Tag Archives: martin luther king jr.

01/15/11

Martin Luther King Jr. – American Prophet

It is quite appropriate that the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. falls on the 9th Day of Defiance in the American Unitarian Reform calendar, in the middle of Nika Week which commemorates competing factions standing together against oppression in the Byzantine Empire, just as multiracial crowds gathered before Dr. King to stand together against Jim Crow oppression in the United States.

But Martin Luther King is significant to AUR for other reasons, not only in his ecumenical attitude, but also the purity of the way he spoke of God’s relationship with Creation and his commitment of character to the will of God.

Continue reading →

01/29/10

Response to Yesterday’s Topic

The Action Thursday entry yesterday elicited email responses concerning the mixing of politics and religion.  One reader quoted a popular bumper sticker: “The last time we mixed politics and religion, people were burned at the stake!”

Which makes us wonder if they’ve ever heard of Martin Luther King.

Granted, religion was also in the mouths of white supremacists who opposed Dr. King.  This fact, however, simply strengthens the argument that the good should not shy away from pressing the politics of justice with religious reasoning. 

The real question about mixing politics and religion is not whether you do, but how you do it, and to what end.   As with the Divine Right of Kings discussed yesterday, the unjust will mix them whether the just do or not, and if you fail to address religious arguments laid forth in service to injustice, you’ve ceded the contest to evil.

To paraphrase a quote attributed to Edmund Burke, the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to fail to engage evil where it actually wages war. 

Continue reading →

01/18/10

Martin Luther King Jr. – American Prophet

It is quite appropriate that the (actual) birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. falls on the 9th Day of Defiance in the AUR calendar, in the middle of Nika Week commemorating when competing factions stood together against oppression in the Byzantine Empire, just as multiracial crowds gathered before Dr. King stood together against Jim Crow oppression in the United States.

But Martin Luther King is significant to AUR for other reasons, not only in his ecumenical attitude, but also the purity of the way he spoke of God’s relationship with Creation and his commitment of character to the will of God.

Continue reading →