Question

Martin Luther King, Jr. was many things, a civil rights activist, nonviolent protestor, organizer, teacher, son, husband, father, and a black man. Many forget that he was first, a Christian Southern Baptist minister and preacher. His religious faith informed his ethical actions. After reading selections from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, Letters from the Birmingham Jail, explore the role of Christian ethics in King’s actions during the turbulent times in the South in the 1960s. Consider the following:

1) King was in Birmingham to address the issue of injustice by organizing a protest. Define the injustice and the protest and explain how Judeo-Christian ethics were applied to allow for civil disobedience. How was the injustice in Birmingham tied to all communities in the South?

2) King lists four steps to nonviolent campaigns. Name them. How did these flow from King’s Christian ethical principles?

3) What was MLK's opinion of the old saying, "an eye for an eye"? How did MLK regard the notion that justice meant "evening the score?

4) How do King’s ethical principles help him defend against the charges that his protests and law breaking were “untimely” considering the political situation in Birmingham at the time?

5) Consider areas of conflict in the world today. Pick one and discuss how King’s actions and his ethical principles might resolve the issue.

NOTE: I AM NOT LOOKING FOR A WHOLE ESSAY AS AN ANSWER, HOWEVER, A SENTENCE OR TWO PER QUESTION WOULD BE VERY HELPFUL.

Answer 1

1.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was a social reformer and a revolutionary who used his philosophy of nonivolence along with his training in Theology as civil rights leader. King was arrested on April 12, 1963, in Birmingham for defying a court order against the mass demonstrations which were organised by the Black theological associations to peacefully protest against racial injustice in the United States. It was during his stay in the prison that King’ composed a long and eloquent “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” as a brief but powerful rebuke, against the White clergy decrying “outsiders” protesting in the streets of their city and contending that social injustices should be addressed in th elegal structures.

King compared himself to biblical prophets.and carried the “gospel of freedom” to all men, which required “direct action” as opposed to waiting. His writing shows the influence of the Black church’s “social gospel,” which sought to alleviate societal problems based on Christian ethics, and the philosophy of Non-violence as Given by Mahatma Gandhi. King imported within the civil rights movement, the Christian principles of forgiveness, faith, love, and brotherhood.

King’s protest at Birmingham emerged as a prominent example of someone who appealed to Christian brotherhood to bring about racial justice.