TruthBook Religious News Blog

January 28, 3:51 AM
by Thomas Hartmann, Philadelphia Health Examiner

This articles is the first page of a three page series of articles dealing with using spirituality to transform difficult problems of the material world. Please click on "external source" at the bottom of this article to continue...

President Obama could not have been elected without the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, was the pivotal moment of this historic shift in American society. Earlier this month America honored Dr. King with a national holiday.

How did Dr. King manage to successfully lead the civil rights movement, and what does his leadership have to do with health? After all, he was surrounded by a loving family and in good physical condition. This article concerns the maturation of King’s spiritual health as a result of the crushing pressure the leadership place upon him.

For a time during the height of the boycott, his household received death threats via mail and telephone, messages which had to be fielded by him or his wife in case the call was from a supporter.

The tension took an immense toll, particularly after a middle-of-the-night bomb threat. He became concerned not only for his safety but also for that of his family, and considered giving up leadership of the movement. This sort of pressure may be familiar to anyone who has faced immense fear or hatred, whether as a result of war, prejudice, physical, or mental difficulties.

In short, King was not able to sleep, and went downstairs to the kitchen to fix a pot of coffee. There, he prayed aloud for guidance, acknowledging his utter inadequacy to cope.

Upcoming: The remarkable changes in spiritual health that are sometimes brought about through difficult trials.

Labels: health, leadership, Martin Luther King Jr., President Obama, tension

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Friday, January 23, 2009

The Power of Nonviolence

The Power of Nonviolence

January 14, 2009

Last spring The Nation Institute sponsored a forum at the Society for Ethical Culture in New York City on "Gandhi, King and the Power of Nonviolence: Alternatives to Force in the 21st Century." The participants were Jonathan Schell, The Nation's Peace and Disarmament correspondent, author of The Fate of the Earth and most recently, The Seventh Decade: The New Shape of Nuclear Danger; and Taylor Branch, author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning three-volume history of the Martin Luther King era. The moderator was the writer Suzannah Lessard. What follows is an edited transcript of the discussion.

Please click on "external link" to access the entire discussion.

Jonathan Schell and Taylor Branch in conversation about Mohandas K. Gandhi, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the transformative power of nonviolence.
*
An Inauguration for the Ages

The spirits of the civil rights movement--and movements for social justice everywhere--were with Obama on this historic Inauguration Day.

Labels: civil rights, discussions, Gandhi, Jonathan Schell, Martin Luther King Jr., Nation Institute, non-violence, Suzannah Lessard, Taylor Branch

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Monday, September 29, 2008

Documentary Examines Role of Christian Faith in History of Freedom

By Elena Garcia
Christian Post Reporter
Wed, Sep. 24 2008

If it weren’t for the Christian faith, the birth of freedom and liberty would not have been possible, according to a new documentary from the Action Institute.

In “The Birth of Freedom,” Action Institute takes a look at key freedom fighters and associated documents to trace the historical development of the principles of liberty and freedom that endow Americans with “unalienable” rights as “equal” men.

From the plight of slave abolitionist William Wilberforce and America’s founding father Thomas Jefferson to civil rights figure the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the documentary shows how the Christian faith was inextricably linked to their cries for freedom.

“Think of what a scandal it would be if we were to say the abolitionists should have kept their Christian faith out of the struggle against slavery. Rev. Martin Luther King should have kept his Christian faith out of the struggle for civil rights. People who fought against the terrible crimes committed in the name of eugenics should have kept their faith out of politics,” said Prof. Robert P. George of Princeton University in the documentary.

The film also suggests that the idea of human rights was created by theologians.

The documentary, which has been screened to select audiences earlier this year, was shown at an exclusive premiere to a crowd of Christian bloggers at the 2008 Godblogcon over the weekend.

In conjunction with “The Birth of Freedom,” Action Media has also been releasing a series of short clips that provide additional insight into key issues presented but not covered in the film.

On Monday, the organization released its fourth short video in the series which examines "Poverty in Medieval Europe." New videos are released every Monday.

The Mission of the Acton Institute is to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.

