The Christian beliefs of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. informed and inspired his work for civil rights. The Baptist minister preached of unity and love to overcome division and hate, and that all men are created in the image and likeness of God.
The messages found in the letters and speeches of Dr. King regarding justice, equality, and non-violence are compatible with Catholic social teaching.
Catholics can learn from the words and example of Dr. Martin Luther King, especially regarding the dignity of all human life, cooperation between people of different faiths, and bringing light into the darkness.
Dr. King led the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, before being assassinated on April 4, 1968 at the age of 39.
In the United States, Dr. Martin Luther King’s civil rights legacy is honored on the third Monday in January, a federal holiday.
A legacy filled with faith, hope, and sacrifice:
A message that is important for all Catholics:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3: 28
Promoting Christian values and respect for life:
A message of peace, tolerance and forgiveness:
Respect for the human person proceeds by way of respect for the principle that “everyone should look upon his neighbor (without any exception) as ‘another self,’ above all bearing in mind his life and the means necessary for living it with dignity.” No legislation could by itself do away with the fears, prejudices, and attitudes of pride and selfishness which obstruct the establishment of truly fraternal societies. Such behavior will cease only through the charity that finds in every man a “neighbor,” a brother.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1931
Dr. King remains a powerful model for our time:
One hundred thirty years ago, President Abraham Lincoln asked whether a nation “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” could “long endure”. President Lincoln’s question is no less a question for the present generation of Americans. Democracy cannot be sustained without a shared commitment to certain moral truths about the human person and human community. The basic question before a democratic society is: “how ought we to live together?” In seeking an answer to this question, can society exclude moral truth and moral reasoning? Can the Biblical wisdom which played such a formative part in the very founding of your country be excluded from that debate? Would not doing so mean that America’s founding documents no longer have any defining content, but are only the formal dressing of changing opinion? Would not doing so mean that tens of millions of Americans could no longer offer the contribution of their deepest convictions to the formation of public policy? Surely it is important for America that the moral truths which make freedom possible should be passed on to each new generation. Every generation of Americans needs to know that freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.
Pope John Paul II, Homily, 8 October 1995
Practicing dangerous unselfishness:
Risking his life so people could live out their God-given call:
A reminder that our faith calls for bravery:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
Joys and blessings of monastic life:
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