Emerging Pensees

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

MLK on Church & State

"The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority."

- Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963

Brian McLaren mentioned this quote in his talk last night and pointed out that King's statement outlines the history of church-state relations. In the Medieval paradigm the church was the master of the state; in the modern world the church became the servant of the state. Hopefully in a postmodern world the church can reclaim its status as the conscience of the state. We're not there yet, but I see a lot of positive movement in that direction.

Labels: Martin Luther King Jr.

posted by Mike Clawson at 10:40 AM | Permalink | 1 comments

Monday, January 21, 2008

I believe...

An excerpt from Martin Luther King Jr.'s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, given December 10, 1964 in Oslo Norway:

I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him.

I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsom and jetsom in the river of life unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.

I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.

I believe that even amid today's motor bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men.

I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land.

"And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid."

I still believe that we shall overcome.

Click here for the entire address.

Labels: Martin Luther King Jr., social justice

posted by Mike Clawson at 11:36 AM | Permalink | 0 comments