Thomas Wheeler Coursework 11A1/AR

War, Justice and Peace:

“There are Alternatives to Fighting".

In this coursework, I will look at the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the ways he
tried gaining equal rights for black people, known as the Civil Rights movement. I will
then take a look at what Bible teachings he followed, as a man who opposed all
violence.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born on 15 January 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. His
father was a Baptist minister, his mother a schoolteacher. Originally named Michael,
he was later renamed Martin. He entered Morehouse College in 1944 and then went
to Crozer Religious Seminary to undertake postgraduate study, receiving his
doctorate in 1955. Returning to the South to become pastor of a Baptist Church in
Montgomery, Alabama, King first achieved national renown when he helped mobilise
the black boycott of the Montgomery bus system in 1955. This was organised after
Rosa Parks, a black woman, refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man,
although in the segregated south, black people could only sit at the back of the bus.
The 382-day boycott led the bus company to change its regulations, and the
Supreme Court declared such segregation unconstitutional. King's non-violent
strategy was adopted by black students all over the Deep South. Within six months,
sit-ins had ended restaurant and lunch-counter segregation in twenty-six southern
cities. Student sit-ins were also successful against segregation in public parks,
swimming pools, theaters, churches, libraries, museums and beaches.

In 1957 King was active in the organisation of the Southern Leadership Christian
Conference (SCLC), formed to co-ordinate protests against discrimination. He
advocated non-violent direct action based on the methods of Gandhi, who led
protests against British rule in India culminating in India's independence in 1947. In
1963, King led mass protests against discriminatory practices in Birmingham,
Alabama where the white population were violently resisting desegregation. The city
was dubbed 'Bombingham' as attacks against civil rights protesters increased. King
was arrested and jailed for his part in the protests. After his release, King participated
in the enormous civil rights march on Washington in August 1963, and delivered his
famous, 'I have a dream' speech, predicting a day when the promise of freedom and
equality for all would become a reality in America. In 1964 he was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize, the youngest to do so at the age of 35. In 1965, he led a
campaign to register blacks to vote. The same year, the US Congress passed the
Voting Rights Act outlawing the discriminatory practices that had barred blacks from
Thomas Wheeler Coursework 11A1/AR

voting in the south. He was assassinated on 4 April 1968 during a visit to Memphis,
Tennessee.

It is a well known fact that the Bible and its teachings were very important to Martin
Luther King. It was the Bible that led him to choose the more peaceful way of love
and nonviolent protest, over hatred, despair and violence. He often pointed out that it
was Jesus' Sermon on the Mount that inspired the "dignified social action" of the civil
rights movement. His notion of "creative suffering" – originating from civil rights
activists who endured persecution and police brutality – came from his Christian faith
in the suffering of Jesus.

King dreamed of a day when America lives up to its creed, when all people sit
together at one table, and when freedom and justice reign. His famous "I have a
dream" speech reaches its highest point with echoes of the prophet Isaiah: "I have a
dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be
made low... and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it
together”. To critics who accused him of being an extremist, King said that he stood
in a long line of extremists, including the prophet Amos, Jesus, the apostle Paul,
Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. For King, the question was what kind of
extremists we will be – extremists for hate or for love, for injustice or for justice, for
evil or for goodness.
In words of the prophet Micah, he hoped that one day all elected to public office will
"do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with (their) God”. His hope for an end to
war was rooted in Isaiah's vision that people will "beat their swords into plowshares
(ploughshares), and their spears into pruning hooks”. Biblical promises of "peace on
earth and goodwill toward all" were King's antidote to despair.

When Jesus proclaimed, “Blessed are the peacemakers” he was affirming that those
who go about their life intentionally doing what they can to promote and further bring
about the best of others - for individuals, families, nations, or even the world - those
are the ones who can be called the “children of God.” During the betrayal by Judas
on Maundy Thursday, in the Garden of Gethsemane, the High Priest’s servant’s ear
is cut off by the apostle, Peter. Retrieving the ear, Jesus places it upon the bloody
head of the High Priests' servant and with tender selfless hands, and then does what
none other could do and probably wouldn't do even if they could: He heals.
Previously, in Matthew 5: 38-41, Jesus said that, “You have heard that it was said,
"An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." But I say to you, Do not resist one who is
evil. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if
anyone would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if any
one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.”

King followed these teachings, as he dedicated his life to obtaining equal rights for
black people, devoting all his time and effort into it, despite suffering from numerous
Thomas Wheeler Coursework 11A1/AR

crimes and jail sentences, where he would still not resort to violence, instead
suffering these many injustices delivered to him.

Even if non-violent action does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor, it
does affect those committed to it. King attested that it gives them new self-respect
and calls on strength and courage they did not know they had. To those whose
lifelong pattern has been to cringe, bow, and scrape before others, to those who
have let people walk all over them and who have internalised their role as inferiors,
this small step is momentous.