JohnEngelman
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Strength to Love is an anthology of sermons Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave to his congregations during the high water mark of political liberalism. The copyright is 1963. Since then the American consensus has moved to the left on many social issues. Nevertheless, the l word has become a label many Democratic politicians are uncomfortable with.
In 1964 77% of Americans indicated in a poll that they trusted the government to do what is right just about always, or most of the time. That declined. Now about 19% of Americans feel that way.
During the early 1960’s liberalism was fashionable. John Kennedy was president. Social problems seemed to have solutions, liberal solutions.
Christianity was also ascendant. In his sermon “A Knock at Midnight,” Dr. King says, More than one hundred and fifteen million people are at least paper members of some church or synagogue. This represents an increase of 100 percent since 1929, although the population has increased by only 31 percent.”
Some people still maintained that the Negro race was intrinsically inferior to the white race. In his sermons “A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart,” and “Love in action,” Dr. King pointed out that most anthropologists disagreed.
The American Communist Party supported the civil rights movement. Dr. King appreciated its support. Nevertheless, in his sermon "How Should a Christian View Communism?" he wrote this:
"Communism and Christianity are fundamentally incompatible...
[Communism] "enunciates movingly the theory of a classless society, but alas! its methods for achieving noble end are all too often ignoble. Lying, violence, murder, and torture are considered to be justifiable means to achieve the millennial end. Is this an unfair indictment? Listen to the words of Lenin, the real tactician of Communist theory: 'We must be ready to employ trickery, deceit, lawbreaking, withholding and concealing truth.' Modern history has known many tortuous nights and horror-filled days because his followers have taken this statement seriously."
In his sermon “Transformed Nonconformist,” Dr. King says, “When we would yield to the temptation of a world rife with sexual promiscuity and gone wild with a philosophy of self-expression, Jesus tells us that ‘whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
In view of what has since then been revealed about Dr. King’s personal life, this statement may seem hypocritical. Nevertheless, I prefer it to the “Playboy Philosophy” that Hugh Hefner was articulating at the time. If I have a doctor who smokes cigarettes I would rather have one who warns about the dangers of tobacco, than one who recommends tobacco as a medicinal herb.
In these sermons Dr. King reveals knowledge of the Bible that could only have been learned by reading it from cover to cover on many occasions. His knowledge of non Biblical writers is also impressive. He frequently substantiates his points by quoting many of the greatest writers of the western intellectual and literary tradition.
More than any other single human being Dr. King made the 1960’s what they were in the United States. It would have been a different decade without him. While his segregationist opponents came across as brawling, bar room bigots, Dr. King projected the image of a humble man of God who was too good of a Christian to hate his enemies.
Dr. King's power was restricted to moral authority. He could not prevent the black ghetto riots that happened from 1964 to 1968. The most serious riots followed his assassination.
The decade that began hopefully with the presidency of John Kennedy and the eloquence of President Kennedy and Dr. King ended with the administration of Richard Nixon and a Republican ascendancy that persists.
In 1964 77% of Americans indicated in a poll that they trusted the government to do what is right just about always, or most of the time. That declined. Now about 19% of Americans feel that way.
During the early 1960’s liberalism was fashionable. John Kennedy was president. Social problems seemed to have solutions, liberal solutions.
Christianity was also ascendant. In his sermon “A Knock at Midnight,” Dr. King says, More than one hundred and fifteen million people are at least paper members of some church or synagogue. This represents an increase of 100 percent since 1929, although the population has increased by only 31 percent.”
Some people still maintained that the Negro race was intrinsically inferior to the white race. In his sermons “A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart,” and “Love in action,” Dr. King pointed out that most anthropologists disagreed.
The American Communist Party supported the civil rights movement. Dr. King appreciated its support. Nevertheless, in his sermon "How Should a Christian View Communism?" he wrote this:
"Communism and Christianity are fundamentally incompatible...
[Communism] "enunciates movingly the theory of a classless society, but alas! its methods for achieving noble end are all too often ignoble. Lying, violence, murder, and torture are considered to be justifiable means to achieve the millennial end. Is this an unfair indictment? Listen to the words of Lenin, the real tactician of Communist theory: 'We must be ready to employ trickery, deceit, lawbreaking, withholding and concealing truth.' Modern history has known many tortuous nights and horror-filled days because his followers have taken this statement seriously."
In his sermon “Transformed Nonconformist,” Dr. King says, “When we would yield to the temptation of a world rife with sexual promiscuity and gone wild with a philosophy of self-expression, Jesus tells us that ‘whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
In view of what has since then been revealed about Dr. King’s personal life, this statement may seem hypocritical. Nevertheless, I prefer it to the “Playboy Philosophy” that Hugh Hefner was articulating at the time. If I have a doctor who smokes cigarettes I would rather have one who warns about the dangers of tobacco, than one who recommends tobacco as a medicinal herb.
In these sermons Dr. King reveals knowledge of the Bible that could only have been learned by reading it from cover to cover on many occasions. His knowledge of non Biblical writers is also impressive. He frequently substantiates his points by quoting many of the greatest writers of the western intellectual and literary tradition.
More than any other single human being Dr. King made the 1960’s what they were in the United States. It would have been a different decade without him. While his segregationist opponents came across as brawling, bar room bigots, Dr. King projected the image of a humble man of God who was too good of a Christian to hate his enemies.
Dr. King's power was restricted to moral authority. He could not prevent the black ghetto riots that happened from 1964 to 1968. The most serious riots followed his assassination.
The decade that began hopefully with the presidency of John Kennedy and the eloquence of President Kennedy and Dr. King ended with the administration of Richard Nixon and a Republican ascendancy that persists.