Labels: Action Institute, Christianity, Elena Garcia, freedom, Godblogcon, liberty, Martin Luther King Jr., Thomas Jefferson, William Wilberforce

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Friday, April 04, 2008

I've Been To The Mountaintop

Martin Luther King's Last Speech On April 3, 1968 In Memphis, Tennessee.

Labels: anniversary, Martin Luther King Jr., Memphis, speech, video

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Monday, February 25, 2008

Free to love, freed by love

A Christian Science perspective on daily life.
from the February 26, 2008 edition

The United States has yet to achieve "liberty and justice for all" – the concluding words of its Pledge of Allegiance – but few would deny that the nation has made great strides in that direction. In part, Black History Month celebrates that progress toward freedom.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus recognized people's need for freedom – regardless of race – and he explained how to get it. He said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). If to "know the truth" means to know God, divine Truth, Jesus' promise can be paraphrased this way: "Ye shall know divine Truth, and divine Truth shall make you free."

Knowing God as divine Truth includes understanding and believing what's divinely true about ourselves and others – that God created us in His image (see Gen. 1:27). Viewing others from that perspective makes hatred hard to justify.

Perhaps that's the reason love, like truth, figures so prominently in Jesus' teachings. In his Sermon on the Mount, he said, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies ..." (Matt. 5:43, 44).

The Monitor's founder, Mary Baker Eddy, emphasized the power of divine Love as well. In her book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she identified Love as a synonym for God (see p. 587) and explained, "... Love imparts the clearest idea of Deity" (p. 517).

Importing that "clearest idea of Deity" into Jesus' statement sheds new light on freedom with this paraphrase: "Ye shall know divine Love, and divine Love shall make you free." Free of hatred, envy, strife, even of physical and mental illnesses. But also free to see the reality of each individual's spiritual nature as the son and daughter of an all-loving God.

The Negro spiritual that Dr. Martin Luther King quoted at the end of his "I have a dream" speech makes a specific connection between love and freedom as well. The speech concludes, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" The Negro spiritual ends, "For I never felt such a love before,/ Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last."

That love "never felt ... before" is God's liberating love, the driving force behind Dr. King's fight for civil rights. In a sermon titled "Loving your enemies," King described a few strategic reasons for loving those who hate you. Then he noted, "An even more basic reason why we are commanded to love is expressed explicitly in Jesus' words, 'Love your enemies ... that ye may be children of your Father which is in heaven.' " And a few lines later he added, "We must love our enemies, because only by loving them can we know God and experience the beauty of his holiness" ("Strength to Love," p. 55).

Hating our enemies blinds us to God's love for us – and for them. God is Love and God is All, so He can't know anything unlike Love. And as God's ideas, or reflection, we can't know anything unlike Love either. That doesn't appear to be the case from our limited, mortal perspective, but as we replace our material view of things with the divine reality, whatever basis for hatred we thought existed disappears.

That change – or spiritualization – of thought and action is the only way to keep our end of the bargain. Both Jesus and King urge us to know God, divine Love, by living love. And if we do our part, God will certainly do His: Divine Love will make us free. And not only will those who love their enemies be freed, but the enemies themselves will be released from hatred's grasp. That's the way divine Love operates – impartially, universally, unconditionally, irresistibly.

Mrs. Eddy wrote, "Love is the liberator" (Science and Health, p. 225.) King and his followers proved that fact in their day, and we can continue to prove it in ours.

Labels: freedom, God, Jesus, love, Martin Luther King Jr., Mary Baker Eddy

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Saturday, January 19, 2008

The spiritual legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

January 19, 2008

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, mandated by federal law to fall on the third Monday in January, is the least celebrated federal holiday.

The King holiday was born in controversy and took 15 years to become law; it faced stiff opposition from national leaders. President Reagan opposed the measure and finally relented and signed the bill creating the holiday in 1986 after perceiving that his veto would be overridden.

One of the leaders of the opposition, Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina, continued to express outrage over the bill, declaring that King had been a racial agitator and Communist sympathizer.

The opposition to the holiday usually today is put in terms of cost, about 8 billion dollars in lost revenues.

