Should we follow unjust laws? Where is the line drawn between obeying the laws of the land and allowing the persecution of others based on nothing more than skin color. Dr. King exhorts his followers to lovingly and openly break unjust laws. When those laws are broken, they must be willing to face the consequences for their actions in a loving and peaceful way. Dr. King drew quite a bit of influence from both Jesus Christ and Muhatma (spelled way wrong) Ghandi. He was a strong believer that "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
How might one lovingly break a law? It seems impossible but when looked at further, those laws were quite easy to break lovingly because they were rooted in hatred and prejudice. THey were not allowed to gather if there were more than three of them. Despite this, they gathered directly in front of courthouses and town halls to march quietly and peacefully. If they made much noise at all it was singing hymns passed down to them by their ancestors who had sung them as slaves.
Openly? Openly breaking laws is done as I mentioned. THey did not try to hide the fact they were gathering and worshipping together. THey marched openly and peacefully. When they were arrested, they went willingly. Ultimately it worked, so maybe instead of complaining about unjust laws and statutes, we should follow in Dr. King's example and try to change them.
I wonder if one breaks a law, because they feel it is an unjust law, and they get persecuted or something of that nature, could they also be considered martyrs? They dont obey it because its unjust, so they disobey and get persecuted for it. I dont know, this was just a thought.
ReplyDelete