I’m semi stealing this from Eugene Cho’s blog at God’s politics but great ideas should spread. It’s great that we have Martin Luther King Day and many people engage in service and helping others but especially as of lately, I think many people are trying to own him as their own. From Glenn Becks rally last year to just a few days ago, a Pentagon official declaring that he believes that MLK would have been in favor of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dr. King is one of my heroes and I believe he was doing a tremendous job to articulate Jesus’ call bring heaven on earth and I think a lot of people are missing his whole message
When reading his words and hearing his speeches, Dr. King had many powerful things to say. Especially later in his career when he expanded from civil rights to economic justice, caring for the poor and protesting against the war in Vietnam, undoubtedly put his life more at risk.
MLK was a preacher and loved God. He spoke openly about his faith. It motivated him to act. That’s part of who he is.
Many folks know him for his push for equal right but he pushed for so much more. He also cared deeply for the poor, organizing the Poor People’s campaign. This care for the poor was confused with Communism and all of his calls were monitored by the FBI.
He was adamantly opposed to the war in Vietnam. So much so that he even suggested bringing wounded Vietnamese to America for medical treatment.
I will let him speak for himself
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
“Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction ... The chain reaction of evil -- hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars -- must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”
“This oft misunderstood, this oft misinterpreted concept, so readily dismissed by the Nietzsches of the world as a weak and cowardly force, has now become an absolute necessity for the survival of man. When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am not speaking of that force which is just emotional bosh. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Muslim-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate -- ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of Saint John: "Let us love one another, for love is God. And every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love." "If we love one another, God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us."4 Let us hope that this spirit will become the order of the day.”
“When our days become dreary with low hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”
Amy Goodman does a great job here
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/1/17/special_dr_martin_luther_king_jr
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