Squares With The Moral Law example essay topic
384 words
This time he uses religious leaders such as St Augustine, St Thomas Aquinas, Martin Buber and Paul Tillich as examples to get his idea across. He says that a just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. He then uses Adolph Hitler to show that even though he committed heinous things, they were not against the law and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did was against the law. He wants them to know that even though they are breaking the law by protesting, he feels that it is necessary to progress in what they believe. In paragraph 23, he begins to criticize the white moderates. People who say they agree with segregation but do not want the Negro people to demonstrate because they dont want their lives disrupted. King says that these people are worst than the Ku Klux Klan and other people of ill will, because of their shallow understanding. "Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Dr. Martin Luther King reveals a learned man who presents himself as nearly an unimpeachable and trustworthy writer. Through his references to history, his elegant prose, and his thoughtful analysis of his plight, King effectively employs his philosophy of nonviolent passive resistance. By utilizing the aforementioned rhetorical strategies. His writing is superb, and he displays unpretentious intellect, sometimes simply by making inspired references.
Yet the letter ends, without rancor or bitterness to a group of white clergy who had greatly disappointed him, with the hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away. He the oppressed, battered, courageous, non-violent people who in the face of persecution stood their ground and fought for justice. His Letter from Birmingham Jail, one of the great documents of the civil rights movement, contains a harrowing and heartbreaking description of the evils of segregation. He galvanized a generation and changed the social fabric of an entire nation. Personal responsibility, self-determination and empowerment for the disenfranchised are today's popular battle cries, as if they are new alternatives to "overcoming", when, in truth, they are vintage principles, long and widely practiced.
Bibliography
1) Haskins, Jim. I Have a Dream: The Life and Words of Martin Luther King, JR. Millbrook Press Inc: Brookfield, CT. 1986 2) Darby, Jean.
Martin Luther King, JR. Lerner Publications Company: Minneapolis, 1990.
