WHAT WOULD KING THINK?

As we celebrate and reflect on the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., I cannot help but think about Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” which a friend recently encouraged me to reread. I wonder, if Dr. King were alive today, what would he say about many of the recent laws and mandates from our government. As a minister, what would he say if the government tried to shut down meetings of his congregation? Or if the government determined that a sit-in was illegal because it threatens public health and safety?

For those unfamiliar with it, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written by Dr. King on the margins of a newspaper while he was in an Alabama jail in 1963. It was written in response to eight white Alabama clergymen who argued that the battle for civil rights should be fought through the legal system and not through peaceful civil disobedience.

In his writing, Dr. King talked about the difference between just and unjust laws. While advocating obedience to just laws, Dr. King said “one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” As Dr. King simply stated it, a just law “squares with the moral law or the law of God.” An unjust law is “out of harmony with the moral law.” He believed that a law that “degrades human personality is unjust.”

In the context of legalized segregation, we should all readily agree that those laws were unjust. And by extension, Dr. King’s violation of a court order that prohibited “parading, demonstrating, boycotting, trespassing and picketing,” which landed him in that Birmingham jail in 1963, was the disobedience of an unjust law.

I wonder, if Dr. King were alive today, what recent laws he would find just or unjust. Would he believe it was our “moral responsibility to disobey” laws that limit workers’ rights, emergency rules that prohibit people from worshiping with others who share the same religion, or government-imposed costs intended to interfere with private parties’ contracting rights?

Surely, Dr. King would have supported the disobedience of the emergency rules against gatherings that were in place in May 2020 when thousands took to the streets to protest the murder of George Floyd. But that conclusion is not based on the popularity of the protesters’ message. An unjust law does not become just simply because it is popular or generates a large number of social media clicks. On the other hand, one may not like a particular law. But if it aligns with natural rights and “squares with the moral law or the law of God,” then it is just.

I believe in the strength of Dr. King’s convictions and believe he would apply the same principles today. As we celebrate the birth of Dr. King, let us not forget the importance of “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” The principles of just and unjust laws guided Dr. King’s civil rights movement. Those principles are equally valid today.