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MLK's Jail Letter, 2011
www.EllisWashingtonReport.com ^ | 01/15/11 | Ellis Washington

Posted on 03/17/2011 11:07:10 AM PDT by EllisWashingtonReport

I believe that one of MLK's greatest works is his "Letter from the Birmingham Jail," dated April 16, 1963. This seminal writing established the moral foundations of Natural Law as the basis for the Constitution and eloquently connected it to the non-violent civil-rights demonstrations of the Birmingham campaign.

King's letter was a reply to an open letter "A Call For Unity," signed by eight white clergymen of Birmingham published in the Birmingham News on the day he was arrested. The "Call For Unity" was critical of the protests and provocative acts organized in Birmingham by "outsiders" and urged more tolerance, moderation and respect for the law as the courts slowly removed the most overt injustices of segregation.

Among the many issues discussed was the question of justice or injustice in a law and whether one has either a legal or moral obligation to obey an unjust law. Discussing unjust law, King harkened back to the great Catholic theologian St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-74) who championed the idea that the determining factor of a just or unjust law is when it violates Natural Law.

According to Dr. Charles P. Nemeth's 2009 book, "Aquinas and King: A Discourse on Civil Disobedience," authentic civil disobedience must first establish whether a law is just or unjust. In the first case, just laws bind, as St. Thomas would say, "Laws framed by men are either just or unjust. If they be just, they have the power of binding in conscience, from the eternal law from whence they are derived."

(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; History; Politics; Religion
KEYWORDS: acquinas; mlk; naturallaw

1 posted on 03/17/2011 11:07:15 AM PDT by EllisWashingtonReport
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To: EllisWashingtonReport
"...The "Call For Unity" was critical of the protests and provocative acts organized in Birmingham by "outsiders" ..."

The Communist Party of the United States, or CPUSA, bussed in prostitutes, winos and bums from the north to fill out the ranks of the demonstrators and make the crowd appear more diverse (read: They needed to add white faces to the crowd)".

We now know that some of these bums and prostitutes were even dressed up in clerical garb. In restrospect, it was a brilliant and winning strategy.

2 posted on 03/17/2011 11:30:46 AM PDT by I Buried My Guns (Novare Res!)
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To: I Buried My Guns
The Communist Party of the United States, or CPUSA, bussed in prostitutes, winos and bums from the north to fill out the ranks of the demonstrators and make the crowd appear more diverse (read: They needed to add white faces to the crowd)".

That's absolutely right and is far-too-often overlooked in the deification of "Reverend" Martin Marxist Luther King, Jr. Yes, I know that he may have had an 'R' next to his name on his voter registration card (at best a RINO). But MLK was certainly no friend of Constitutional Conservatism and was definitely a socialist, quite possibly a full-tilt commie.

Here's what he said about right to work:

In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as 'right-to-work.' It provides no 'rights' and no 'works.' Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining. We demand this fraud be stopped." — Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King and Jimmy Hoffa -- not a dimes worth of difference -- all were shills for union thugocracy and collectivism, standing squarely in opposition to individual liberty.

3 posted on 03/17/2011 1:23:15 PM PDT by re_nortex (DP...that's what I like about Texas.)
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To: EllisWashingtonReport

I have never heard of that stategy. Do you have a valid source for it?


4 posted on 03/17/2011 3:33:11 PM PDT by EllisWashingtonReport (Ewashington)
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