Compare And Contrast Martin Luther King And Religion

Lastly, King appeals to character as well as establishing his creditability. For starters, the the vocabulary King chose to use shows that he is educated and possesses the knowledge to respond to the clergymen. King also informed the clergymen that he had previous experience in conducting and participating in non-violent campaigns. This provides credibility because it showed that he had prior knowledge of the behavior and purpose of those participating, while also addressing that past campaigns have always been “untimely”, but with desired outcome. The last and most obvious proof of credibility, is that King was a black man that faced the same adversities that he referred to in the last paragraph of this section. The example being of having to personally tell his daughter why she could not be allowed to go to a public amusement park because she was black and looked at as less than.

King discusses the morals and types of laws, those “just and unjust”. By explaining laws and using reason to portray situations when laws can and should be broken, King guides the clergymen through his rationalization. To strengthen the sympathetic pathos in his letter, King discusses historical people and events and because something is legal, it doesn't make it moral, like segregation. He emphasizes that although everything Hitler did, such as murdering millions of Jews and cruel scientific experiments, was legal, it was not morally right. "It was illegal to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. But I am sure that if I had lived in Germany during that time I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers even though it was illegal." King is comparing American segregation to Hitler's anti-Semitic Germany. King quotes St. Augustine, “an unjust law is no law at all.” Because King comes off as being moral and fair, ethos is established. He is seen as an integral leader. Through this, King is able to argue why he links segregation to being an unjust law.

Malcolm X was also a very great leader during the Civil Rights era. His Islamic religion helped influence how he led those who followed his teachings. He was motivated by anger that was created from white men in the past. When he was younger, his mother was threatened to move out of town because his father’s sermons were starting to cause an up roar in the community between blacks and whites. The leadership Malcolm X brought to the community was rejuvenated energy that gave young black men and women the hope to rise above the

Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X were very huge leading figures during the Civil Rights movement. Though they had many differences, they had some similarities. Both men’s fathers were preachers and both men were religious preachers themselves. Dr. King and Malcolm X were around the same age and they were both assassinated. Coincidentally, both men had the same number of children and eventually they had the same ideologies for the Civil Rights Movement. However, Dr. King and Malcolm X were different in ways such as Malcolm X wanted black supremacy and Dr. King wanted equality, Malcolm X saw violence as an option to achieve his goals if peace did not work and Dr. King believed in complete nonviolence, and Malcolm X

King uses irony, by giving examples of him using peaceful actions that were condemned anyway because they were said to ?precipitate violence?. He went on to say, ?Isn?t that like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated in the evil act of robbery??(King 563). Dr. King also realizes that the white moderates are mostly religious. He reminds them ?Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability, it comes through tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God??(King 563). Again, he urges the audience to get up and become active, and that there will be no change without their action.

At the time of writing, King wrote this letter because felt disappointed because the men of the cloth were criticizing him on his peaceful protest. King felt as if these men should support him because King’s purpose of trying to defeat segregation was based upon his church background. When writing this King tried to understand as to why the man of faith were going against what he practices. But while trying to understand

First of all, Martin Luther King Jr. usesd a rhetorical strategy of repetition. King is known for his use of repetition, reference his “I Hhave a Dream” speech. Furthermore, r Repetition is used to get his your point across, and to make the reader remember it. In the letter heit states, “Was not Jesus an extremist for love,” and “Was not Amos an extremist for justice,” and again it says, “Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian Gospel.” King uses the “was not” and “an extremist” to apply effect on the situation. He wants to apply the emphasis on how these key figures in history were extremist, just like him. Again in this letter, Martin Luther King Jr.’s uses reptition in his quote again, King sayings, “let him march,” “let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall,” “let him go on freedom rides.” Martin Luther King Jr. uses the words “let him” to intensify the fact that the people should just let the Negro protest. Martin Luther King Jr. says to just let the Negro be, King statesquotes, “if his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence.” Therefore,So Martin Luther King Jr. wants to make sure he informs the people, to either let them protest peacefully or there will be violence.

King continues to say that some of the preachers of God have understood the need for justice, but some have suppressed the blacks themselves. He believes that the preachers have to break the traditional, unjustified rules of the society to allow for the freedom of the children of God. The true meaning of the Bible lies in justice and co-existence. He wants moral justice to overcome the traditional norms which were unjust in nature. He conveys this message well in his letter. He further writes: “One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo-Christian heritage” (King 6).

