicating to improving racial relations. They had four children and seven grandchildren.

Raines died at his home in Philadelphia on November 12, 2017.