Comments on: MLK, the tyrannical socialist

By: Marvin

Marvin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:51:47 +0000

He had dual citizenship. His rhetoric was saturated with scripture and his movement was based in the Church, but he also appealed to Americans to live up to their highest civic ideals. He had hard things to say about America, but he spoke the truth in love, as someone who loved his country, and was thus grieved by how it was hurting him and itself. He did not speak in the tones of far left, anti-American self-hatred, or their stained glass fellow travelers, some of whom frequent this blog. That’s certainly one reason why King succeeded whereas the political Left has been stymied and the religious Left marginalized since King’s passing.

I’m all for remembering King’s anti-war and antipoverty work, but the fact that Americans revere the campaign against segregation is not merely an attempt to whitewash his legacy. It means that America has changed, and for the better. There was nothing sentimental about integrating schools in 1957. That such notions are accepted as common sense today is progress, and could only be minimized by those who aren’t old enough to remember the way it used to be, or who want to be churlish or cynical about the ability of the wider society to be reformed.

By: Halden

Halden — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:35:24 +0000

Ugh. I would If I thought I could bear it. Maybe Ben Myers can do one of his theology FAIL posts on it.

By: Auggie Webster

Auggie Webster — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 06:54:25 +0000

Want proof of King’s suspicions and the polar opposite of his Christian vision? How about Bible verses stamped on U.S. combat rifles:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/19/us/politics/AP-US-Military-Weapons-Bible-Passages.html

My what a superabundant symbol some enterprising blogger could write a lengthy post on.

By: The Charismanglican

The Charismanglican — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:02:55 +0000

I spent MLK day listening to that speech (Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam). I had to post on it. The guy was not an American hero, but a prophet. A man with citizenship in another commonwealth.

By: Nathan Smith

Nathan Smith — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:13:42 +0000

King’s murder provided an interesting opportunity for our nation. It allowed us to sentimentalize the part of his program the national consciousness came to like and delete the part it did not. Hence every school child in the US knows much about him, yet they know nothing of his anti-war stance in Vietnam. If King were not murdered, he’d probably still be known as an anti-war anti-poverty activist, though much less respected at that.