But nonunionized businesses generally do not observe the holiday, and as commentator Earl Hutchinson has put the matter, the biggest reason for nonobservance of the holiday is ''the still widespread public perception that the King holiday is a holiday exclusively of, by, and for blacks.''

The King holiday provides us with a moment to reflect on the spiritual state of our nation, to recall the terrible legacy of slavery and racism, and to reflect on King's call for peace and justice.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister with a Boston University Ph.D. in systematic theology, is remembered as the undisputed leader of the American civil rights movement.

He pushed hard at the forces in American life that were oppressing the poor and marginalized -- racial discrimination, economic injustice and war.

Inspired by Thoreau, Gandhi and Jesus, he became an inspirational leader known for oratorical wizardry, and his commitment to nonviolence earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.

But King was mired in controversy and opposition all the time. Not only did he receive daily death threats for his civil rights work -- he was stabbed in Harlem at a book signing in 1958 -- but even fellow civil rights leaders objected to his outspoken opposition to what he called America's ''imperialist war'' in Vietnam. Many of King's supporters saw this opposition as a betrayal of Lyndon Johnson and his administration, which had done more for African Americans than any administration before or since.

I was recently in Atlanta and wanted very much to take some time to visit the King Center near the old Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King had preached, and where King's mother, some years after King's death, had been shot and killed while playing the organ one Sunday morning. A museum with continuous film loops and mementos of King's life are there, a souvenir-bookstore shop, and the tombs of King and his wife, Coretta Scott King.

As I contemplate the life and legacy of King this January, I recall that visit. I am remembering that at my hotel, when I asked how to get to the King Center, I was told, ''You don't want to walk in that neighborhood. Take a cab.'' When I went east on Auburn Avenue I noted that a huge highway overpass cut right through the center of the community there, something that reminded me of similar dislocations of communities I had seen in the old District 6 in Cape Town, and have even heard about in Allentown, where the Martin Luther King Drive is today.

Those who study environmental racism often make note of public works projects that cut through neighborhoods where people lack the power to oppose them. The office of the Southern Christian Leadership Office is on Auburn Avenue, but nearby are low-income housing projects and small businesses looking a bit run down.

Metal protection screens were on some windows. The reputation of this part of town I had received from my hotel concierge, and I am realizing how close this part of town was to the upscale hotel where I had been attending a Christian ethics conference -- a 20 minute walk.

King would have been 79 on Jan. 15. Were King alive today, I suspect he would be working on the same issues even in his old neighborhood. The problems of racism and discrimination are still with us.

Although the Voting Rights Act brought a major shift in American political and social life, and King worked for it tirelessly, he would no doubt be commenting on the million African American males in jails and prisons today, many of whom lose their voting privileges by conviction.

Would King be talking about the subtle disenfranchisement of blacks today, noting that the civil rights movement never got into our prisons? And would he be focusing attention on America's public schools, where the divide between rich and poor, black and white, is as pronounced today as it was in his lifetime?

And war? There is no question that King would stand in opposition to the Iraq war, having foreseen the tragic loss of life and a waste of treasure that cripples opportunity for many.

It is surprising that America chose to honor so critical a spiritual leader with a national holiday. That it did so, however, provides all of us with an occasion to reflect about who we are and what we value. For we do what we value; and among the painful things we must confront is our tendency to resort to violence to solve problems.

America today uses war as an instrument of foreign policy; incarceration and execution are responses to crime; and meantime we do not provide health coverage to 45 million citizens, and 36 million Americans live below the poverty line.

The true legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. is that he would not let us forget that what we value we do, and we have need to be reflective about the meaning of what we are doing.

The King holiday, born in controversy, should continue to be controversial if we are to do honor to the man it remembers. May this King holiday be a time for us to connect ourselves to King's call for racial, social and economic justice.

May we remember his life as it stands before all of us as a challenge to do better than we are doing.

Lloyd Steffen is university chaplain and professor of religion studies at Lehigh University.

Labels: African-Americans, contoversy, justice, legacy, Lloyd Steffen, Martin Luther King Jr., racism, slavery