King demonstrates how his peaceful, non-violent protests do not advocate violence, which is exactly what the clergymen feared from Malcolm. Kings intensity and magnitude of his statements show that he believes both paths he mentions are wrong, as he states, “I have tried to stand between these two forces.” King attempts to stay between the extremes and remind people that he is the middle ground. King emphasizes that he is not an extremist, rather, he is a moderate attempting to find the most favorable solution to both his and the clergymen’s problems. In conclusion, King juxtaposes these two extremist views in order to demonstrate how his practical and non-violent protests should be encouraged.

In both works, Dr. King Jr. adopted techniques of series rhetoric, repetitions, effective use of metaphors and similes in protesting against social injustice and assuring his audience of a hope for a better tomorrow. In the letter to the clergy Dr. King Jr. invoked their thinking of what a just and unjust law was. He explained that the just law is a moral act of God’s will and the unjust law is such act instituted by men. When in conflict, he admonished society to accept the laws of God over those of men and cited instances where society had an obligation to reject unjust laws of segregation. Dr. King Jr. draws inspiration from men of historical significance to ascertain his claim and quotes

King combines the use of ethos and pathos as he compares himself and the rights of men to religious backgrounds. His first comparison is with the Apostle Paul, where Paul had “carried the gospel of Jesus Christ,” as to Kings carrying of “the gospel of freedom.” King addresses this similarity to show why he felt committed to go to Birmingham, because like Paul, he needed to respond as an aid to his people. Towards the end of Kings letter; he exemplifies courageousness in the Negro demonstrations by relating them to the actions of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when they refused to follow what they believed to be unjust laws. Saying that if they are supposed heroes by going against unjust laws, why shouldn't the people see Negro demonstrators the same way? They are also God's children and by those disobedience’s, they were really showing the grace of God. These connections to religion supports their fighting against unjust laws as a divine cause.

## Considering Dr. King is writing to clergymen, his emotional appeal may not have only been to elicit sympathy or empathy from his detractors, but cause some shame as well, when he expresses his disappointment with them. He indicates that because of their religious beliefs, they should be taking a proactive stance on the side of justice, rather than supporting the status quo because it is orderly (King, 1963).

King creates an empathetic link when he utilizes the words "When you have" (King 2) followed by grievous moments in a typical African American life. For the purpose of showing the leaders why the Negroes cannot wait any longer for civil justice. Rather it is not that simple, King chose to write this to create an empathic link between the religious leaders and the African Americans. He does this with the intention of having the leaders feel the urgency and the burning pain the oppressed race has gone through. Simply, the African American walk of life is encroached by the actions and power of whites, creating an emotional scene for the leaders. King also rejects the fallacy that the leaders created with the "Isn't this like condemning..."(King 3) anaphora. The leaders believed that the peaceful actions of the civil rights group should be condemned for they participated in violence. King felt that this statement did not make any logical sense, but instead of outright saying it, he simply repeated instances where peaceful actions were taken place, but the subject faced consequences. In fact, by comparing the situation to the Christian icon Jesus, King exposes the fallacy of the leaders. In a broader sense, the parallelism between Jesus and King is noticed. Biblically, Jesus came down to Earth from Heaven to save sinners by acting as a sacrifice and dying on the cross. On the other hand, Historically, King came to Birmingham from Atlanta to aid the Civil Rights Movement by protesting, thus sending him to jail. Both came down to save a group, but to do so both were

Expressing disappointment towards the church leaders, he states that they should do more, to help the minority stand on their two feet, and not feel discriminated against. This is because following the teachings of God, every human being is equal. Therefore, the church must help structure society closest to how The Bible shows. King fought for this same equality. However, being verbally reprimanded and going to jail for voicing his rights, he shows what happens when you go against the norm of society. The church is there to break those norms, and construct new ideals in accordance with the word of God.

Throughout history our society has chose to recognize and remember certain individuals that have had a dramatic influence on our lives. Some of these individuals were of an evil nature, such as Hitler, but I would like to believe that the majority of the people we remember were the ones that had a positive influence on history, such as Jesus Christ and Martin Luther King Jr. I would like to reflect on the men who served a higher power that they called abba, father, or as we would recognize today, God.