MLK's 'Letter From A Birmingham Jail' Inspires Christian Clergy Group

By Kevin Eckstrom
Religion News Service

A coalition of Christian churches answered the Rev. Martin Luther King's 1963 "Letter from Birmingham Jail," conceding that Americans have often chosen to be comfortable rather than "prophetic" on racism.

Leaders of Christian Churches Together in the USA, meeting in Birmingham, Ala., said they were "chastened by the unfinished nature" of overcoming racism after visiting Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, where a bomb killed four young black girls in 1963.

"Too often, our follow-through has been far less than our spoken commitments," the group said in a letter released Friday (Jan. 14). "Too often we have elected to be comfortable rather than prophetic. Too often we have chosen not to see the evidence of a racism that is less overt but still permeates our national life in corrosive ways."

King's 1963 letter was a response to local clergy who urged black protesters to drop their "unwise and untimely" civil rights protests and engage in "negotiations" with white authorities.

King responded that "there comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience."

CCT officials said "so far as we know, no one has ever issued a clergy response to Dr. King's letter." They acknowledge that "some of us have not progressed far enough beyond the initial message from the Birmingham clergy."

Christian Churches Together, which was officially formed in 2007, is the nation's largest ecumenical Christian group, bringing together evangelical, Catholic, Orthodox, mainline Protestant and historic black churches, as well as independent groups like Habitat for Humanity and the American Bible Society.

Comments

[myjs]

11:14 AM on 01/18/2011

Last year we visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. It is across the street from the church that was bombed. I was about there age when this happened in 1963. I remember wondering how could someone hate little kids so much.

We spent a couple of ours there. It was very moving. I remembered most of the events depicted in the museum. It really hits you how much happened in a relatively short period of time.

When we got back to our car my husband said something that pretty much summed up the experience­. "My God, what brave people."

[myjs]

09:14 AM on 01/18/2011

Last year we visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. It is across the street from the church that was bombed where four little girls were murdered. I was about there age hen this happened in 1963. I remember wondering how could someone hate little kids so much.

We spent a couple of ours there. It was very moving. I remembered most of the events depicted in the museum. It really hits you how much happened in a relatively short period of time.

When we got back to our car my husband said something that pretty much summed up the experience. "My God, what brave people."

[afrodesia]

11:10 PM on 01/17/2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YA...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YA! Stevie Wonder musical genius paying tribute to a true Prince of Peace for our time. Rest in Perfect Peace Rev. Dr. MLK.

[chango369]

03:16 PM on 01/16/2011

The image of MLK's head has been 'Photoshopped'. If you don't believe me, copy the image and zoom in and you'll see what I'm talking about.

[eileenflemingWAWA]

10:04 AM on 01/16/2011

Reverend King's letter from jail was a direct challenge to his "fellow clergymen" and to every Christian:

"Few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed race, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action. Too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows.

"There was a time when the church was very powerful--in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being disturbers of the peace and outside agitators.

"If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twenty-first century..."

http://www.wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1971&Itemid=242

[cayuse]

08:12 AM on 01/16/2011

Guess I expected the letter here?

MLK, RFK, and JFK effected my life so much. I always like to reinforce there energy. Seems not to diminish considering all the negative energy spent over the years to destroy their great energy of life and spirit

[Larry Motuz]

12:45 PM on 01/15/2011

This article would be much improved by links to Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail at
http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

And the actual reply at
http://www.christianchurchestogether.org/events/2010/

[mehickling]

01:21 PM on 01/15/2011

Thank you for sharing the link.

[Larry Motuz]

09:41 PM on 01/15/2011

You are welcome.

[asmir]

01:47 PM on 01/15/2011

outstanding thank you

[Larry Motuz]

09:41 PM on 01/15/2011

You're welcome.

[thunk]

12:23 PM on 01/15/2011

http://brookhavensouthhaven.org/history/KKK/KKK_Long_Island.htm

A microcosm of what was going on all over the country in the 20s. It is generous to say that the failure of religion was to support racial justice only in word. White churches didn't do that either.