King's Involvement In The White Church

Decent Essays
Topic Sentence: Another reason King was disappointed in the White Church was because he believed they had strayed from the path of God. P: For example the White Church doesn’t acknowledge that segregation isn’t right. I: King says, “I have longed to hear white ministers say follow this decree because integration is morally right and the Negro is your brother” (362). E: With this quote King shows his want for the White Church to step up and stand with the Civil Rights Movement. P: Also King thinks the White Church has strayed from the past of God because they follow unjust laws instead of following what is right. I: King gives the definition of unjust law: “An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law” (356). E: King’s idea

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Dr. King also expressed his disappointment with the white Christian…

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The clergy’s claims were that no African American “outsider” should be allowed to establish or lead any protests. They attacked King’s demonstrations as “unwise and untimely,” and concluded, “We further strongly urge our own Negro community to withdraw support from these demonstrations, and to unite locally in working peacefully for a better Birmingham.” King’s letter responded to the clergy explaining…

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    King is talking about how Abraham Lincoln declared all slaves shall be free. The point both men were trying to prove is don’t just look at someone based on the colour of their skin, following the lines of “never judge a book by its…

    • 428 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a correspondence from notable civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. to area members of the clergy who had criticized his manner of advocacy (King 1300). While pointing out he does not make a habit of responding to criticism, King nonetheless indicates he is responding to the pastors because they are level headed and mean well (King 1302). King articulates the purpose for which he is in the Birmingham jail by illustrating ideas of justice and instances of abuse while underscoring the urgency of a response from the Christian church to persecution of black individuals by unjust laws and law enforcement. King begins by exposing that he is in Birmingham in the first place because all Americans are harmed by immoral conduct (King 1302). Using a biblical reference, King calls attention to the clergy members’ lack of sympathy toward black Americans’ requests for equal treatment (King 1302).…

    • 1567 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    uses logos to defend and strengthen his argument against the clergymen. King establishes himself as being intelligent and well informed. He provides a great definition of “just and unjust laws”, “Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is law. All segregation statues are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damage the personality” (King 153).…

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The concepts of genre, audience, and rhetorical situation are alike in their significance to the process of writing. They can be distinguished not only by their definitive meanings, but by a series of questions considered in the early stages of writing; what do I want to say, how do I want to say it, and who do I want to say it to? To these questions there are no clear-cut answers, empowering the writer to explore a variety of topics. It is important to understand that genre, audience, and rhetorical situation are not considered in a sequential order, nor are they exclusive to planning. In fact, the development of new ideas can occur in any stage of writing.…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The All Lives Matter represents the White moderate in that they are inflicting damage upon the Black Lives Matter movement. Besides the White moderate, King also states that he is “disappointed with the white church and its leadership” in its ability to support the African American population when they needed them the most. King thought that the southern white ministers, priests, and rabbis would be allies to African Americans, however they turned out to be right…

    • 1274 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    By using this logical appeal, King demonstrates that the clergymen should not be condemning the effects, but rather blaming the triggers of the discontentment within the black community. The final criticism King faces is over his “willingness to break laws.” Ibid., 7. After accepting this valid concern, King quickly launches into several paragraphs in defense of lawbreaking as a moral action, established on the notion that there are just laws and there are unjust laws. King’s litmus test for that difference is whether a law…

    • 1001 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    King’s other strategy is allusions. He claims,”But though I was initially disappointed for being categorized as an extremist [...] was not Jesus an extremist for love:” (King) Here, King compares himself to Jesus. And the clergymen, being men of God, will see what King is doing is similar what Jesus was put in jail for. Then the clergymen will start to understand why King’s protests for the civil rights movement are a good…

    • 875 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    By showing love and kindness to others, people usually imagine that he or she is a gentle spirit. This is how Jesus portrayed Himself. Jesus did not judge and He did nothing but represented God 's love to everyone. King is using this same concept, just as Jesus did, to show that the African American community is that of the same. Hate will perpetuate hate, leading to racial segregation.…

    • 901 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1. In the first few paragraphs of Martin Luther King Jr.’s, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he specifically addresses the local clergymen, lays out his purpose for the letter, and creates an authoritative and well-organized tone. He makes his goal of wanting to prove he does belong in Birmingham to create racial equality clear by stating, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice anywhere” (800). Throughout this entire article King addresses the local clergymen and the white moderates; however, in this particular portion, he speaks directly to the clergymen. King establishes credibility with them when he states that he is “serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference” (800).…

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Thoreau criticizes the materialism of American society in a critical manner by implying that “government is best which governs less” (Thoreau 1) demonstrating his belief that government 's control its people for self benefit. Dr. King criticizes the government in a similar manner to Thoreau by directing his statement of “we have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights” (King 3), which states himself as the voice of the oppressed which seek for equality. In addition, Dr. King envisions that “justice too long delayed is justice denied” (King 3), which explains his direct and aggressive approach toward the clergyman. As both direct each other’s audience in a logical attempt to leave the need to take action in any act of injustice, King uses his emotion and religious knowledge as part of his tone. His affecting intentions include his quotation, “by developing an unconscious bitterness… have to concoct an answer for a five year old son who is asking: ‘Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?’” continuing with “when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading ‘white’ and ‘colored’.…

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On the seventh page, King alludes that the accusations of his extremisms are more akin to great leaders of history such than the Black Muslim movement. “Was not Jesus an extremist for love… not Amos an extremist for justice… Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel” (King 7), he positions himself among the aforementioned figures, among others, to establish further credibility and essentially ensure his critics that while they may think his actions are wrong now, in the future they will be revered as extreme actions that brought peace. He asks them, as fellow religious leaders, to entrust faith into his cause, just as the supporters of Jesus did, and the supporters of Martin Luther, Lincoln, the forefathers, and others. This allusion makes for an emotionally compelling argument because it presents his critics with the option to support the status quo or participate in a revolution that is destine to change the world just as Jesus, Lincoln, and others have before him. While this may appear pretentious, it actually elevates his cause to a biblical level.…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Martin Luther King Jr. and Frederick Douglass are two African American activists who lived in different centuries. The former fought for African American civil rights in 20th century while the later strived for abolition of slavery in 19th century, but they both carried one single agenda or goal in common –fighting for the equality and integration of African-Americans. In the Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Narrative of an African American Slave, Martin Luther King and Frederick Douglass have similarities and differences in their views of Christianity’s role in the larger context. For example, both Martin Luther King and Frederick Douglass expressed their indignation and criticism towards the white Christian churches for their justification and permission of slavery and segregation, although the tone or the severity of such condemnation differs. Moreover, King also holds more optimism towards the role of Christianity in overcoming the legacies of slavery and segregation and takes a more progressive stance on such matter.…

    • 1923 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While in jail he read a newspaper article about 8 clergymen who criticized him for "unwise and untimely" protest. As a result, King wrote a letter to defend himself in the margins of the newspaper. He was trying to persuade the clergymen so he used more logical appeals to back up his case he used antithesis and allusions. Examples include but are not limited to "We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. " This quote defended King's protests from being untimely as African Americans have already waited 340 years for rights that they should have received.…

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays