Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This essay is directed towards the evangelical church as a reminder of what the Bible says about this issue and where we should stand. It is also an essay geared towards any Christian who might be confused on the issue of

many people still did not want to change. It took a strong leader, a person who believed in peace and justice for blacks, and Martin Luther King Jr. was that man.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and social activist, who led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968.

Martin Luther King, Jr., was a very strong person, constantly fighting for what he believed in, which was equality for African Americans. He was not scared to stand up and tell the world what he wanted for society. He was fearless and did everything in his power to prove a point. Martin Luther King, Jr., was the strongest individual of his time, for he fought until death, which proves how much he was willing to risk his life to make the world an equal place.

The struggle to obtain gay and civil rights has been directly influenced by religion, either in a positive or negative way. More specifically, religion has served as a disadvantage to achieving gay rights and an advantage to those that participated in the civil rights movement. Contrary to the recent successes of the gay rights movement, there have been a lot of obstacles along the way and most of them have been due to religious beliefs and practices. Religion opposes gay rights, especially gay marriage on the basis that it immoral and unnatural, it is against the word of God and it is incompatible with religious beliefs, sacred texts, and traditions of many religious groups(Eskridge,15). On the other hand, religion more directly influences the outcome of the civil rights movement by providing a basis for unity among African Americans. The concepts and strategies of the civil rights movement alluded to Biblical stories and admonitions. The church provided a physical shelter for African Americans to congregate and organize marches, sit-ins and protests, but also a spiritual overlook that guided them to the freedom that they always deserved.

Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most famous civil rights activists in the history of the United States. He gave several important speeches and promoted non-violent protests. His most famous speech was “I Have A Dream”, around a quarter of a million patrons, black and white, attended this empowering speech at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. The reason his speech was vastly successful in the movement against segregation and injustice was because of its repetitiveness.

Barton, Bernadette C.. Pray the Gay Away : The Extraordinary Lives of Bible Belt Gays. New York: NYU Press, 2012. Ebook Library. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.

Homosexuality is one of the most debated issues among Christians today, regardless of the denomination of their church. Some churches view homosexuality as a sin and have no tolerance for it, while other denominations are more accepting and consider it a non-sin. Even though some denominations have taken a stand on homosexuality, there seems to much discord within the governing bodies of the churches regarding this issue. It has moved from a topic rarely discussed and considered very personal and private, to a mainstream topic of conversation.

Unlike DiAngelo’s White Privilege essay, a group of religious authorities under the umbrella of Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. wrote a response letter to Dr. Reverend King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” First quoting a portion of Dr. King’s letter then responding to the quote, the group takes a Biblical stance on the racial issues that continue to preside in modern day American culture. Beginning the essay, the group differentiates between merely acting upon the symptoms of racism. “... (a) superficial kind of social analysis…” and discovering and fixing the root of the racial. By investigating the racial issues at hand and striving towards Dr. King’s dream of a community of equal opportunities for all races, then the conversation of racial inequality can begin. Realizing that fostering a multiracial community centered around radical love that forsakes “safety of our social order,” we, as the Christian body need to develop a society that eliminates the social prejudices currently penetrate into every aspect of

Martin Luther King’s vision for Beloved community stands out as the most captivating desire for human harmony, transcending the lines of racial, ethnic, cultural, gender, and social stratification. It aims to acknowledge and respect the imago Dei, rather than objectify the human individual. It shouts for the display of justice at, both, the local and global landscapes. The call for justice i.e., social justice, dominates conversational points throughout the media, town-hall meetings, demonstrations, and Sunday sermons. There remains, however, an affiliated point of justice rarely considered. Throughout the contents of this essay, I look at the grounding of justice as it relates to God and human relations. I submit that justice – according

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Huey P. Newton stood up and fought for justice, equality and freedom for our people in this country. Huey Percy Newton was born February 17, 1942 and died August 22, 1989. He was an African-American political and urban activist who, along with Bobby Seale, co-founded the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born January 15, 1929 and died April 4, 1968. He was an African-American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. There have been several questions about the methods and strategies of each of these protesters. Some questioned whether or not MLK worked for the government in an attempt to keep minorities at bay by preaching peaceful protests and boycotts. Some questioned whether or not Newton was radical and promoted violence instead of self-defense or if he was a terrorist who wanted black supremacy. This study will compare and contrast the methods of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Huey P. Newton.

Missionary and Professor Charles Porter vocalizes a profound point during a lecture, “The only person who justifies us is Jesus.” This speaks measures regarding the Church and their responsibility to uphold justice. As people who claim to follow Jesus, the Church should be leading the charge against injustice. However, in the past century it failed to act upon the injustice of segregation. Analyzing Letter from Birmingham Jail, it becomes clear that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave voice to this issue in twentieth century American Christianity. By using the three appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos, Dr. King effectively argues that the Church chose complacency regarding the injustice of

Throughout this semester in class, we have discussed a variety of topics concerning religious tolerance and conflict. There were a couple of units that I connected mostly which were the topics of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community regarding religious convictions and the overall depiction of Jesus Christ. Media that highlighted these two subjects were Edward Blum’s and Paul Harvey’s “Color of Christ,” and Matthew Vine’s “The Gay Debate.” Both readings connect as they both present logical fallacies and current implications that are mainly based on historical beliefs alike. Even though both use history to support the points that were addressed, after reading both Color of Christ and The Gay Debate, they both

August 28, 1963 (Eidenmuller) marked a very important day in history that had an impact not only on America, but the whole world. On this day, Martin Luther King Jr. presented his well known I Have a Dream speech that aimed to eliminate racism, inequality and discrimination. He strongly believed that one day people would put their differences aside and come together. So, what happened to that dream? Along with other equality initiative ideas, they rarely make it past the idea stages or end in the actual eradication result. It is clear to us that even after 51 years, our societies still struggle with accepting full equality. Within those 51 years we have made a mass amount of progress but, a common thought would be that after this long the issue should have been eradicated. Two essays that can be used as an example of proof that racial inequality still exists in our society are, Black Men in Public Spaces by Brent Staples and Who Shot Johnny? by Debra Dickerson. In these essays, both provide solid evidence to support their main goal with the use of different writing styles, tone, and rhetorical devices to display how African Americans are perceived and treated by society.

Racism is a persistent issue directly threatening the values and teachings of Catholic theology and humanities advancement towards unity and peace. A destructive ideology such as racism debunks the entire foundation from which Catholicism is built. Catholicism follows the life and teachings of Jesus and the idea of solidarity, one of seven principals of Catholic Social Teaching; preaching for a single human family despite any national, racial, ethnic, economic, or ideological differences. Accepting or remaining silent when presented with an act of racial discrimination is equally as damaging as committing the act itself, as it contributes to an environment tolerant of racial prejudices. The Catholic church and its followers have a duty to acknowledge racism to its fullest extent and provide resolution. Through a collective stance against racism between the Catholic establishment and society while simultaneously providing education on the issue with realistic solutions, a progressed cultural environment can ultimately be developed that is reluctant to condone racism and all associated ideologies, utilizing peace, unity, and Catholic values as its foundational core.