Dr. Kings Letter from the Birmingham Jail - Assignment Example

Dr. King’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail In response to a public announcement based on the practices of social segregation during 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. inscribed a letter addressing the wrongful accusation against his activist group to be “unwise and untimely” (King, Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail”). This letter in the later period emerged to be of great significance in the American socio-political development and has been referred to in various occasions purposefully to present a view regarding equality.

The premises on which Dr. King Jr. had built his arguments were also gauged by commentaries in Bible which became apparent after Professor Glenn Sunshine’s and Professor Robert George’s discussion referring to the beliefs of equality in Christianity. From an in-depth point of view, the arguments made by Dr. King Jr. can be evidently related with the phrases mentioned in the Romans 2:14-15 which are represented as follows:Romans 2:14: “For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:”Romans 2:15: “Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)” (Latter-Day Saints, “The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans”)Even though these commentaries, necessarily, do not coincide with the practices of social segregation on the name of religion or ethnicity, the ideologies hidden beneath the meaning of these commandments indicate Jesus’ message towards human equality irrespective of their belief of God through Jesus Christ or any other pronouncer of truth as per the scriptures.

The phrase “work of the law” in this respect directs the compassion or sentiments perceived by a human character to abide by the norms mentioned in his believed scriptures treating those as God’s law and act accordingly. This further resembles the prominence of such beliefs being imbibed within a human character and the society at large which is phrased as “written in their hearts”. As was explained by Craig Bluemel, followers of Jesus Christ have often misunderstood the commandments to inscribe a segregation of the followers of Jesus from the believers of another pronouncer of God’s verses.

In his words, “.Christians say that unless a person repents and believes in God ONLY thru Jesus Christ, that he or she is going to spend eternity in hell. For years, I avoided answering this question directly, because, quite frankly, I had no proof from Scripture that such a notion by Christians exists (i.e. that God sends people to hell that never hear the gospel)” (Bluemel, “Q & A Series: Please explain Romans 2:14-15”). A quite similar depiction can be obtained from the social phenomenon inscribed in Dr. King Jr.’s letter, where tribes were being segregated on the basis of their “work of the law” built with strong belief on God through Jesus Christ or rather Christianity; thus indicating social segregation grounded on racial as well as religious differences (King, Jr.

, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”). Works CitedBluemel, Craig. Q & A Series: Please explain Romans 2:14-15. The Bible Answer Stand Ministry, n.d. Web. 02 Jul. 2012.King, Jr., Martin Luther. Letter from Birmingham Jail. The Atlantic Monthly, 1963. Web. 02 Jul. 2012.Latter-Day Saints, The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans, 2012. Web. 02 Jul. 2012.