A Tribute to Dr. King

A BreakPoint commentary by Chuck Colson, linked to here, provides some insight from Dr. Martin Luther King, whose birthday was celebrated this month. Quoting from the article:


King explained why he disagreed in his famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail. "One may well ask, how can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer "is found in the fact that there are two kinds of laws: just laws . . . and unjust laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws," King said, "but conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."

How does one determine whether the law is just or unjust? A just law, King wrote, "squares with the moral law of the law of God. An unjust law . . . is out of harmony with the moral law."

Then King quoted Saint Augustine: "An unjust law is no law at all." He quoted Thomas Aquinas: "An unjust law is a human law not rooted in eternal or natural law."


Note that King not only set forth criteria by which the breaking of a law could be viewed as a moral act, he explained the basis by which unjust laws were determined. A just law must be in conformity with the law of God. Logically arrived at is the conclusion that "an unjust law is no law at all."

It is not always remembered that Dr. King was a man of faith with deep and strongly held convictions. He also was willing to accept the consequences for his actions even if it meant going to jail. He represented what is best about America; a passion for justice as determined by his Judeo-Christian beliefs. He had the courage of his convictions shown by a willingness to swim against the tide for moral reasons.