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Martin luther king jr comparison
Malcolm x martin luther king
Impact of Christianity in our society
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According to Dr. King the proper role of the Christian Church should be seen as a force for social change and human betterment. He makes specific points about how the Christian Church should still follow the same organized religion as they once did in the early Christian times. In the early Christian times we saw people risk their lives and even persecution to help build the world into a better place and create justice within. King argues that the Christian Churches are becoming irrelevant as they seek to maintain their status quo rather than to help encourage their church members to transcend their weaknesses. King being a minister, sees how the Christian Churches are choosing to support a group mentality of injustice rather than justice. According to King, justice is something that upholds the dignity of the human spirit while injustice is working against it. By the Christian Churches choosing to support injustice they are no longer forcing individuals to confront their failures and change. …show more content…
Christianity has come to operate in tandem with social order (Cedar). This is what scared King the most, “American Christianity had come to baptize, indeed, sanctify, the social order of things, the white-over-nonwhite social relations” (Cedar). In King’s eyes the crisis of American life is due to the crisis of Christian life. In these Christian Churches, being a true authentic American, a true authentic citizen, and being a white Christian, were all being taken as the same thing. (Cedar). The way in which these churches are functioning is the same as the functioning of American society. The more Americans came to practice Christianity the more King saw how deeper they performed their
He remarks on his surprise and disappointment with the church and white Christians in general when he says, “I felt we would be supported by the white church. I felt that the white ministers, priests, and rabbis of the South would be among our strongest allies. Instead, some have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leaders” (King 9). This statement is incredibly powerful because he and other colored people have been hurt by the very system that is supposed to be accepting of all people. King thought that people of the church would act as an ally and support the colored people, but they did exactly the opposite. By saying this, King places guilt on the clergymen that hits deeper than individual guilt but on the church as a whole. Clergymen typically have an attitude where they want people to think highly of them and think they are good people, and this opposes that
The tone set by Dr. King in the part of the letter where he describes “pent-up resentments and latent frustrations,” and where he recognizes the “vital urge” being suppressed, is very passionate. His passion shines through loud and clear. The way Dr. King feels is, in fact, quite clear throughout the entire letter, yet the overriding sense of reason and logic that anyone can relate to is ever apparent. As he describes the unrest he finds in his community, the community as a whole really; he explains that he did not encourage them to “get rid of your [their] discontent” he instead encouraged them to, “make prayer pilgrimages to city hall;… go on freedom rides,… and try to understand why he [they] must do so”; these quotes from the letter point out the ways Dr....
He uses word choice to describe things that the clergymen may not like to hear such as their church is becoming weak or no longer having the influence on people that it once had. First, King uses diction to describe why he came to Birmingham. “In spite of my shattered dreams, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause…”(King 14). King uses the word shattered to tell the clergymen that his dreams have been ruined by their lack of support, but he uses the word hope to let them know that he has not completely given up on them yet. Second, King uses his word choice to portray the church in a way the clergymen would not be proud to hear it be called. “So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound”(King 15). By calling the church weak, King asserts that it no longer has the power to effectively make people do moral things. Next, King states that the church has an uncertain sound, letting the clergymen know that they must choose a side in the battle over civil rights before the church loses its power completely. King’s strong, descriptive words force the clergymen to recognize that they are responsible for the church losing its power and for King losing hope in
...church. With each claim the clergymen provided, King refuted their claim with evidence and more by describing what should be done with segregation laws. King’s tone in this piece was appropriate because he did not come off as someone who wanted to spread hate and prove the clergymen wrong. He genuinely wanted to change their views and show them the flaws of society regarding policemen and even the church. His tone was not threatening or spiteful, he made sure to address that he was trying to come off as respectful and concerned.
King had gained respect from some audience because of his soft tone. He established his ethos to readers, especially to the white, by saying, “I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state” (King, Martin Luther, Jr.). To connect his idea to the real world, he used the image of Apostle Paul left the village to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ as it’s his duty to carry the gospel of freedom beyond his hometown.
King, through his appeal to logos, elucidates the purpose of this letter by presenting rational concepts reinforced by germane examples to challenge the clergymen’s erroneous accusations and acknowledge misunderstandings of his purpose of direct action. When unfairly accused of being an outsider, King explains that he is “here because [he has] organization ties here. [and] because injustice here” (2-3). Incorporating a description of his leadership over the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, he does not permit leeway for additional inquiries about his situation in this city.... ... middle of paper ...
He effectively argues this through a strong biblical allusion, saying, “… just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid”. By alluding the Bible King provokes pathos in his audience, who responded strongly to religion. Next, he uses a simile to compare “a boil that can never be cured [until exposed]” to “injustice [that] must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates”. His comparison justifies the fact that injustice must be exposed to “the air of national opinion before it can be cured”. People must call attention to their disgruntlement, otherwise the issues will never be resolved. King identifies this fact through the use of inverted sentence saying, “there can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs [the] community”. The inability to deny that racial injustice has taken over strengthens the idea that the individual has not only a birthright but also a responsibility to challenge unjust laws. King argues this through a parallel structure when saying, “...[I] can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme
Thomas Aquinas to Martin Buber, and declares that segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is sinful (Aeschliman)." Dr. King used the name of God throughout his speeches, writings, and interviews, because people had higher believe in God at that time then now. His always stressed in moral values, such as if the Whites are children of God, why Blacks are not. He emphasized on religious text that the believe of Christianity is equality, and respect between human beings without any barriers of skin color. King's theory of rights is grounded on human personality. "In Kings Judgement, I would argue, the rights guaranteed in the American Constitution including its Preamble, the Bill of Rights, and the Amendments are contributory to but insufficient for the full development of human personality (King). They constitute a beginning, but not an end, of the claims any personal or group of persons may properly and legitimately make on a social system (Sturm:97)." He believed that social practices would not change, until you don’t fight against the injustice. His moral judgements were very powerful and persuasive in terms of nonviolent resistances and gathering people in one
Mr. King explains the hypocrisy that the clergymen are partaking in by referring to church ideology. Most of the common people are Christians and by their common teachings, it specifically states the principles that they abide by in their creed. However, the unjust laws that the majority are forming against the minority goes against their biblical practices of the Christian faith. Mr. King impudently states:
Dr. Martin Luther King addressed many topics in, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. He answered all the issues that were aimed towards him in a very skillful and well thought out manner. These issues came from, “A Call For Unity”, which was a letter published by eight local clergymen expressing their feelings about what Dr. King was doing. One concern in particular that King did an outstanding job of confronting was that of the clergymen’s anxiety about him breaking the law. King addresses the question of, “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” by clarifying that there are just and unjust laws. He also goes on to explain the difference between the two, the effect of unjust laws on the people that they are aimed towards, as
...is course of action. King also alludes to the examples from many philosophers and saints, including Socrates and Aquinus. The overall urgency and call for action in the letter is emphasised by his strong appeals to pathos. His imagery, personal experiences, and appeals to ethos and logos throughout make a strong, well rounded argument. He effectively demonstrates the impact of the trials the African American people have gone through and proves that what they are fighting for is a just cause on both legal and moral grounds. By inspiring sympathy through strong emotional appeals, King brings hope for positive change – that the white clergymen reading his letter will begin to understand the overlying problem and work for change. That is the ultimate goal – to bring about a better world for those under persecution and create an equal, just future for America as a whole.
“In spite of my shattered dreams of the past, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and with deep moral concern serve as the channel through which our just grievances could get to the power structure.” This appeal seems logical enough, the church is typically the first to offer aid and is usually quick to join a cause that benefits mankind. However in the case of Birmingham King said, “But again I have been disappointed.” This is because of the inaction of the southern white church who stood passively as their Christian brethren struggled, this is perhaps the greatest cause of King’s frustration. The idea that Christians would ignore the suffering of those around them was, perhaps, novel to King, who strongly believed in loving thy neighbor as thyself. For him this inaction was possibly similar to a slap in the face, to be ignored by other Christians whom he should have been able to rely on based on principle. King does mention a few noble white churches whom helped in the struggle such as “Reverend Stallings, for your Christian stand this past Sunday in welcoming Negroes to your Baptist Church worship service on a
Dr. Martin Luther King used common sense to prove the clergymen that they should act as Christian instead of acting like unbeliever. The definition of being a Christian is to treat everybody as...
This essay is very influential from the start to the very end. He uses terms that make oppression seem to terrible, to make them feel bad about what they let happen. King seems very successful in capturing the audience that he intended to capture through stating scripture to draw in the Christians, words that are used to describe things that would be so much worse; like using evil to describe oppression or unjust, to writing it down in an obvious form that everyone could understand. He left them with very powerful messages that will linger in their minds until they cannot take it anymore, until they see that it is actually wrong and do something to fix the justice system to which they are governed under. By leaving with that thought of mind, he was very successful in getting his point through to all he intended it for.
He explains that it is important to fight through any fight using Christian approaches and Christian weapons rather than sinking into the temptation of resentment and hatred. This highest good of life, according to King is love and the book of John states that God is love. Which caused King to place God at the focus of his way of life and teach others that he who loves is a contributor in God’s being and he who show hatred does not know God. Dr. King believed that a person can know for sure if they are practicing agape love by loving a person who won’t treat them right, but instead will be unfriendly towards them. Without the power of God, it would be impossible to love your enemies. This teaching sheds light on the concept that using violence and hatred as a means for social change simply leads to a never-ending cycle of violence, hate, lack of change, and